The Abstinence Clearinghouse Blog

The following commentary was written by Robert Rector and sent to the Abstinence Clearinghouse.

Education concerning HIV prevention in primary and secondary schools should start with the recognition that teaching about sexuality primarily or exclusively as an issue of disease prevention distorts the subject.  Education concerning HIV in primary and secondary schools must be put in the proper moral, social and psychological context.  This context should include the following.

1) Students should be taught that sexual activity among high school students and younger is morally and socially unacceptable.

2) Human sexuality is not primarily physical in nature but is psychological, moral and spiritual in nature.

3) The proper goal of human sexuality is not merely physical pleasure; instead proper sexuality fosters lifelong bonding between a man and a woman; physical pleasure should reinforce this bonding process.

4) Human sexuality should involve love intimacy and commitment.  Between a man and a woman this is most likely to occur within the context of marriage.

5) Sexual activity among youth is associate multiple risk behaviors and negative emotional and educational outcomes.

6) Marriage is associated with beneficial outcomes for individuals and society.

7) For most individuals in the long run, sexual activity is linked to child bearing: bearing children outside the context of marriage is associated with negative life outcomes.