Virgin Pledgers Will Have More STDs
See more » Prudes & Puritans
Abstinence pledges fly in the face of human history and sexual psychology. Conservatives and Christians refuse to face the realities of human sexuality. The effect is to make it more likely that American teens will contract sexually transmitted diseases.
… analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a “virginity pledge,” but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.
Teenage ‘virginity pledges’ are ineffective
Comments
I think the conclusion that virgin pledgers will have more STD’s does not follow merely from the data presented.
You must show that virgin pledgers are not likely to have their sexual experiences with those with a lower, that is, non-compensatory rate of infection to make that claim and there is nothing in the article that suggests that.
It is not improbable that those in the Virgin Pledgers group might not seek out partners with similar conservative values who have had fewer than average sexual partners lowering their per capita risk of STD’s. Unless this is factored into their actual risk of acquiring an STD, the conclusion in the title does not follow from the data.
While they may have unprotected sex more often, if Virgin Pledger partners are less likely to have sexual partners who have had multiple partners, or are less likely to be high risk partners, this may reduce their own risk of infection comparatively.
If your conclusion is supported by data from the study, that should be stated more explicitly, but as written, it appears that headline is drawn from an assumption that does not follow.
Peter, Editor and Chief Logician
The Peter Files Blog of Commentary and Comedy
Posted by: Peter Files Blog of Comedy | January 6, 2009 9:50 AM