An Inclusive Litany

4/12/02

Following President Bush's pledge to fund abstinence education at the same level as comprehensive sex education, the Centers for Disease Control is endorsing several new "abstinence-plus" programs that only nominally resemble abstinence-only programs. In one exercise, students are encouraged to pursue various alternatives to sexual intercourse, including body massage, bathing together, "sensuous feeding," joint masturbation, and watching "erotic movies." In another exercise, students are divided into teams and each student is handed a condom. Forming two lines, each child has to apply and remove the condom from the team's designated "cucumber or dildo," and the team that finishes first wins the "Condom Race."