Research Report

For this blog post, I will go into detail of the sources I've found and what information I can gather for my research component of the project.

Source #1- 

Title: School‐based sex education policies and indicators of sexual health among young people: a comparison of the Netherlands, France, Australia and the United States

Author:  Heather Weaver 

Host: Routledge: Taylor & Francis Online, http://www.tandfonline.com/ 

Heather Weaver- 

1. Florida State University

2. Hospital 

Source Audience:

The academic journal's audience is potential authority or policy makers, like school boards who can change the way sexual education is taught.

Source Purpose:

This article uses logic as a rhetorical strategy to insist that America's sex-ed policies are less effective and teaching about abstinence will not lower the risk of sexual diseases or sexual health-related issues. With the use of statistics and scientific evidence, it directly refutes the idea that sex positive education "promotes" sex, or increases sexually risky activity in adolescents. Instead, the article compares America's sex-ed policies to other countries, like France and the Netherlands who acknowledge and accept pre-marital sex, in order to show that healthy, honest sexual education is much more effective than programs that preach abstinence.

Contextual Ideas:

5 1. It aids the argument that teaching about adolescent sex openly and realistically is beneficial for teens'  health: mental and physical. 

2. It shows that America's young people have higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies, compared to many other places in the world who actually welcome sexuality, and don't fear the discussion of it

Source 2: 

Title: Sex Education in the United States

Author: Planned Parenthood 

Host: Planned Parenthood, www.plannedparenthood.org

audience:

Parents, authority, schools, government

Purpose:

Rhetorical strategy of logic by using statistics, to show parents and authority (like school boards) the benefits of sexual education, if taught honestly, instead of disregarding the fact that sex is going to happen amongst adolescents and therefore rendering feelings of guilt or shame for teens. 

"Today, 90 percent of U.S. parents believe that sex education programs in high school should cover topics such as sexually transmitted infections including HIV, healthy relationships, birth control, and abstinence"

Contextual ideas:

1. There is more to sex education than scaring kids about pregnancies and diseases; complex, more difficult ideas of sexual consent and actually using/buying contraceptions to prevent the potential dangers are not being discussed nearly as often.

2. Teaching honestly will have a more positive effect on teens

"Studies have shown that parents have a greater impact on the sexual health of their children when family conversations about sex and sexuality are ongoing. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that parents have open, honest, reciprocal, and repeated conversations with their children about sexuality beginning early in their children’s lives. Repeated conversations allow parents to reinforce and build on what they want to teach their children. They also give children the chance to ask questions that help them understand and put into practice the lessons about sex and sexuality that their parents have taught them (Martino, 2008)."

Source 3:

Title: 'Girls & Sex' And The Importance Of Talking To Young Women About Pleasure
Author: NPR Staff, Fresh Air, Terry Gross- Host, executive producer of NPR, Columbia Journalist award
Host: NPR

Audience:

Young women, especially HS and college students, parents

Purpose:

Highlight the need to have frank discussions with girls so they know what to expect in intimate times, and how to advocate for themselves. Learn how to communicate and say what they want/desire

Contextual Ideas:

1. I ground my essay by using Peggy's book, "Girls & Sex", so I will mention that a new non-fiction book has surfaced that touches on this important issue in society
2.  I will quote from the book or the audio to support my argument; related to sexism or objectifying women in our society

Source 4: 

Title: The case for starting sex education in kindergarten
Author: Saskia De Melker- producer for PBS News Hour, Dickinson College, Production assistant for Voice of America
Host: PBS
Audience: Policy makers, school boards, teachers, activists

Purpose: 

Show that other countries are more advanced than America and that embracing sexuality, starting at a young age, is beneficial

Contextual ideas: 

Discussion of sex ed in schools, compare America to other countries, how teaching trust, intimacy, respect, etc, will lead to a more responsible and informed youth, they won't be ashamed or feel guilty, abstinence programs will end

Source 5:

Title: (Sex) lives of girls and women: How social media affects the way we think about sexuality
Author: Sarah Macwhirter; Assistant life editor 
Host: The Globe and Mail
Audience: Young girls, parents

Purpose: 

Blames social media for deceiving the youth and making girls live up to expectations to be "sexy"

Contextual Ideas:

One of my paragraphs in my essay will explain social media's role in the lives of young women, and how it forces girls to objectify themselves and how it plays out in the bedroom with men. Makes them sexualized by men

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