National survey: Conservative policies are destroying the "family values" they preach.

[DetlefK]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/opinion/sunday/blue-states-red-states-values.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fpolitics&action=click&contentCollection=politics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=10&pgtype=sectionfront

According to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey of 32 states, those with the highest percentage of high school students who say they have had sex are Mississippi, Delaware, West Virginia, Alabama and Arkansas. All but Delaware voted Republican in the last presidential election.

Meanwhile, the five states with the lowest proportion of high school students who have had sex were New York, California, Maryland, Nebraska and Connecticut. All but Nebraska voted Democratic.

...

Nine of the 10 states with the highest teen birthrates voted Republican in 2016. And nine of the 10 states with the lowest teen birthrates voted Democratic.

...

Liberals, in other words, may be wary of strict moral codes, but they want to make damn sure that their own kids don’t have babies while in high school. It helps that they believe in comprehensive sex education and reliable birth control.

...

the dozen states with the highest rates of child marriage, all voted Republican in 2016.

“Child marriage is happening at an alarming rate across the U.S., but available marriage-license data show more parents, judges and clerks in red states than in blue states seem comfortable with this human-rights abuse,”

...

Then there’s adultery and prostitution. One large international survey found that the largest group of customers on Ashley Madison, the dating website for married people, were evangelical Christians.

...

More broadly, conservative values don’t directly lead to premarital sex or divorce. Rather, statistical analysis suggests that religious conservatives end up divorcing partly because they marry early, are less likely to go to college and are disproportionately poor.

So the deeper problem seems to be the political choices that conservatives make, underinvesting in public education and social services (including contraception). This underinvestment leaves red states poorer and less educated — and thus prone to a fraying of the social fabric.

[genxlib]

1. Quality sex education matters

Of course it is important to teach kids about the basics of sex and contraception.

However, I am a firm believer that the benefits of quality sex education run far deeper than that basic knowledge.

One of the concerns about comprehensive sex education is that it will give kids ideas and turn them into sex maniacs. I strongly believe that the opposite is true. Good sex education gives the teens ownership of their own choices. It helps them understand social dynamics in a very confusing time in their lives. It helps them feel in control during a turbulent age when most kids are hopelessly confused.

In general, it gives them a greater sense of self.

A person who is more self-confident is resistant to the whims of peer pressure. A person with self-respect is more resistant to bad relationships. A person who is more self-reliant is resistant to the coercion of demanding partners. A person who is more self-controlled is resistant to rash decisions. Overall, a person who is more self-actualized makes better decisions for the right reasons.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. +1.

[thbobby]

3. Well Said

Knowledge is power. Intentional ignorance leads to ignorant and dangerous behavior.

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. +1000

[Demsrule86]

4. We lived in Georgia which had an abstinence only sex ed model.

I pulled my kids out because it was a pack of lies...told them about sex as my Mom the nurse told me...in detail...they were ew Mom please stop. I also told them I don't think kids should have sex in high school because they are not emotionally prepared for it...suggested an alternative...at this point they said enough Mom-gross! I also told them I would get them contraceptives (including my son) if they needed them...no questions asked. One of my daughter's friends called and complained as my daughter shared some info with her daughter. She was outraged and informed me that my daughter would be having sex and pregnant by 16. My daughter told me later she didn't have a sexual relationship while in school...she wasn't ready. So We moved to Wisconsin and then to Ohio (GM gypsies). My daughter was on facebook not long ago looking into what happened to kids she knew from the schools she attended...the crowd she hung with in Georgia... most girls had babies before they graduated from High School including the daughter of the woman who called me and complained. I feel sad for those girls and wonder what will happen to them. some have gone on to have more babies without marriage and have not gone to college either...how will they support themselves? Parents don't live forever.

[Achilleaze]

5. The degree to which republican 'values' have degenerated is deplorable

truly deplorable.

Republicans need to abandon their misbegotten "republican values" and take up American values like honesty, integrity, honor, respect for others, and loyalty to the USA rather than to some foreign power or corporate money machine.

[democratisphere]

6. Everything conservative redumbliCONs say and do is fraud.

[paleotn]

7. Gee Whiz! Now there's a revelation.