PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON’S 1996 welfare reform legislation, the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Act, included an initial allocation of $50 million to fund abstinence-until-marriage education programs in the nation’s public schools. This provision was a triumph for social conservatives who had spent 3 decades campaigning to have schools teach sexuality from an exclusively conservative moral vantage point, if at all. Since passage of the bill, every state except California has adopted abstinence-only curricula.
Also in 1996, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy was founded, with the mission “to improve the well-being of children, youth, and families by reducing teen pregnancy.” The organization’s moderate position is reflected in its media campaigns, which guide youths both to delay or reduce sexual activity and to use condoms if they are sexually active. In Image 1 ▶, a negative and potentially even stigmatizing label is used to goad young people into thinking responsibly about sexuality. Image 2 ▶, the winning entry in the annual “Take a Stand Against Teen Pregnancy” contest, accomplishes something that is extremely difficult in the context of current controversies concerning childhood and adolescent sexuality: it acknowledges that sexuality is a fundamental and central component of life by asserting that the brain is critically important to sex. Finally, the directness of the message and graphics in Image 3 ▶ is notable: the comparison between the cost of condoms and the costs associated with caring for an infant is starkly presented.
Image 1—
CHEAP (“Condoms are CHEAP. If we’d used one I wouldn’t have to tell my parents I’m pregnant.”).
Image 2—
The Brain (“Question: When it comes to sex, what is the most important part of your body? Answer: Your brain.”).
Image 3—
OR (the cost of condoms OR the cost of caring for an infant).