Sexual Education and Rep. Akin’s Lack of It

A SYTYCB Entry

“Can you get pregnant from giving a blow job?”

“My BF and I were dry humping and he came on my shorts. Could I get pregnant?”

“I just got my period. Am I pregnant?”

Above is a sampling of texts and instant messages that I answer as a health educator for Planned Parenthood’s chat service. I like getting questions like this because often the answer is fairly straightforward and it’s a great learning opportunity for the people who ask them.

By now, you may or may not have heard Missouri Representative Todd Akin’s comments that pregnancy as a result of rape is “really rare” (see Chloe’s excellent Feministing post about that HERE), and if it’s “legitimate rape” a woman’s body has ways of shutting down her reproductive system so that a pregnancy does not occur. I missed that one on ConvenientMedicalTheories4U.com! Silly me!

Rep. Akin took to his Facebook page to say that he “misspoke” and goes on to say that he empathizes with women and that he meant “forcible rape” (uh, what was the difference again?). What he did not include in this retraction was that his remarks about the reproductive system and rape are completely and utterly FALSE. This spreading of misinformation has to stop. I have no problem with people giving out opinions, but out-in-out lies? No. No. No! Especially when that lie comes from a white man in power, such as Mr. Akin, who unfortunately American society basically forces the public to believe without question.

Allowing this misinformation to air unchecked is extremely harmful to young people who have little to no sex education. Especially when the sex education provided is limited to STDs and abstinence – birth control? How pregnancy actually happens? Ha! Who needs that when we have abstinence? Uh…we all do. This lapse in education is evidenced through the questions that we get everyday on Planned Parenthood’s chat line. Visions of Mean Girls dance in my head, “Don’t have sex. If you have sex you will get pregnant and die!” I think all of the misinformation out there really hit home for me when a friend of mine, 25-years-old and Cornell-educated, asserted that an acquaintance of ours will never be able to have kids because she’s had three abortions (this isn’t true if she had her abortions done safely by a medical professional – which is one of the reasons why it’s so important keep abortion legal!).

Mr. Akin reminds us that we need to ask questions and be critical about the information we’re given about sex: “Where did that information come from?” “Is it a reliable source?” “Why would I think that it’s a reliable source and is it actually reliable?” These are the types of questions we need to ask of our sexual knowledge in order to take back control of our education about sex and reproduction, because unfortunately, we cannot rely on the majority of the most visible sources. I applaud the young people who come to Planned Parenthood’s chat line to get information. This is the kind of initiative we need more of when it comes to sexual health. Mr. Akin would do well to do the same. I encourage people to strike up conversations about the type of sexual education they have and from where it came. Feel free to question us about where we get this information, too (it’s from PPFA’s health care and education professionals). Talking about sex is scary at first, but practice makes perfect!

P.S. Want to take action to get Rep. Akin out of Congress? Sign Moveon.org’s petition!