Lets get political peeps. I know run away screaming Kelly's about to get in her soap box about something but this is really starting to piss me off. Every time I read something about teen pregnancy rates I get angry because I honestly believe the lack of education has done a huge disservice to the young people of this country.
I didn't know much about anything other than the pill and condoms till I took my Human Sexuality class in college. We were told the best way not to get pregnant is to not have sex. Sure this is extremely true but lets be honest here the advice of Mrs. Hilton who would send you to look for her glasses when they were sitting on top of her head is not often heeded by young adults. What is even more scary to me than my health teachers bug eyes is the concept of 'magical thinking' when it comes to protecting against STD's and pregnancy.
Magical thinking is nonscientific causal reasoning that often includes such ideas as the ability of the mind to affect the physical world, correlation mistaken for causation. When applied to th use of contraceptives: I didn't use a condom last time and I didn't get pregnant so I don't have to use one every time because that's how it worked before.
What makes this extra scary to me is that this idea is not just something teens are believing. This idea is extremely prevalent in 18-29 year olds. In my mind these are people who are old enough to know better. Don't believe me? read the report [PDF]. If you aren't much of a scientific report person the key findings are on page 1 (the actual 3rd page in the PDF and page 4 (page 6 in the PDF) is where the survey starts.
Test yourself and see what you believe and know!
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