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New data from CDC’s Youth Risk
Behavior Survey indicate the number of Memphis City Schools (MCS) high-school
students who reported risky sex behaviors in 2011 remained level or increased
from 2009.
The biannual survey found that 62.2
percent of participating Memphis students said they had had sexual intercourse,
up from 61.6 percent in 2009. Some 15.6 percent reported first sex prior to age
13, compared with 12.1 percent in 2009. And in 2011, 25.3 percent said they had
sex with four or more partners; in 2009, that figure was 23 percent.
Last year, 22.8 percent of Memphis
respondents said they had never been taught about HIV/AIDS in school, compared
with 20.6 percent in 2009.
“These students weren’t getting the
kind of sex education they need to prevent [STDs] and pregnancies,” said Joan
Carr, community affairs director at Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region.
The problem is exacerbated by new legislation mandating an exclusive focus on
abstinence in the state’s family life curriculum, which does not address
students who are or have been sexually active, she noted.
Tennessee does not require sex
education after the ninth grade, though MCS offers high-school students an
intensive, year-long course focused on healthy relationships and the prevention
of STDs and pregnancy, a district spokesperson said.
Further, “[MCS] follows the Michigan
Model for its Family Life Curriculum. This age-appropriate curriculum begins in
the elementary level in grade four and extends to the high-school level,” the
spokesperson said.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
