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The Politics of Virginity Abstinence in Sex Education
Alesha E. Doan, Jean Calterone Williams
ISBN: 0-275-99009-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-99009-1
208 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 5/30/2008
List Price: $44.95 (UK Sterling Price: £31.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • An indictment of abstinence-only curricula.
    —Education Week     8/13/2008
  • This book attempts to explain how conservative Christians have politically mobilized to support abstinence-only sex education policies in schools. Doan (Univ. of Kansas) and Williams (California Polytechnic State Univ.) show that the interest groups on the Christian Right are pursuing a stealth political strategy to achieve their goals by inserting abstinence-only provisions in omnibus congressional bills....Recommended. General readers, students of all levels, and research faculty.
    —Choice     12/1/2008
Description: Abstinence is currently taught as the only form of sex education in a third of public schools. Although most Americans oppose federal funding for abstinence-only education, the federal government has spent more than $1 billion on Title V and community-group programs that promote abstinence before marriage as the sole healthy and moral choice. Studies show that students in abstinence-only programs are no more likely to abstain from sex than their peers who are in comprehensive sex education programs. Moreover, argue Doan and Williams, abstinence-only programs perpetuate gender stereotypes that disproportionately constrain women, retail medical disinformation, and violate the separation of church and state.

Doan and Williams detail what abstinence programs teach students, expose the political and religious agendas behind them, and analyze the damaging effects to women of the resurrection of the chastity belt: including sexual disempowerment, distorted power dynamics in relationships, increased vulnerability to sexual assault, increased emotional vulnerability, increased risk of unintended pregnancy, and STD/HIV infection. By focusing on the marriage of morality politics with gender politics and of ignorance with chastity that underlies abstinence-only education, the authors fill a major gap in the literature of reproductive politics and policy.
Table of Contents:
  • Dedication
    Acknowledgments
    Preface
    Chapter 1 Under the Radar: The Advent of Stealth Tactics in Morality Policy
    Chapter 2 Tightening the Sexuality Noose: Title V and Abstinence-Only Education
    Chapter 3 Good Girls or Dirty Whores? Images and Behaviors of Adolescent Women
    Chapter 4 Resurrecting the Chastity Belt: Lessons from Abstinence-Only Curricula
    Chapter 5: In Their Own Words: Sexuality, Knowledge, and Power
    Chapter 6 Whom and What Are We Saving? Morality, Sexuality and Abstinence
    Appendix
    Endnotes
    Bibliography
    Selected Annotated Bibliography
    Tables
    Figures
    Index
About the Author: Alesha E. Doan is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Kansas. She is the author of Opposition and Intimidation: The Abortion Wars and Strategies of Political Harassment.

Jean Calterone Williams is Associate Professor of Political Science and Department Chair at California Polytechnic State University. She is the author of A Roof Over My Head: Homeless Women and the Shelter Industry.
PDF Catalogs:
Praeger Politics 2008.pdf
Praeger Public Library Spring 2008.pdf
Praeger Religion Catalog 2008.pdf
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