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Seventeen Magazine Subscribes to False View of Sexual Reality 7/8/2004 Teen surveys deceive readers.
Warning: This article contains sexual content.
In a recent “SexSmarts” survey, Seventeen magazine and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation partnered once again to survey teens about their “knowledge and attitudes about sex and sexual health.” The August issue of Seventeen hits newsstands with highlights.
As part of the campaign, Seventeen’s Web site gives teen readers a series of sexual health quizzes on topics ranging from “Think you’re ready to have sex?” to “How can you protect yourself from teen pregnancy?” Seventeen offers its readers, within a venue of sexually enticing photos of kissing couples and provocative women, several online pop quizzes to help high-school and middle-school teens discover if they’re “STD savvy” or prepared for “going to the gyno,” among others.
According to the Kaiser Web site, “SexSmarts is an ongoing public information partnership between the Kaiser Family Foundation and Seventeen magazine to provide young people with information and resources on sexual health issues.” The online quizzes frequently refer readers to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading provider and promoter of abortion. Seventeen mentions in at least one quiz that Planned Parenthood visits will be completely confidential (i.e., they won’t tell parents what transpires at a teen’s appointment.)
In a quiz titled “Sex Smarts: Do you know the facts about sex?” Seventeen deceives its audience, telling us bold facedly that “Emergency Contraception (EC) like Preven or Plan B does not interrupt or terminate an established pregnancy.” (The trick word here is “established.”) The authors reveal in another quiz (“How much do you know about EC?”) that EC, also known as the morning-after pill, can prevent implantation of an already fertilized egg. For teens searching for moral guidance, Seventeen proves a serpent in the weeds.
Basic biology teaches that a fertilized egg is the beginning of a new and unique life. Preventing implantation sweeps away that life. Seventeen clearly operates on a different worldview than many Christians, Muslims and Jews, and other people holding to the fact that life begins at conception.
This godless worldview extends to Seventeen’s dealings with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In an “STD IQ” quiz, Seventeen again warns teens that doctor’s offices may not be confidential because of parental consent laws. The accompanying Kaiser report admits that teens and young adults are “disproportionately impacted by STDs,” reporting that one in two sexually active young people will contract an STD by age 25. But Seventeen goes on preaching that teens should just wait until they’re “ready” to have sex. Lacking from all its discussions on sex is any mention of permanence, the part of educating themselves that includes preparing for healthy marriages.
What Kaiser and Seventeen fail to do is give an accurate picture of just how frightening and scarring premature sexual activity can be. They give lip service to the possibility of long-term health effects like cancer, but overall, they make the topic of sex outside of marriage seem fun and easy to handle. A realistic look at the deep, long-lasting harms of premarital sex paints a darker, more sobering picture that no amount of tantalizing, kissing-couple photos can brighten.
Dr. Meg Meeker, a seasoned family physician, writes about the devastating plague of teen STDs in her book, Epidemic. If we were to make a quiz out of the information in her book, it might look something like this:
Q: True or False: You can get a cancer-causing virus from just one sexual encounter—including oral sex.
A: TRUE.
The human papilloma virus (HPV) is one of the most common STDs and causes more than 99.7 percent of all cervical cancers. The latest studies show that condoms do not protect against HPV, and you can contract the virus from just one encounter with an infected person. There are no drugs to treat HPV and there is no cure; the best way to monitor it is to have a Pap smear every six months and remove precancerous cells as they arise.
Q: The herpes virus lasts for:
a. Two weeks
b. Six months
c. Three to five years
d. The rest of your life
A: THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.
Like HPV, herpes has no cure, and the genital outbreaks keep recurring for your entire life. Plus, you can spread it to your children before they are even born, causing severe neurological problems. (Half of all babies born with herpes die.) About one in five Americans over age 12 is infected with herpes. It lives on the skin and spreads through bodily fluids, including saliva, and the popularity of oral sex is a major reason why it’s spreading so rapidly.
Q: True or false: As long as you use condoms every time, you can be sure you’re having safe sex.
A: FALSE.
There is no such thing as “safe sex.” Having sex always carries a risk, not only because your partner could be carrying a disease unknowingly, but also because condoms may not really work against some STDs at all. A scientific panel at the National Institutes of Health found in June 2000 that condoms could somewhat reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS, but there was not enough evidence to say whether or not condoms were effective in reducing the risk of most other STDs. Using a condom 100 percent of the time still does not guarantee 100 percent safety against any STD.
Such a quiz may never grace the pages of Seventeen magazine, but every teen and parent needs to know this information. Pick up a copy of Dr. Meeker’s book, Epidemic, read CWA’s paper, Abstinence: Why Sex is Worth the Wait, and check out www.protecthealth.org, www.projectreality.org, and www.medinstitute.org for more information on the consequences of sex outside marriage. You can also read more about the morning-after pill and RU-486 (the abortion pill) on CWA’s “Hot Topics” page.
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