Via Sociological Images.
That’s why you should become scientists, kids! (Because engineers don’t have sex. You want me to spell it out for you?)
I really should just leave it at that, but the sprawling, multifaceted stupidity of this public service announcement — apparently having sex, like smoking the wacky weed, kills brain cells and will cripple your SAT scores, or something — is difficult to let pass without comment. The immaturity of our cultural attitudes toward sex is flat-out embarrassing. There are real concerns that adolescents should be taught about — disease and the risk of unwanted pregnancy being the obvious ones. But they should also be taught that, as long as you are careful about such things, there is nothing wrong with having sex. Done correctly, it can be fun! Sure, there can be emotional trauma, awkward moments, broken hearts, impetuous late-night phone calls that you wish you could take back the next day. But these are downsides associated with life, not with sex per se.
But as a society, we’re too uptight and hypocritical to say these things. Instead, we get stuff like abstinence-only sex ed, with predictable results. And adolescence, which isn’t going to be an easy time of life for most people no matter how much sensible advice they are given, becomes just that much more agonizing and uncertain.
Except for engineers, of course! They have it figured out.
I think the message is supposed to come across something like this: no method of non-abstinence birth control is 100% effective (a vacuously true claim almost on par with “evolution is just a theory”…), therefore if you have sex you’re throwing away your future because you’re going to get pregnant/get someone pregnant.
(Bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, of course, since the one demonstrably real effect of abstinence-only “sex education” is to make teenagers significantly more ignorant about birth control, and thus more likely not to use it properly or at all, and end up pregnant.)
That’s a photoshop, dude. It’s been floating around since at least 2004.
Ah, but what are they doing to make a future of engineering sound better to teens than a future of sex?
this might explain a shortage of engineers.
they are not procreating so their population
is dwindling.
You think it’s a photoshop? I hate falling for stuff like that. But I don’t think it is. Regardless, the “Sex Can Wait” campaign is frighteningly real.
The biggest nightmare of the religious right is entirely consequence-free sex (at least, physically). At some point in the future (though probably not for a few decades yet) contraception will be 100% reliable and STDs will be a thing of the past.
I just finished reading Peter Hamilton’s “The Dreaming Void” which is set over 1,000 years into the future. His characters, who all live indefinitely in perfect twenty-something bodies, spend an awful lot of time indulging in all sorts of sexual activity, including one person who has multiple cloned bodies all controlled by one interconnected brain. Imagine the possibilities…
I think Hamilton has it spot on. Sexual mores will be driven more and more by advances in technology — medical and otherwise — as it has already begun to with the advent of the pill. When we reach the stage where we are all living 500 years in ageless Brangelina bodies (alas, not in time for us) then I have no doubt that they will be put to use as frequently as physically possible. Ancient customs such as marriage and fidelity will be forced to adapt.
Prof. Trodden might appreciate this: according to undergrads at Case Western Reserve, that billboard is an accurate description of reality. So what’s the big deal?
Seriously, this had us all rolling in laughter on the Case chats last week.
I can tell you, when I was studying to be an engineer, I want sex too. Like, real bad, man.
Kids who learn only abstinence only sex education stand a good chance of becoming parents. 🙂
If this is all there is to the “campaign” then it is dishonest. Without educational programs to interest kids in engineering or science this billboard is just another noise factor.
I am not so sure that sex is a good thing for teenagers, particularly the younger ones, even with birth control or protection methods. It projects them into emotional relationships they are not prepared for. Abstinence might be a good idea, but the social lives of young people needs to be enriched in ways to provide alternatives. Without that this so called sex education is a waste of time.
The culture wars, along with the whole abortion issue, are things that as time goes on I wish would just go away.
Lawrence B. Crowell
maybe sex “can” wait. But should it?
This type of nonsense is in direct conflict with the hormonal messages that healthy adolescents are experiencing.
I believe there was a study showing that abstinence programs are ineffective and that kids who pledge to “save themselves” are actually no more or less likely to actually engage in sexual activity than those who do not make the pledge.
e.
Sex is a dirty, disgusting, primitive, and highly selfish thing. A nasty consequence of our barbaric evolution (so far). It doesn’t have to continue. Abstinence, in-vitro, and genetic engineering are some ways out, among others. Evolve to a higher plateau!
Sure, but you don’t have to do it that way.
Only if done properly!
Man, if #11 is a girl, I am not dating her.
“Sex is a dirty, disgusting, primitive, and highly selfish thing.” That is why it is so much fun. Remember, flowers are all about plant sex. Sex is what made this planet’s biota bloom into the large diverse forms that now exist.
I always wondered how Brontosaurs got it on.
L. C.
.
Obviously. The real message is life can wait.
A study of Wellesley College students found that 83% of Mathematics students and 83% of Chemistry students were virgins, while only 43% of Spanish students, 20% of Anthropology students, and 0% of Studio Art students were virgins.
In a nationwide study of young adults, it was found that by age 19, 80% of males, 75% of females and 87% of college students have had sex. In contrast, 56% of Princeton undergraduates, 59% of Harvard undergraduates, and 51% of M.I.T. undergraduates have had sex by age 19. Interestingly, 35% of M.I.T. graduate students are virgins.
The abstinance message is just another red herring. Just like Intelligent Design is nothing more than disguised Creationism – so abstinance is just another disguise for dissing pre-marital sex.
Are there any theories about why talking about sex was/is a taboo? Our recent Chimp-like ancestors presumably had sex in plain view of others, which would be completely taboo today. But at some point, sex and even talking about it became taboo. When and why did that happen?
Quick guess: when money/economics was invented or when marriage was invented. In those days, sex=children, marriage=money. Sex before marriage = children with no money = bad.
Sex without love is boring and stupid unless of course its a “really hot threesome” and you don t have to see them again – till next time.
Count Iblis: I don’t think that there was ever a point historically when sex itself was taboo. Any culture which had such a taboo would die out. The relevant example would be the Shaker religion, which no has only a few members.
The taboo in most cultures is about sex outside of marriage. The reason for that probably had to do with disease and child-rearing. Trying to keep sex within marriage was probably a very good ides centuries ago before the invention of penicillin and The Pill.
Smadin: You mention the obvious fact that “no method of non-abstinence birth control is 100% effective”. This means that, for at least some girls, teenage sex will lead to one of two things – 1) childbirth or 2) abortion. Try to think of a typical American 13 year old. Maybe you have a daughter, relative, or neighbor of that age. Does the idea of such a girl having a baby or getting an abortion not concern you?
Come to think of it, most of these posts emphasizing only the fun side of sex seem to be coming from the male point of view. Of course, men don’t have to worry about getting pregnant. I’d like to see some more posts from women. I’ve heard that many girls who become sexually active at a very young age later come to regret it. Please, female CV people, share you opinions!
Hey, Ijon Tichy: Your post with the percentages is written as if it came from a news story. You made it up, correct?
Eugene said: “Man, if #11 is a girl, I am not dating her.”
But if he’s a guy?
I promise that’s not photoshop, I took a picture of one of those billboards and then I photoshopped my engineer classmate/friend’s face on it. College can be fun for engineers too.