An Apple And An Orgasm A Day?

In a move that would warm former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elder’s heart, Britain’s National Health Service has issued a controversial leaflet, entitled "Pleasure," to parents, youth workers and teachers. It urges them to tell their teenaged children not only to eat their five servings of fruits and vegetables for better health, but that an orgasm couldn’t hurt, either.

It also advises kids that a healthy and enjoyable sex life is a "right," and that regular intercourse is a good cardiovascular exercise.

Needless to say, there has been some resistance. Parents’ groups say that this will only encourage their teenagers to be promiscuous and have unprotected, underage sex.

But one of the pamphlets authors, Steve Slack (Director of the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health at NHS Sheffield), said that their intention was not to promote teenage sex, as many family groups accuse them of doing. Rather, his aim was to encourage kids to hold on to their virginity until they are in a loving relationship (hence, the masturbation angle). He believes that if teenagers are well informed about sex and make decisions of their own free will in a healthy and loving relationship, then an enjoyable sex life should be accessible to them, as well as to the adult population. He also said that too much of what passes as sex education in the schools focuses on safe sex and committed relationships, and not on why people have sex in the first place.

I agree with their intentions. Despite the way that some groups have manipulated the data to "prove" that sex education in schools leads to promiscuity, I believe just the opposite. When I was in high school, the people I knew who were either having sex or got pregnant were the ones who were the most uninformed about their bodies, sexuality, and birth control. I think that if you are well educated about sex, and know what you're getting into (and the possible consequences), then you're more likely to make better choices.

And I was so annoyed about the whole Jocelyn Elders thing. If you don't remember President Clinton's outspoken surgeon general, she was the one who suggested that instead of teenagers possibly having unprotected intercourse, that they should be taught masturbation instead. She didn't last much longer after that.

Masturbation is healthy and natural. Pretty much every kid figures it out at some point (boys usually much earlier than girls) and I don't know why it should be such a taboo subject to even whisper about.

But I guess I grew up in a more liberal household than most.

And maybe if masturbation were encouraged by the adult world, teens would find it less enjoyable. Hard to figure that one.

What do you think? Should schools leave sex education up to parents, since so many parents seem not to be doing a very good job teaching their children (if they're talking about it at all)? Or should this be squarely the parents’ responsibility and schools should stay out of it? Do you think sex education makes kids more likely to be promiscuous, or do you think it would lead them to make better choices?