KSL news, for not presenting a full story Open Letter

KSL news, for not presenting a full story Open Letter

November 28, 2005

An open letter to KSL, As a teenager growing up in Utah, I found your eyewitness news investigation on teen sexual intercourse to be interesting. It showed a problem of disease, but unfortunately, painted a picture of teenage sex orgies, and irresponsibility, thus diverting from the real problem, STD's. The problem of sexually transmitted diseases can be stemmed from our institutionalized teachings of sexual subjects. I remember last year, my Junior year, and listening through my sex-ed class. We were discussing sex and STD's, when he suddenly said something about one in six condoms failing. How could this be? In my Medical Assisting classes, we learned that condoms are considered class 2, or just short of 100% effective and my health teacher just told us the figure was more like 83% effective? Someone didn't have their facts straight, I did some research and found that this was actually being taught in a number of schools, mostly in Utah. I also found that this form of education, known as "strict abstinence" education, which involved the use of a study from an article in Science Magazine showing a trend of holes in latex gloves. The CDC released a statement saying that although gloves are made of the same material as condoms, condoms must undergo much more vigorous testing, including a four in one thousand "water leak" test, compared to a forty in one thousand "water leak" test with gloves. If condoms fail this test, the entire batch is thrown out. Condoms are 10,000 times safer than not using a condom, and the only reason they don't work correctly, I misuse; which is why proper condom education is so important. Also, your piece slanted teenage sex as a new problem. This is not a new pandemic spreading through the teenage masses. Quite the contrary, sex is normal teenage behavior, and if it can't be stopped, it needs to be controlled. Sex is a very intimate action, and should be celebrated, not shunned into a rebellious act. Sex education should be taught by parents in an open-minded fashion, not shut down as an unapproachable subject. In conclusion, sex is a part of life, and misinformation about sex only perpetuates a stereotype about teenagers that turns an act of love into an act of reckless rebellion. And next time you do a story about teenagers, please present both sides of the argument, for that is celebrated journalism. Avid Viewer, Faris Chebib PS: I hope you do a follow-up on this story, so that both sides can present their argument. Cc: The Coalition for Positive Sexuality (CPS) PO Box 77212

Washington, DC 20013 www.complaints.com/ Eyewitness News Investigation Comment Board

Faris

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