Does "Shelby Knox" portray Texas accurately?

[funflower]

I'm out here on the left coast watching the PBS documentary "The Education of Shelby Knox" about a Lubbock teen's efforts to try to bring "comprehensive sex education" to the Lubbock public school system.

If you've seen this program, I'd be interested in your feedback as to how fairly it portrays Lubbock culture.

From a west coast perspective, it's a real culture shock!

[sonias]

1. Yes, unfortunately

Shelby is a real smart young girl and vast swaths of Texas are as back asswards as you can get. There was a good cover story with her in The Texas Observer. A recommended read if you want more culture shock - Texas style.

http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleFileName=050610_f2.htm
Who's Afraid of Shelby Knox
Sex, textbooks, and the culture wars-lessons from Lubbock
I attended high school in Corpus Christi in the late 1990s, not so long ago. In 1995 Nueces County had the nation’s highest teenage pregnancy rate—nearly one in 10 births were born to young women aged 13-17. When I was in school, then-governor George W. Bush implemented sexual abstinence instruction as the only way to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Whereas Planned Parenthood once came to our schools and taught students where to obtain and how to use contraceptives, now we were compelled to sit through sensationalist hour-long programs advocating sexual "purity" and condemning the false advertising of condoms.

Once a year an abstinence-only organization lectured during our English class. I remember one particular demonstrator, symbolically using two hearts cleanly cut from aluminum foil to represent two starry-eyed lovers. "One is Ken and one is Barbie," she explained solemnly. She joined them and continued, "They got together…" The woman crumpled the foil into a ball "…and had sex, which is the closest you can be to a person." Then she tried to unravel the wad of aluminum, saying, "But then they broke up, and Barbie’s heart looked like this." A damaged and wrinkly mess. "How do you think her future husband will feel? How do you think her self-esteem looks now?" To top it all off, the petite woman continued dramatically, "Let me tell you something. I am 30 years old. And I am still a virgin."

Complete article at link above.

Sonia

[funflower]

2. So this is how it is in Dallas and Houston, too? No sex ed at all?

"How do you think her future husband will feel?" What a question!

It's really a terrific film. Really shows Shelby and her family dealing with tough issues and peer pressure (to believe the conservative thing) and growing as a result.

[sonias]

3. Not sure if Dallas and Houston are as bad as Lubbock

but Sex Ed has definitely been dumbed down across the state. There are mammoth fights about textbooks including abstinence only references and no other prevention information. No mention of contraceptives and you specially have to define marriage as union between a man and a woman.

The Texas book market is the second largest book market so the right wing pounces on the State Board of Education, to get their right wing, keep them dumb and pregnant agenda to be the law of Texas. A fight which they usually win.

Texas also has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the country. We already know that abstinence only programs are total failures. You can't convince the right wing about that though.

Sonia

[lastliberalintexas]

6. No other large metro area is as bad as Lubbock

Thank God. For a city of about 200,000 people, Lubbock thinks and acts like Podunk, USA. There are probably some small towns that are worse, but ...


And the textbook issue is one of the travesties of our state. What is the name of that kooky married couple who've made it their life's mission to ensure that no Texas teen even hears the word "sex" from an educator and that we all learn that the white, Anglo, European, Christian is of course the only thing that matters in the US of A. And the worst part is that we foist these books on much of the rest of the nation since we are such a huge purchaser of the historically inaccurate "textbooks". :eyes:

[NoPasaran]

18. I think the Gablers

Are the kooks in question.

[crispini]

4. I can't speak for the schools,

but Dallas, for example, is nearly 50% Democratic, and has the largest gay population outside of San Francisco. In general, we are a LOT more metropolitan than Lubbock.

Haven't been watching it -- I'll have to look for the repeat.

[funflower]

13. Largest gay population outside of SF - I didn't know that!

Isn't there a gorgeous Philip Johnson-designed Metropolitan Community Church in Dallas?

[crispini]

15. There's a really big MCC here, now

designed by who, I don't know. But I do know we're the only city to have to I.M. Pei buildings! :P

[WestHoustonDem]

5. Unfortunately, sex-ed in Spring Branch ISD (Houston)

is abstinence only. My daughter told me that her teachers made it clear they didn't agree with it without actually saying so.

[tammywammy]

7. Which is so sad

I grew up in Arlington, I graduated in 1999. I remember sex ed. It wasn't how to put on a condom, but they said you needed to use one. But then at the same time, they encouraged us to wait to have sex, but I think that was more of "13 year olds shouldn't be having sex anyways".

I do remember when I was a high school freshman, the health teacher telling us that God makes sex feel good, because we need to procreate, but just because it feels good, we shouldn't be in a rush to have it. And once again, they taught us that we should use condoms.

Arlington is a very conservative area, with a few Southern Baptist preachers holding a lot of sway, and we even got sex ed. (And by a lot of sway, I mean, pushing out the high school newspaper teacher because they published an article about a center that does gay counseling, and to them there's no such thing as gay people.)

Just my 2 cents.

[WestHoustonDem]

8. Interestingly, my daughter has friends who are openly

gay and bisexual at school. Her friends seem to have managed to learn about contraception and disease protection, but not from school.

[sonias]

9. Well we can thank the Internet for that, in part

If I had kids in Texas public schools and all they were being taught is abstinence only, I'd get those kids some home schooling after school on the subject. Heck even Planned Parenthood teaches some classes, if the parents agree to sign the consent form. It's the responsible thing to do if you're a parent. Even if the kids don't have computers, take them to the public library and get them some real facts.

Good places to start:

Planned Parenthood Teen Health
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/pp2/portal/medicalinfo/teensexualhealth/

Young People's Section at Avert
http://www.avert.org/yngindx.htm

Sonia

[tammywammy]

11. You know, I think most kids get a lot of sex ed outside of school

I think, when we were learning it in school, it was more of a clearing things up, and telling you how to be safe.

At 13, I had already heard of condoms, and such, but the teacher was giving more guidance into this area, instead of school-girl gossip.

I do remember a boy asking if you can catch diseases by swallowing sperm, and the rest of us being so confused on why would anyone be swallowing sperm. :)

Ahh, those were the days. :)

[tammywammy]

10. I need to clairfy

The center that does gay counseling is more of "I'm feeling confused" or "my best-friend just told me he's gay, and I don't know what to think." It was more of a place that helped you be happy with yourself, not a you're not gay and you can change place. That's why the preachers were so pissed off, because it was an acceptance not a denial type of center.

[sonias]

16. Oh we can't have acceptance and tolerance now can we?

I have so much trouble understanding why we want to add more suffering to the human condition. And it's faith based suffering no less. God told them that we have to hate homosexuals. My heart goes out to the kids that are gay, born into intolerant right wing homes. I wonder if any correlation has been made between suicide and attempted suicide for gay kids growing up in right wing homes.

Some of them obviously make it out fine like Maya Marcel-Keyes (Alan Keye's) daughter despite their parents hate. Let's remember that the compassionate conservative Key's disowned his daughter, threw her out of their house and stopped talking to her. Oh those lovely repuke family values voters.

Sonia

[funflower]

14. Amazing. 25 YEARS ago the little old lady from Planned Parenthood came

to my high school and did the demonstration with the banana....

[TexasThoughtCriminal]

17. At what point do good abstinent kids get the full sex ed story?

They obviously don't want to give kids all the information in school, cuz that'll make 'em "do it"! Are there sex education programs in place for adults who are about to get married? Are all the facts finally revealed to them? Of course not; that's all part of the plan. An ignorant populace is a compliant (and republican) populace.
:mad:

[efhmc]

19. This must be new because it was not what was taught in the 90's.

[ThJ]

12. Ewww.... Lubbock

Need I say more?

[RareLubbockDem]

20. As a lubbockite, i speak from experience.....

that unfortunately, it was pretty accurate. In fact, it may have even gone too easy on things. The level of blissful ignorance is unbelievable here. What Shelby Knox did was absolutely outstanding. She's one helluva girl. My wife actually met her and talked with her a few times when she was working with Planned Parenthood. Said she was very impressive even before all this fame hit her.

But back to Lubbock.... Lubbock's not a bad place and it's not full of right wing nuts, but there's more than a good share of it. It makes it awfully hard to be a Dem here, but we're putting up the good fight. The sex-ed thing is just one example of the mindset of this entire region.