Kids Today Don’t Stand a Chance

By John W. Whitehead

On March 11, 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the results of a study which found that nearly 26% (1 in 4) of American teenage girls ages 14-19 have at least one sexually transmitted disease. This report and its ramifications, however, were quickly shelved so that the media could provide us with non-stop coverage of the New York governor’s sexcapades with a prostitute.

As titillating as the Spitzer scandal might seem, its impact is fleeting when compared to the fact that approximately 3.2 million young women in the United States are estimated to be infected with a wide range of sexually transmitted diseases. Of the 838 teen girls surveyed, approximately 50% admitted to being sexually active. Of this 50%, an overwhelming 40% tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease.

In addition, the study found that 48% of African-American teenagers were infected with a sexually transmitted disease and that 15% of the teenage girls who had an infection had more than one. The CDC also claims that the prevalence among teenage girls may actually be higher than their report indicates, as the study fails to include sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, HIV and syphilis.

These statistics should have sent shockwaves across the nation. Instead, they were greeted with a lack of surprise by groups like Planned Parenthood. And although few people had much to say about why the numbers are so high, Dr. Dorothy Ferguson, medical director at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, attributes the rise in sexually transmitted diseases to the fact that we’re not teaching our young people enough about sex, specifically safe sex practices.

Yet I would suggest the very opposite: Not only are we teaching our young people too much about sex, we’re teaching them all the wrong things.

When I was growing up, corporate America didn’t sell sex the way it does today. But for corporate America today, the only bottom line is money. Today’s world is one in which sex sells—where images regarding sexuality are continuously discussed and propagated through print and television media, as well as the Internet.

Advertisements bombard our young people’s minds with messages that either overtly or indirectly strive to sell merchandise through the promotion of sexuality. For example, the clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch has been under constant fire for its catalogs and advertisements which depict scantily clad individuals engaging in what critics have labeled “group sex.” Even advertisements for more innocuous products such as toothpaste and acne medication imply that their products will help the guy “get the girl” and be more successful sexually.

Furthermore, our movies, music, celebrities and pop culture all portray sex as glamorous and lacking real-life consequences, such as disease and pregnancy. A study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that “more than half of all television programs, excluding news, sporting events, and children’s programming, contained sexual content, incorporating an average of more than three scenes per hour. Less than 10% of the programs with sexuality themes incorporated any reference to the consequences of sexual activity.”

There can be no mistaking the fact that our children are modeling their behavior after our own. Accustomed to living in and for the moment, we fail to consider the consequences. We have adopted the motto, “if it feels good, do it.” We have become a nation of people without limits—a people with no moral compass.

Yet it was not always this way. Religion and moral values were once the glue that held our communities and families together. They taught us that there must be internal limits in each of us—lines that must not be crossed. Throughout our history, churches, synagogues, families and schools worked together to teach children right and wrong. And for the most part, we lived within those limits.

Today, our children are stuck in a moral vacuum of our own making. Our religious institutions have lost the moral high ground and, thus, no longer speak with authority. And teachers refuse to mention the word “morality” in the classroom out of fear of a lawsuit. Worst of all, the traditional family is in a shambles. The picture of the American family shows a broken home, shattered by divorce, infidelity and distrust. America’s divorce rate hovers around 50%, and not even religious leaders are immune. According to a survey, one in five adults in a monogamous relationship has cheated on his/her partner. The rate is even higher among married men. Perhaps most disturbing, surveys have found that “married folks with kids—including women with very young children—are nearly as likely to commit adultery as childless couples.”

As a consequence of our rash behavior, our children have learned that they can have sex whenever and with whomever they want. After all, they can just take a pill to prevent pregnancy. And if they do get pregnant, all they have to do is head down to the local abortion clinic for a quick fix. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a leading tracker of abortion statistics, 24% of all pregnancies end in abortion. In 2002 alone, 1.29 million abortions occurred. And now we’re looking to vaccines and other prevention strategies to “fix” the high incidence of sexually transmitted diseases among young people.

However, handing out condoms and IUDs to kids will not alleviate the problem because the real issue goes to the very heart of our system of values and the way we view one another. When we reduce sex to nothing more than a biological act, of course we’re going to find ourselves riddled with diseases, unwanted pregnancies and failed relationships.

If we really care about our children, we had better take a good look in the mirror. Our kids don’t stand a chance unless we can shore up the family structure, restore a sense of community and teach them morality, values and respect.


Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.