THE McDERMOTT REPORT : 4
A Guide for Parents
A REVIEW OF HAWAII MIDDLE SCHOOL SEX EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN USE
August 12th, 2015
The Office of Representative Bob McDermott
Hawaii State Capitol
415 South Beretania Street, Room 330
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone: (808) 586-9730
Fax: (808) 586-9738
repmcdermott@capitol.hawaii.gov
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The images that follow were taken for DOE programs.
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3
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Table of Contents
Bob McDermott’s Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 6
1.0 – Introduction............................................................................................................................................................................ 9
2.0 – The Sex Education Battle .................................................................................................................................................... 12
3.0 – The “Other” Middle School Curricula ............................................................................................................................... 15
3.1 – Brief Backgrounds of the Curricula .................................................................................................................................. 15
3.2 – A Note on Usage ............................................................................................................................................................... 17
4.0 – Medical Accuracy ................................................................................................................................................................ 18
4.1 – Ambiguous Anatomy ......................................................................................................................................................... 18
4.2 – Equivalence of Different Types of Sex ............................................................................................................................... 18
4.3 – Homosexuality; Bisexuality ............................................................................................................................................... 21
4.4 – Gender Ambiguity ............................................................................................................................................................. 25
4.5 – Teaching Boys and Girls: Together or Separate? ............................................................................................................. 28
4.6 – Condom Limitations .......................................................................................................................................................... 29
4.7 – Health Risks ...................................................................................................................................................................... 34
4.8 – Abstinence and Marriage .................................................................................................................................................. 36
4.9 – Reproduction; Pregnancy ................................................................................................................................................. 42
5.0 – Age Appropriate? ................................................................................................................................................................ 45
5.1 – Legal Ramifications Relating to Age ................................................................................................................................. 45
5.2 – Too Much Information, Too Soon? ................................................................................................................................... 48
5.3 – “Rational” Youth .............................................................................................................................................................. 49
5.4 – Not “Everyone” is Having Sex.......................................................................................................................................... 53
5.5 – Warnings Against Predators ............................................................................................................................................. 54
6.0 – Ethical Considerations......................................................................................................................................................... 56
6.1 – Abortion ............................................................................................................................................................................ 56
6.2 – Abortifacients .................................................................................................................................................................... 57
6.3 – Parental Rights ................................................................................................................................................................. 59
7.0 – Legal Concerns ..................................................................................................................................................................... 63
7.1 – Previous Court Cases........................................................................................................................................................ 63
7.2 – How the State Might be Liable to Families ....................................................................................................................... 63
8.0 – Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................ 65
5
Bob McDermott’s Executive Summary
McDermott Report 4
We have reviewed all the current Abstinence Based Sexuality Education programs currently in
use by the State of Hawaii Department of Education. For purposes of this report we are only
reviewing middle school programs because at this grade level some of these children are as
young 11 years old. Because children at this age are probably most susceptible to social
engineering, we wanted to provide parents a tool that they could use when evaluating their
child’s program. Unfortunately, only one program, the HealthTeacher (“1999-2006” version)
gets our mere “nod” of approval and for this reason we strongly recommend parents take full
advantage of the DOE’s “opt out” forms and remove their children from the other medically
inaccurate and age inappropriate courses.
Here are our ratings:
HealthTeacher (“1999-2006” version)
Making a Difference!
Draw the Line, Respect the Line
Family Life and Sexual Health (F.L.A.S.H.)
Pono Choices (Pono Choices is not included in this review as we covered
it thoroughly in McDermott report's 1 and 2, posted at
www.ohanapolicygroup.com for public inspection. Pono Choices is a
Research Project and the worst of the curriculum reviewed.)
All other programs have, in our estimation, varying degrees of inaccuracies, omissions, or
misleading assertions and we simply cannot in good conscience, recommend them. It is worth
noting that HealthTeacher was the oldest of all the programs we reviewed and hence, did not
appear to have the same type of political correctness that can be found in nearly all of the other
programs we reviewed. Furthermore, while we would like to be able to inform parents as to
which schools currently use HealthTeacher as their sex education curriculum, we can’t.
Unfortunately, sex ed is among the many things our bungling DOE does not keep track of so we
are advising parents to contact their keiki’s school themselves.
Because parents are busy juggling the demands of work and paying the bills, they are putting
their trust in the schools when it comes to education. When it comes to a health course, too many
parents assume that the schools are providing medically accurate, age appropriate, reproductionoriented lessons to their children. After reviewing these curricula, we believe this trust is
misplaced and recommend parents be on guard when it comes to what is being passed off as sex
“education.”
6
Over the last thirty years we have seen a remarkable shift in sexuality education – away from a
biology-based study and instead toward one that is more oriented towards a sexual lifestyles
behavior guide. This was exacerbated with the advent of the Affordable Care Act or “Obama
Care” and the push for a very leftist approach to sexuality education though Health and Human
Services (HHS) grants.
Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of sex education and fetal body parts, has been
a leader in this “new approach to sexuality.” According to Planned Parenthood, anything goes
(e.g., anal sex, anilingus, bondage and sadomasochism, gender bending, etc.) and everything is
okay as long as it is done with “respect.” Any sort of moral judgment is not allowed.
If fact, these programs that are being widely promoted today go so far as to omit the devastating
risk profiles associated with anomalous behaviors. One will not find anywhere in these so-called
“comprehensive programs” the escalated risks of oral cancer associated with fellatio nor will one
find information regarding the deadly and exponentially increased risks of participating in anal
sex.
Perhaps most striking of all is the fact these programs victimize young girls. Sex is sexist.
Granted, we may not like to hear that, but it is a fact. It is young girls who will bear the brunt of
the damage done by these programs. The misleading and incomplete information given
regarding the “protection” condoms provide in the case of HPV and chlamydia is criminal.
Young girls may think, “Well my partner always wore a condom, so I am safe.” Then one day
she wakes up and wonders why she suddenly has these unsightly vaginal warts because she
knows her boyfriend always wore a condom. Or when she is twenty-four years old, married and
wants to start a family. Imagine her surprise when she discovers that she is sterile because
chlamydia has irrevocably damaged her fallopian tubes. At this point, the damage is done and
it’s permanent.
Nowhere in any of these programs are the concepts of love, chastity, nor fidelity mentioned. The
once common mantra of a “long term monogamous relationship” has vanished. Inexplicably,
long-term monogamous relationships are no longer stressed nor mentioned.
Now, terms like “perceived gender identity” and “gender fluidity” are clouding the minds of
youngsters. There is no right or wrong now in sex ed. We have slipped backward into a pool of
ripe moral decay and parents were never asked their opinion. Some of these programs even
encourage teachers to promote the LBGTQ lifestyle in a positive fashion.
We shall continue to fight and hold the State accountable to follow the law, which requires
“medically accurate and age appropriate information.” Right now, they are falling short in both
areas.
According to the left – If you have same sex marriage; then you must teach same sex scenarios
and anal sex on par with male-female reproduction, while omitting the elevated risks of these
aberrant behaviors! Anything less, is bigoted in their view.
The inmates are now in control of the asylum. We recommend parents take advantage of the
current “opt out” policy and be pro-active in removing your children from sex ed programs that
are inconsistent with your family’s values.
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Bob McDermott
State Representative
Note: This is the 4th in a series of reports. Our Primary researcher has been the indefatigable Paul
Kanoho, Esq. His work is bullet proof and meticulously researched. Paul is extraordinarily talented
possessing a keen intellect and passion for excellence.
Also, of help has been Mrs. Susan Duffy who has provided golden nuggets of information along the way.
Of course, my Office Manager, Mr. Keith Rollman is always ready to lend a hand in these efforts and
jumps in as needed.
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1.0 – Introduction
In January of 2014, our legislative office released “The McDermott Report,” subtitled: “The
‘Pono Choices’ Curriculum: Sexualizing the Innocent.” That report criticized the Hawaii State
Department of Education (DOE) for its use of the University of Hawaii’s sexual education
curriculum, Pono Choices, which was designed for 11 to 13 year-old middle school students.
The report noted the fact that the ideologically biased, age-inappropriate curriculum was
medically inaccurate regarding basic human anatomy. Pono Choices also normalized anal sex,
while failing to warn students of the extreme dangers of anal sex. Monogamy was not clearly
presented as a superior way of life over casual sex. Pono Choices also failed to disclose the
shortcomings of condoms against diseases like HPV and herpes, and failed to teach students
about the stages of human reproduction. Age of consent laws were ignored, and children were
not given any warning about adult sexual predators. Further, parents received woefully
inadequate notice about the more controversial aspects of the curriculum.1
Later in the year, the DOE announced that it was convening a “working group” of so-called
“stakeholders” to review Pono Choices.2 The working group subsequently released a report,3
while the DOE simultaneously released an implementation report.4
In August of 2014, our office released “The McDermott Report Part II,” subtitled: “Pono
Choices: The Credibility Gap Widens.” This report responded to the DOE’s working group and
implementation reports, and also gave additional background information on the flawed process
under which Pono Choices came into being.5
In September of 2014, the DOE announced that “a revised version of Pono Choices was
reviewed and approved.” The most drastic change, arguably, came in the form of consent: Up
until that announcement, parents were required to affirmatively “opt out” if they did not want
their children to receive sexual education in the public schools.6 Under a new regulation change,
BOB MCDERMOTT & PAUL KANOHO, THE MCDERMOTT REPORT—THE ‘PONO CHOICES’ CURRICULUM:
SEXUALIZING THE INNOCENT 2 (2014).
2
Press Release, Hawaii State Department of Education, DOE Convenes Working Group to Review Pono
Choices (Feb. 21, 2014), available at
http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/ConnectWithUs/MediaRoom/PressReleases/Pages/DOE-convenes-workinggroup-to-review-Pono-Choices.aspx.
3
HAWAII STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION STAKEHOLDER REVIEW PANEL, PONO CHOICES CURRICULUM
FEBRUARY-MAY 2014 (2014), available at
http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/DOE%20Forms/PonoChoicesPanelReport.pdf.
4
HAWAII STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, IMPLEMENTING SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION:
BACKGROUND AND ACTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT, (2014), available at
http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/DOE%20Forms/PonoChoicesImplementationReport.pdf.
5
BOB MCDERMOTT ET AL, THE MCDERMOTT REPORT PART II—PONO CHOICES: THE CREDIBILITY GAP
WIDENS 3 (2014).
6
Press Release, Hawaii State Department of Education, DOE Approves Revised Pono Choices Sexual
Health Curriculum (Sept. 4, 2014), available at
1
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parents would need to “opt in” into order to enroll their students into any public school sexual
education curriculum.7 Some things, however, did not change: The same press release stated that
for Pono Choices, the anus would be listed as part of the “genital area.”8
On April 16, 2015, Joe S. McIlhaney, Jr., M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist and founder of the
Medical Institute of Sexual Health, teamed up with Rep. McDermott to give an informative live
presentation on the status of Hawaii’s sex education. To coincide with this presentation, this
legislative office released “The McDermott Report Part III,” subtitled: The Indoctrination of Our
Children (Forced Acceptance of Unhealthy Behaviors).” That report highlighted the disturbing
advancement of House Bill 459 in the Hawaii State Legislature,9 as well as a proposed
amendment to a Hawaii Board of Education (BOE) policy regarding sex education.10
Social engineers, who wished to advance “comprehensive” sexuality education in Hawaii public
schools, championed both H.B. 459 and the proposed BOE policy change.11 Eventually, the
social engineers won. On the one hand, H.B. 459 did not become a statutory law.12 However, on
June 16, 2015, the BOE abandoned its abstinence-based sex education policy.13 The policy
change also requires parents to once again affirmatively “opt out” if they do not want their
children to participate in public school sex education.14
The Office of Rep. McDermott has prepared this new report, “The McDermott Report Part IV.”
Given that Pono Choices is only one of several curricula that the DOE has approved for middle
school students attending public schools, this Report summarizes and evaluates the contents of
those other curricula, which are currently:
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Draw the Line, Respect the Line
Family Life and Sexual Health (F.L.A.S.H.)
Health Teacher
Making a Difference!
http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/ConnectWithUs/MediaRoom/PressReleases/Pages/DOE-approves-revisedPono-Choices-sexual-health-curriculum.aspx.
7
Hawaii State Department of Education Regulation #2210.1 (2014), available at
http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/ConnectWithUs/FAQ/Pages/Parent-opt-out-for-child.aspx.
8
Hawaii State Department of Education, supra note 6.
9
H.B. 459, 28th Leg., 2015 Sess. (Haw. 2015), available at
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=459&year=2015.
10
Agenda Item V.A., Discussion on Student Achievement Committee recommendation concerning Board
Policy 103.5 Sexual Health Education, HAW. BOARD OF EDUC., (Apr. 21, 2015),
http://www.hawaiiboe.net/Meetings/Notices/Documents/2015-0421%20GBM/GBM_04212015_SAC%20recommendation%20103.pdf.
11
BOB MCDERMOTT, THE MCDERMOTT REPORT PART III—THE INDOCTRINATION OF OUR CHILDREN
(FORCED ACCEPTANCE OF UNHEALTHY BEHAVIORS) 2 (2014).
12
See A Bill For An Act Relating to Health, H.B. 459, 2015 Sess. (Haw. 2015),
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=459.
13
Nanea Kalani, School Board Makes Sex Education Mandatory, HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER, June 17,
2015,
http://www.staradvertiser.com/newspremium/20150617_School_board_makes_sex_education_mandatory.html.
14
Jessica Terrell, Hawaii Public Schools Must Offer Sex Education, Board Decides, HONOLULU CIV. BEAT
(June 16, 2015), http://www.civilbeat.com/2015/06/hawaii-public-schools-must-offer-sex-education-board-decides.
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Positive Prevention15
While all of the curricula have varying degrees of positive aspects, we believe that with the
notable exception of Health Teacher, the others are significantly flawed. We therefore
recommend that parents consider taking full advantage of the “opt out” option. To assist
parents so as to help them understand why we are not sold on these programs. We have
provided specific page references when we have found notable examples of positive or
flawed content.
For the best context, readers should view this Report as a supplement to this Office’s
previous three “McDermott Reports,” which are available upon request. Further, while we
hope this Report is a helpful resource for all parents, we also encourage parents to read the
curricula for themselves. The materials can and should be available from the DOE for
parental review and inspection, given the requirements of Hawaii’s Uniform Information and
Practices Act, which is found in Chapter 92F of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.16
15
HAWAII STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION IN HAWAII—FACT SHEET 7–9
(n.d.), available at
http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/DOE%20Forms/Health%20and%20Nutrition/Sexual%20Health%20Education
%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf (last visited July 7, 2015).
16
HAW. REV. STAT. §§ 92F-1—92F-43 (2014), available at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol02_Ch0046-0115/HRS0092F/HRS_0092F-.htm.
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2.0 – The Sex Education Battle
The people on the different sides in the Hawaii sex education debate are part of a bigger
historical picture in America. Child development expert and educator David Elkind observes:
Early sex education was meant primarily to correct misinformation. This emphasis . . .
continued well into the 1950s when sex education—considered as ‘preparation for
marriage and family’—was most often part of home economics courses. By then, the
sex education curriculum had expanded to include information about the dangers of
venereal diseases and premarital pregnancy. In addition, some aspects of sexual
anatomy and its functions were taught in courses on human biology. Such material,
however, was reserved for junior and senior high school students.17
Sociologist Kristin Luker observes that, before the 1960’s:
Outside of a few “sex radicals” whose opinions did not have much effect on mainstream
American opinion, individuals, despite their own practices, agreed in principle that sex
before marriage was wrong for both men and women . . . . Sex education in public
schools was often . . . expansive, diffuse, and usually uncontroversial family life
education . . . .18
At the time, even the mere proposition of conducting a national study on the sexual practices of
unmarried women was unthinkable, and even “homophile” organizations that attempted to curb
anti-homosexual discrimination did not call for the “acceptance” of homosexuality as a
“lifestyle.”19
As time went on, however, a problematic shift started to emerge—away from marriage, family,
monogamy, and heterosexuality. One man who was eager to help in this shift was Alfred C.
Kinsey. He claimed that “10 per cent of the males are more or less exclusively homosexual . . .
for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55. This is one male in ten in the white male
population.”20 It should be noted, however, that his male research subjects—25% of whom were
prison or former prison inmates—were hardly representative of the overall U.S. adult male
population.21 Kinsey also claimed that orgasm “has been observed in boys of every age from 5
months to adolescence.”22 It is disputed how Kinsey and his team collected information
regarding young children. Paul Gebhard, formerly of the Kinsey Institute, claims that “that
information about child sexuality came from childhood memories of some interview subjects and
17
DAVID ELKIND, THE HURRIED CHILD: GROWING UP TOO FAST TOO SOON 63 (Da Capo Press, 25th
Anniversary ed. 2007) (1981).
18
KRISTIN LUKER, WHEN SEX GOES TO SCHOOL: WARRING VIEWS ON SEX—AND SEX EDUCATION—SINCE
THE 1960’S 62 (2006).
19
Id. at 70.
20
ALFRED C. KINSEY ET AL., SEXUAL BEHAVIOR IN THE HUMAN MALE 651 (1948).
21
JUDITH REISMAN ET AL., KINSEY, SEX, AND FRAUD 9 (1990).
22
KINSEY ET AL., supra note 20, at 177.
12
from interviews with teachers and a small group of pedophiles.”23 It is also alleged, however,
that the information was gained from adults who were performing sexual acts on children for the
purpose of the study.24
Notably, the Kinsey Institute was willing to forego some funding in order to accommodate the
financial needs of Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).
As former SIECUS President Mary Calderone, M.D., announced:
Few people realize that the great library collection of what is now known as the Kinsey
Institute in Bloomington, Indiana, was formed very specifically with one major field
omitted—sex education. This was because it seemed appropriate, not only to the
Institute but to its major funding source, the National Institute of Mental Health, to
leave this area for SIECUS to fill.25
In light of this, Professor Judith Reisman and her colleagues warn us: “The connection between
Kinsey and Calderone must be taken literally.”26 True to form, a subsequent SIECUS President
wrote about how she and her colleagues “fantasized” about a national “petting project” for teens.
She advocated the following:
A partial list of safe sex practices for teens could include:
Talking
Flirting
Dancing
Hugging
Kissing
Necking
Massaging
Caressing
Undressing each other
Masturbation alone
Masturbation in front of a partner
Mutual masturbation
Teens could surely come up with their own list of activities. By helping teens explore
the full range of safe sexual behaviors, we may help to raise a generation of adults that
do not equate sex with intercourse, or intercourse with vaginal orgasm, as the goal of
sex. Rather, we can help teens understand that sex is more than intercourse and that
23
Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Conservative Group Attacks Kinsey Data on Children, HERALD-TIMES, Sept. 6,
1995, http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/1995/09/06/archive.19950906.b0c15bb.sto.
24
REISMAN ET AL., supra note 21, at 46.
25
Mary Calderone, In My Opinion, SIECUS REP., May-July 1982, at 6, 6, available at
http://www.siecus.org/_data/global/images/SIECUS%20Reports/10-5.pdf.
26
REISMAN ET AL., supra note 21, at 37.
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abstinence from intercourse does not mean abstinence from all intimate expression.27
A more recent SIECUS publication advocates telling children as young as five that “[t]ouching
and rubbing one’s own genitals to feel good is called masturbation,”28 and recommends that nine
year-olds learn that “[g]ender identity refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female,
or a combination of these.”29
Dr. Calderone was also a former Medical Director of Planned Parenthood.30 That organization
performed 327,653 abortions in 2013.31 It was also listed as a “partner” for the Pono Choices
curriculum.32 Another like-minded organization, Advocates for Youth, has been pushing for sex
education to start in Kindergarten.33
Today, individuals who support abstinence and advocate caution regarding sex and sex education
risk being labeled as unenlightened. Miriam Grossman, M.D., a psychiatrist who has been
critical of SIECUS and Planned Parenthood, has noted that those organizations “claim neutrality
and successfully portray the conflict as religious right versus medical facts, hicks versus
Harvard.” Dr. Grossman, however, notes the irony: The “hicks” have science “in their corner.”34
The Report that you are now reading will show how this fact is relevant to the debate over sex
education in Hawaii.
27
Debra W. Haffner, Safe Sex and Teens, SIECUS REP., Sept./Oct. 1988, at 9, 9, available at
http://www.siecus.org/_data/global/images/SIECUS%20Reports/17-1.pdf.
28
NATIONAL GUIDELINES TASK FORCE, GUIDELINES FOR COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY EDUCATION 51 (3rd
ed. 2004), available at http://www.siecus.org/_data/global/images/guidelines.pdf.
29
Id. at 31.
30
History, SIECUS, http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=493 (last visited
June 30, 2015).
31
Susan Berry, Planned Parenthood Annual Report: All About Abortions and
Profits, BRIETBART.COM (Jan. 1, 2015), http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/01/01/planned-parenthood-annualreport-all-about-abortions-and-profits.
32
Pono Choices Partners, PONO CHOICES, http://www.cds.hawaii.edu/ponochoices/pono-choices-partners
(last visited July 7, 2015).
33
Children and HIV/AIDS, ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH, http://advocatesforyouth.org/for-professionals/lessonplans-professionals/2406 (last visited July 7, 2015).
34
MIRIAM GROSSMAN, YOU’RE TEACHING MY CHILD WHAT?: A PHYSICIAN EXPOSES THE LIES OF SEX
EDUCATION AND HOW THEY HARM YOUR CHILD 6 (2009).
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3.0 – The “Other” Middle School Curricula
3.1 – Brief Backgrounds of the Curricula
Draw the Line, Respect the Line
We reviewed the following three stages of this curriculum:
 Grade 635
 Grade 736
 Grade 837
One of the curriculum’s authors, Douglas Kirby, “completed a seminal study on the impact of
school-based health centers while working at The Center for Population Options (now Advocates
for Youth).”38 The curriculum is intended to be used for each student throughout all three
grades, and the content for each grade is different. The Grade 6 curriculum provides no
information to students about sex, except that the instructor is to explain to students that he or
she “will be teaching 5 lessons that will help them learn how to protect themselves and others
from pregnancy, HIV and other diseases you can get from sex,” and further, that “these lessons
won’t be talking about sex directly, but students will learn to set limits and stick with their
limits.”39 For this reason, this Report will not be evaluating the Grade 6 book.
Some of the curriculum’s developers also co-authored a study, which claims that Draw the Line,
Respect the Line had a positive impact on boys, who delayed sexual initiation for up to one year
after completing the course of the program. Parents should note, however, that the curriculum
had no impact on the sexual activity of girls.40
Family Life and Sexual Health (F.L.A.S.H.)
We reviewed the following three versions of this curriculum:
 Grades 4-641
 Grades 7-842
35
BARBARA MARIN ET AL., DRAW THE LINE, RESPECT THE LINE: SETTING LIMITS TO PREVENT TEEN
PREGNANCY, GRADE 6 (2003) [hereinafter MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE SIX].
36
KARIN COYLE ET AL., DRAW THE LINE, RESPECT THE LINE: SETTING LIMITS TO PREVENT TEEN
PREGNANCY, GRADE 7 (2003) [hereinafter COYLE ET AL., DTL GRADE SEVEN].
37
BARBARA MARIN ET AL., DRAW THE LINE, RESPECT THE LINE: SETTING LIMITS TO PREVENT TEEN
PREGNANCY, GRADE 8 (2003) [hereinafter MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT].
38
Honoring Dr. Douglas Kirby, ETR.ORG, http://www.etr.org/more-about-doug-kirby (last visited July 7,
2015).
39
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE SIX, supra note 35, at 13.
40
Research Evidence for Draw the Line/Respect the Line, TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION EVIDENCE REV.,
http://tppevidencereview.aspe.hhs.gov/pdfs/DrawtheLine-RespecttheLine.pdf (last updated May 31, 2012).
41
ELIZABETH “BETH” REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H.: A CURRICULUM IN FAMILY LIFE AND SEXUAL HEALTH
FOR GRADES 4, 5 AND 6 (2005) [hereinafter REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H.].
42
ELIZABETH “BETH” REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H.: A CURRICULUM IN FAMILY LIFE AND SEXUAL HEALTH
FOR GRADES 7 AND 8 (2006) [hereinafter REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H.].
15
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Special Education (for special needs students in both Middle School and High School)43
Robert Bidwell, M.D., of the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children is listed as a
contributor.44 He is openly homosexual, has an adopted son,45 and has testified in court that
children of gay parents would benefit by same-sex marriage.46
All three versions of the F.L.A.S.H. curriculum include several organizations on a list of
“Selected Reliable Resources” in their appendices. The listed organizations include (among
others): Advocates for Youth, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and SIECUS.47
HealthTeacher
We evaluated the version of the curriculum that was designed for middle school students. The
printing that the DOE made available to us has copyright date of “1999-2006,” and contains nine
lessons related to sexuality. Sex is only one of many health topics that HealthTeacher covers. In
fact, most of the curriculum covers other issues, including hygiene, marijuana, alcohol, and
gambling.48
This Report will have several positive comments about this version of HealthTeacher. Parents
should be aware, however, that updates to the curriculum have been made since the publication
of the “1999-2006” version. We do not know if or when the DOE will transition to a newer
version.
Making a Difference!
This curriculum is intended for both middle school and high school students.49 We reviewed the
version that the DOE’s Curriculum and Instruction Branch possesses, which is “4.1.”50 One of
its developers, Konstance A. McCaffree, has served on the board of directors of SIECUS.51 The
curriculum’s other developers helped to co-author a study. The results of that study claimed that
43
JANE STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H.: A CURRICULUM IN FAMILY LIFE AND SEXUAL
HEALTH FOR MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS (2006) [hereinafter STANGLE ET AL.,
SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H.].
44
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, at ii; REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, at
unnumbered page entitled “Medical Review”; STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, at
unnumbered page entitled “Medical Review.”
45
Catherine E. Toth, Gay and Lesbian Families, HONOLULU ADVERTISER, Nov. 18, 2001,
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Nov/18/oh/oh01a.html.
46
B.A. Robinson, Same-Sex Parenting: Expert Testimony Before a Hawaiian Court,
RELIGIOUSTOLERANCE.ORG, http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_pare1.htm (last updated Jan. 5, 2002).
47
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, Appendix F, at 1; REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note
42, Appendix F, at 1; STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Appendix F, at 1.
48
ANITA DAVIS ET AL., HEALTHTEACHER: TEACHING HEALTH CONCEPTS AND SKILLS, MIDDLE SCHOOL
(1999-2006) [hereinafter DAVIS ET AL., HEALTHTEACHER MIDDLE].
49
Evidence-Based Programs: Making a Difference!, SELECT MEDIA,
http://www.selectmedia.org/programs/difference.html (follow “Overview” hyperlink) (last visited June 30, 2015).
50
LORETTA SWEET JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!: AN EVIDENCE-BASED, ABSTINENCE
APPROACH TO TEEN PREGNANCY, STD AND HIV PREVENTION (4th ed., 2nd prtg. 2012) [hereinafter JEMMOTT ET AL.,
MAKING A DIFFERENCE!].
51
Id. at iv.
16
three months after taking the course, students were significantly less likely to report having had
sexual intercourse. However, there were no statistically significant differences between the
behaviors of course participants and a control group during six-month and twelve-month followups.52
A poster used in Making a Difference! was the cause of controversy in a Kansas middle school in
2014, due to a poster that asked: “How do people express their sexual feelings?” Some of the
listed answers included benign terms, such as “holding hands,” to more provocative terms, such
as “grinding and oral sex.”53
Positive Prevention
We evaluated the following two versions of this curriculum:
 Level A (Middle School and Junior High School)54
 Special Populations.55
The latter version is intended for “moderate to low function populations.”56 The Special
Populations education curriculum places the websites of several organizations on a list of
“Resources for Teens.” Some of the named resources include sites for Advocates for Youth,
Planned Parenthood, and the Gay Straight Alliance Network.57
3.2 – A Note on Usage
Readers of this Report may ask a natural question: “Which DOE schools use what curricula?”
To that, we give an honest answer: “We don’t know.” We attempted to obtain this information
from the DOE’s Curriculum and Instruction Branch, but that office did not have that information.
Honolulu Civil Beat confirmed that the DOE does not keep track of this information at the
statewide level.58
52
Research Evidence for Making a Difference! (MAD), TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION EVIDENCE REV.,
http://tppevidencereview.aspe.hhs.gov/pdfs/makingadifference.pdf (last updated May 31, 2012).
53
Melissa Treolo, Shawnee Mission School District Offers No Decision Yet on Sex-Ed Poster, THE MIRROR
(Feb. 25, 2014), http://www.tonganoxiemirror.com/news/2014/feb/25/shawnee-mission-school-district-offers-nodecision.
54
KIM ROBERT CLARK ET. AL., POSITIVE PREVENTION: HIV/STD EDUCATION FOR AMERICA’S YOUTH,
LEVEL A; FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL AND JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL (2004) [hereinafter CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION
LEVEL A].
55
KIM ROBERT CLARK ET. AL., POSITIVE PREVENTION PLUS: SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION FOR SPECIAL
POPULATIONS (2012) [hereinafter CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL].
56
Id. at xvi.
57
Id. at 99.
58
Jessica Terrell, In Hawaii, Sex Education Is Confusing—Even for Those in Charge, HONOLULU CIV.
BEAT (Apr. 29, 2015), http://www.civilbeat.com/2015/04/in-hawaii-sex-education-is-confusing-even-for-those-incharge.
17
4.0 – Medical Accuracy
As we have noted, Hawaii state-funded sex education, by law, must be medically accurate.59
How do the “other curricula” fare?
4.1 – Ambiguous Anatomy
In the Grades 4-6 version of the F.L.A.S.H curriculum, students learn of the reproductive system
and the process of human reproduction. Oddly enough, the anus is listed on a page listing body
parts of reproductive anatomy, even though the curriculum also indicates that those body parts
are not actually part of the reproductive system.60 The Grades 7-8 version61 and the Special
Education version62 of F.L.A.S.H present similar ambiguities.
Instructors of the Positive Prevention Special Education curriculum have the option of giving
students additional information, including a listing that places the anus as part of reproductive
anatomy.63
Unlike these sexual education curricula, the classic Gray’s Anatomy—now in its 40th edition—
draws a clear and science-based distinction regarding the body parts that are actually responsible
in the process of the creation of new life—and the anus is not listed as one of them.64
4.2 – Equivalence of Different Types of Sex
Looking at some of the curricula, one might walk away with a view that all sex is created equal.
For example, the Grade 8 version of the Draw the Line, Respect the Line curriculum states that
“HIV can be passed when people have sexual intercourse (vaginal, anal or oral).”65 The Grades
7-8 of version F.L.A.S.H. states that “[t]he majority of HIV infections in the United States are
spread through unprotected anal or vaginal sex.”66 It also places anal sex and vaginal sex with a
condom at the same “risk level.”67
Yet while people might engage in anal sex and oral sex, only vaginal sex is specifically designed
for human reproduction. Science is showing that there are adverse consequences to
experimentation.
59
HAW. REV. STAT. § 321-11.1 (2014), available at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol06_Ch0321-0344/HRS0321/HRS_0321-0011_0001.htm.
60
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, Lesson 11 at 3, 4, 10, 11, Lesson 12 at 6.
61
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, at Lessons 6 & 7 at 13-15.
62
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Lesson 16, at 3, 11, 13.
63
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 69, 81.
64
GRAY’S ANATOMY 1261–1304 (Susan Standring ed., Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 40th ed. 2008)
(1858).
65
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 115, 133.
66
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 23, at 9.
67
Id. Lesson 23, at 10.
18
A 2010 study of HIV statistics in the International Journal of Epidemiology found the respective
risks of HIV transmission through different types of sexual activity.68 That same year, AIDS
Map highlighted the most glaring aspect of that study: That the risk of HIV transmission from
receptive anal sex may be eighteen times greater than during vaginal intercourse.69
Why is anal sex so risky? AIDS Map explains that it all comes down to biology:
Anal sex without using a condom is one of the highest-risk activities in terms of HIV
transmission, because the tissue inside the rectum is made up of cells that are very
susceptible to HIV. The rectal tissue is also very delicate and so can be easily damaged,
which also creates a route for HIV transmission.70
One report chillingly discloses: “Several STIs, once thought to be on the verge of extinction,
have recently reemerged. This change is thought to be partially related to an increase in STIs of
the anus and rectum.”71 We further note that the FDA has not approved any condom for use
during anal sex.72 When anal sex is practiced among heterosexuals, it tends to be an indicator of
misogyny. During an annual medical exam, one young lady told Dr. McIlhaney that “she was
‘trying to engage in anal sex’ even though it was causing significant pain and discomfort. Why?
It was what her boyfriend wanted.”73 One study found that “[f]emale respondents with a history
of trauma related to sexual experiences (i.e., they felt forced to have sex) were at greater risk
than were their peers of engaging in anal intercourse.”74
There’s also bad news for those who practice oral sex: According to a report published by the
American Dental Association, “study findings have linked oral HPV infection with a history of
open-mouthed kissing and oral sex.”75 Another source reports: “Patients who had a lifetime
number of 6 or more oral-sex partners were 3.4 times [that is, 340%] more likely to have
68
Rebecca F. Baggaley et. al, HIV Transmission Risk through Anal Intercourse: Systematic Review, MetaAnalysis and Implications for HIV Prevention, 39 INT’L J. EPIDEMIOLOGY 1048 (2010), available at
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/39/4/1048.full.pdf+html.
69
Roger Pebody, HIV Transmission Risk during Anal Sex 18 times Higher than during Vaginal Sex, AIDS
MAP (June 28, 2010), http://www.aidsmap.com/HIV-transmission-risk-during-anal-sex-18-times-higher-thanduring-vaginal-sex/page/1446187.
70
Sexual Transmission of HIV, AIDS MAP, http://www.aidsmap.com/Sexual-transmission-ofHIV/page/1255053 (last visited July 1, 2015).
71
Roland Assiet. al, Sexually Transmitted Infections of the Anus and Rectum, 20 WORLD J.
GASTROENTEROLOGY 15262, 15262 (2014), available at http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/pdf/v20/i41/15262.pdf.
72
David Heitz, FDA: Condoms Not Approved for Anal Sex, IMSTLLJOSH.COM (Apr. 30, 2014),
http://www.imstilljosh.com/fda-condoms-not-approved-anal-sex; Judith Reisman, Condoms Never FDA-Approved
for Sodomy, WORLD NET DAILY (Mar. 14, 2014), http://www.wnd.com/2014/03/condoms-never-fda-approved-forsodomy.
73
JOE S. MCILHANEY ET. AL., GIRLS UNCOVERED: NEW RESEARCH IN WHAT AMERICA’S SEXUAL CULTURE
DOES TO YOUNG WOMEN 77 (2011).
74
Celia M. Lescano et. al, Correlates of Heterosexual Anal Intercourse Among At-Risk Adolescents and
Young Adults, 99 AM. J. PUB. HEALTH 1131, 1134 (2009), available at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2679800/pdf/1131.pdf.
75
Jennifer L. Cleveland et. al, The Connection Between Human Papillomavirus and Oropharyngeal
Squamous Cell Carcinomas in the United States: Implications for Dentistry, 142 J. AMER. DENTAL ASS’N 915, 920
(2010), available at http://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177(14)62066-3/pdf.
19
oropharyngeal cancer.”76 Ironically, even as the rate of oral cancer from smoking is declining,
oral sex resulting from HPV is also increasing. Further, it is predicted that by 2020, “the number
of HPV-positive OPSCCs [oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas] is expected to surpass the
number of cervical cancers . . . .”77
The Making a Difference! curriculum repeats the phrase, “oral, anal, and vaginal sex” several
times throughout the curriculum, as if all three activities were the same.78 It also tells instructors
to “[e]mphasize that abstaining from oral sex, anal sex, and vaginal intercourse can prevent
pregnancy and STDs, including HIV.”79 While this is a correct statement, it is not, as we have
shown, a complete statement. The curriculum also briefly states that “anal sex increases your
chances of getting HIV,” but fails to state the actual risk.80
The Special Populations version of the Positive Prevention curriculum states: “Sexual
intercourse is often defined as the insertion of an erect penis into a vagina (in a male-female
relationship). However, the definition of intercourse may also include oral intercourse (penis in
mouth) among female-male, male-male, female-female or varied sex partners.”81 The textbook
treats different types of sexual activity as if they were they posed the same level of risk, by
stating: “The four fluids (blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk) . . . can transmit HIV into
the bloodstream via four body openings (mouth, genitals, anus, broken skin).”82
By their language, the above-mentioned curricula expose young children (some as young age
eleven) to the topics of anal and oral sex, while, at time same time, being less than forthright
about the harmful health risks associated with those behaviors.
Dr. Grossman comments:
When sex educators teach that HIV can be transmitted by ‘any exchange of body
fluids—blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk,’ when they say infection can
occur via vaginal, oral, or anal intercourse, and when they claim, ‘Anyone can get HIV,’
their message is technically accurate. The problem is, however, that the various
‘anyones’ have vastly different risks—some would say million-fold differences,
depending on their behavior. It’s like saying, ‘Lung cancer can be caused by radon,
asbestos, tobacco, and air pollution.’ The statement is correct, but 80 percent of lung
cancers are due to tobacco, and a person smoking four packs a day of unfiltered Camels
is at much greater risk than someone living in Los Angeles’s polluted air, and everyone
would agree he needs to know that.83
76
Catharine Paddock, Oral Sex Increases Throat Cancer Risk Scientists Say, MEDICAL NEWS TODAY (May
10, 2007), http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/70495.php.
77
Anil K. Chaturvedi et. al, Human Papillomavirus and Rising Oropharyngeal Cancer Incidence in the
United States, 29 J. CLINICAL ONCOLOGY 4294, 4297 (2011), available at
http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/29/32/4294.full.pdf+html.
78
See JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 45, 66, 67, 93, 99, 100, 113.
79
Id. at 45.
80
Id. at 123.
81
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at xiii
82
Id. at 335-337.
83
GROSSMAN, YOU’RE TEACHING MY CHILD WHAT?, supra note 34, at 93-94.
20
The Level A version of the Positive Prevention curriculum mentions both anal and oral sex; yet,
it is somewhat of an improvement. While it does not mention the enhanced risks associated with
oral sex, it does disclose some of the increased risk associated with anal sex:
[U]nprotected (without a condom) anal sex (intercourse) is considered to be very risky
behavior. It is possible for either sex partner to become infected with HIV during anal
sex. HIV can be found in the blood semen, pre-seminal fluid, or vaginal fluid of a person
infected with the virus. In general, the person receiving the semen is at greater risk of
getting HIV because the lining of the rectum is thin and may allow the virus to enter the
body during anal sex. However, a person who inserts his penis into an infected partner
is also at risk because HIV can enter through the urethra (the opening tip of the penis)
or through small cuts, abrasions, or open sores on the penis.
Not having (abstaining from) sex is the most effective way to avoid HIV. If people
choose to have anal sex, they should use a latex condom. Most of the time, condoms
work well. However, condoms are more likely to break during anal sex than during
vaginal sex. Thus, even with a condom, anal sex can be very risky. A person should use
generous amounts of water-based lubricant in addition to the condom to reduce the
chances of the condom breaking.84
We should note that the HealthTeacher curriculum focuses a great percentage of its time on
penile-to-vaginal intercourse. It mentions anal and oral sex about once,85 but there does not
seem to be an overt attempt to draw equivalency between penile-to-vaginal intercourse and oral
sex or anal sex. Given that their children might not be ready for the other curricula, parents may
prefer this curriculum, at least regarding this particular topic.
4.3 – Homosexuality; Bisexuality
Several of the curricula treat homosexuality as just another lifestyle. The Grades 4-6 version of
F.L.A.S.H encourages the optional classroom use of a video called That’s a Family, which “tells
the stories, in their own words, of children in families with parents of different races or religions,
divorced parents, a single parent, gay or lesbian parents, adoptive parents or grandparents as
guardians.”86 The Special Education version of F.L.A.S.H utilizes the same video.87
The Grades 4-6 version of F.L.A.S.H also presents some confusion regarding sexuality in this
passage:
A person may have crushes on people of their own sex, the other sex or both. It may or
may not predict how they will feel when they’re grown. That is, really liking someone of
a different sex doesn’t necessarily mean you will eventually figure out that you are
84
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION LEVEL A, supra note 54, at 79.
DAVIS ET AL., HEALTHTEACHER MIDDLE, supra note 48, at 233.
86
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, Lesson 2, at 3.
87
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Lesson 5, at 3.
85
21
heterosexual (straight). And, likewise, really liking someone of your own sex doesn’t
necessarily mean you will eventually figure out that you are gay or lesbian. It often takes
time to figure out. There’s no rush.88
An appendix item in the Making a Difference! curriculum provides instructors with optional
role-playing scenarios and games, intended to address “needs that may emerge in the group.”89
Several of them involve both lesbians and homosexual males. One scenario involves “Diane,”
who has been previously “sexually active with guys; sometimes unprotected.” Diane is
interested in having sex with Lauren, but Lauren wants to abstain.90
The Special Populations version of the Positive Prevention curriculum has taken an even more
overtly politically correct route. Its introductory materials state:
Gay-Straight Alliance Network has reviewed this curriculum guide and helped the Red
Cross make updates to ensure that 1) the curriculum is inclusive of the sexual health
information needs of LGBTQQI youth, 2) the terminology used is inclusive of LGBTQQI
youth, and 3) the curriculum does not have a heterocentric bias, that is a bias towards
heterosexual relationships as the only valid or normal relationships.91
The same version of Positive Prevention also claims that “high quality relationships” can occur
in many “configurations,” including same-sex partnerships.92 The Special Populations defines
“family” to include close friends and same-sex partners.93 An appendix item tells instructors to
avoid the term “homosexual, as it is a dated term that focuses on only sex rather than love and
relationships.”94 Interestingly enough, the curriculum places no prohibition against the use of the
term “heterosexual.” Instructors are told: “It is important to understand that, in most situations,
behavior that is appropriate for opposite sex couples is also appropriate for same-sex couples.”95
Further, it is not enough for instructors to merely teach—they are encouraged to become
activists. They are told to “Come Out as a Public Ally: Make sure your library has LGBT
friendly, age appropriate books and resources.”96
These “gay-friendly” messages attempt to hide an inconvenient truth: As a public health matter,
homosexuals and bisexuals tend to be a greater risk for STD’s than the general population. Men
who have sex with men comprise about 75% of those with syphilis.97 Further, while not
everyone who contracts HIV is a homosexual, statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention show that:
88
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, Lesson 9, at 6.
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 211.
90
Id. at 214-217.
91
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at xxxiii.
92
Id. at 306.
93
Id. at 190.
94
Id. Appendix C at 3.
95
Id. Appendix C at 10.
96
Id. Appendix C at 11.
97
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, CDC FACT SHEET: 2013 NATIONAL DATA FOR
CHLAMYDIA, GONORRHEA, AND SYPHILIS 2 (2014), available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/STDTrends-508.pdf.
89
22
Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) represent approximately
2% of the United States population, yet are the population most severely affected by
HIV. In 2010, young gay and bisexual men (aged 13-24 years) accounted for 72% of new
HIV infections among all persons aged 13 to 24, and 30% of new infections among all
gay and bisexual men. At the end of 2011, an estimated 500,022 (57%) persons living
with an HIV diagnosis in the United States were gay and bisexual men, or gay and
bisexual men who also inject drugs.98
This disproportionate risk has natural consequences for the blood donors. Recently, the Food
and Drug Administration announced a reversal of the ban that prohibits homosexual men from
donating blood. Yet the FDA policy introduced a caveat: No male who has engaged in sex with
another male within one year prior to donating blood would be permitted to donate blood.99
With regard to women who have sex with women, Dr. Grossman notes:
You are probably aware that girls are not getting HIV from sex with other girls; femaleto-female HIV transmission is extremely rare. They’re getting it the same way straight
girls do: from HIV positive boys. Lesbian and bisexual girls and women are as likely as
heterosexuals to report experiences with males. Most significantly in terms of HIV risk,
they are more likely to report sex with a gay or bisexual man and more likely to engage
in unprotected intercourse.
This is worth repeating. Females who are not exclusively heterosexual are more likely to
have unprotected intercourse with a gay or bisexual male.100
It has been shown that about only 8% of women who have sex with women have never had sex
with a man.101 Further, a report in the American Journal of Public Health found:
Lesbian girls were more than 3 times as likely as their heterosexual peers to report using
alcohol or drugs and failing to use pregnancy prevention during their most recent sexual
encounter. Bisexual girls were almost 3 times more likely than heterosexual girls to
report 2 or more lifetime sexual partners. Girls with both male and female partners
were almost 3 times as likely as girls with male partners only to report using alcohol or
drugs during their most recent sexual encounter. In all comparisons, the direction and
significance of effects were similar regardless of sexual orientation dimension (sexual
identity or partner gender) . . . . In summary, regardless of sexual orientation dimension,
98
HIV/AIDS: Gay and Bisexual Men, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION,
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/msm/index.html (last updated July 8, 2015).
99
Blood Donor Deferral, FOOD AND DRUG ADMIN.,
http://www.fda.gov/forpatients/illness/hivaids/safety/ucm117929.htm (last updated Feb. 5, 2015).
100
GROSSMAN, YOU’RE TEACHING MY CHILD WHAT?, supra note 34, at 142.
101
Shirley K. Chan et al., Likely Female-to-Female Sexual Transmission of HIV — Texas, 2012, 63
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY WKLY. REP. 209, 211 (2014),
available at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/wk/mm6310.pdf.
23
sexual minority girls reported riskier sexual behaviors than did their heterosexual
peers.102
Given the noted health risks, one would assume that the curricula that mention alternative
lifestyles would also mention the health risks associated with homosexuality and bisexuality.
Several of the curricula, however, fail in this regard. It appears that their authors would rather
have us believe that HIV is an equal opportunity disease. The Special Populations version of the
Positive Prevention curriculum states that: “HIV can infect anyone who participates in risk
behavior regardless of their race, sex, or sexual orientation.”103 A game in an appendix section
of Making a Difference! ponders:
Isn’t AIDS a gay disease? No. AIDS, a result of the infection, is caused by a virus (HIV).
Anyone can get HIV through the exchange of blood, vaginal fluid, or breast milk with an
infected person. Like anyone else, men who have sex with men are at risk only if they
engage in activities that include the exchange of these fluids.104
The above statement fails to mention that semen can carry HIV as well.105
The Grades 7-8 version of the F.L.A.S.H curriculum is a little more accurate regarding risks. It
recommends that the teacher tell the students:
Some of you think this class won’t be relevant to you because you are straight
(heterosexual) and you think that HIV is only a disease of gay (homosexual) men . . . .
Know that if your partner had HIV it wouldn’t make the slightest difference what sex he
or she was; you would still be at risk.
But the fact is the majority of HIV cases in the U.S. are in gay and bisexual men. It’s also
a fact that a lot of lesbian and bisexual young women are at risk because they have sex
at some point with a guy friend who may be gay.106
An Appendix item in the Special Populations version of Positive Prevention claims that “sexual
orientation is not something that a person can change.”107 Any serious discussion of sexuality
cannot blindly accept the idea that sexual orientation cannot change. A 10-year longitudinal
study found: “Among women, 1.36% with a heterosexual identity changed, 63.63% with a
homosexual identity changed, and 64.71% with a bisexual identity changed. Among men, 0.78%
102
Rachel G. Riskind et. al, Sexual Identity, Partner Gender, and Sexual Health Among Adolescent Girls in
the United States, 104 AM. J. PUB. HEALTH 1957, 1961 (2014), available at
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s4800244&db=aph&AN=98
254739&site=ehost-live.
103
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 314.
104
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 273.
105
Viral Load in Semen, AIDS MAP, http://www.aidsmap.com/Viral-load-in-semen/page/1322890 (last
visited July 5, 2015).
106
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 23, at 5.
107
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, Appendix B, at 33.
24
with a heterosexual identity changed, 9.52% with a homosexual identity changed, and 47.06%
with a bisexual identity changed.”108
Psychologist Nicholas Cummings is a past president of the American Psychological Association.
He believes that “[g]ays and lesbians have the right to be affirmed in their homosexuality,” and
stands by his vote to remove homosexuality from the APA’s list of mental disorders. On the
other hand, he has also been successful in helping homosexuals who wish to change their
orientation, and finds that “contending that all same-sex attraction is immutable is a distortion of
reality.”109
Several studies have been conducted regarding homosexuals who are part of pairs of twins. No
reliable study has shown that every homosexual twin has a homosexual twin.110 Even a study
that showed a high concordance of 52% of homosexuality among identical twins was affected by
the fact that the authors of the study sought volunteers through advertisements placed in
homosexual-friendly publications.111
The version of HealthTeacher that we reviewed does not mention homosexuality or bisexuality.
4.4 – Gender Ambiguity
Males and females are different. Nature made us this way. Educator and family therapist
Michael Gurian observes:
In order for the human species to survive, this divergence of sex roles was necessary. . . .
Females had to be better at verbal skills than males; males had to be better at spatials
and more physically aggressive. . . .Both the brain and its hormones—which are
catalysts for brain activity—came to differ with gender. The differences existed (as they
still do) even in utero . . . . 112
Several of the curricula, however, want to challenge biology and nature.
The Grade 8 version of the Draw the Line, Respect the Line curriculum tells a story of
characters named “Chris” and “J.” One character wants to give the other a hickey, but the other
doesn’t want one.113 The genders of the two characters are unclear.
108
Steven E. Mock & Richard P. Eibach, Stability and Change in Sexual Orientation Identity Over a 10Year Period in Adulthood, 41 ARCHIVES SEXUAL BEHAV. 641, 645 (2012), available at
http://ioa126.medsch.wisc.edu/findings/pdfs/1153.pdf.
109
Nicholas A. Cummings, Sexual Reorientation Therapy Not Unethical: Column, USA TODAY, July 30,
2013, http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/07/30/sexual-reorientation-therapy-not-unethicalcolumn/2601159.
110
See William Byne & Bruce Parsons, Human Sexual Orientation: The Biologic Theories Reappraised,
50 ARCHIVES GEN. PSYCHIATRY 228, 229 (1993), available at
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/William_Byne/publication/14760555_Human_sexual_orientation._The_biologi
c_theories_reappraised/links/0c960533ca1e5df789000000.pdf.
111
Id. at 230.
112
MICHAEL GURIAN ET AL., BOYS AND GIRLS LEARN DIFFERENTLY: A GUIDE FOR TEACHERS AND
PARENTS 39 (2001).
113
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 139.
25
Making a Difference! presents far more “gender neutral” role playing scenarios.114 For
example, in a scenario with two students named “Justice” and “Angel,” the following
summarizes what the character “Justice” is facing:
You do not want to have sexual intercourse at this point in your life and you told Angel
your feelings about it . . . . You’ve gotten back from another groping session at the
movies and Angel tells you that you have to decide whether you’re down to be a couple
or what.115
The Level A version of the Positive Prevention curriculum makes a point in its Introduction of
stating that the curriculum’s “[l]anguage. . .is gender-neutral and nonspecfic to sexual
orientations, so that the emphasis is placed on personal responsibility as perceived by each
student, independent of sexual biases or stereotypes.”116 The Special Populations version has the
same Introduction language.117
The Special Populations version of Positive Prevention introduces students to the concept of
“gender identity,” that is, “whether a person sees herself or himself as female.”118 During a
lesson on condom use, the curriculum informs instructors: “Language should also be genderneutral, referring to ‘sexual partners’ rather than a man and a woman.”119 An appendix item
states: “Gender identity refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female, or something in
between.120 An appendix item cautions instructors: “Remember not to allow gender stereotypes
or norms to unnecessarily impact your responses to students who are LGBT.”121
Playing with gender is not a game. We note the warning from Paul McHugh, M.D., a former
psychiatrist from Johns Hopkins University:
We at Johns Hopkins University—which in the 1960s was the first American medical
center to venture into “sex-reassignment surgery”—launched a study in the 1970s
comparing the outcomes of transgendered people who had the surgery with the
outcomes of those who did not. Most of the surgically treated patients described
themselves as “satisfied” by the results, but their subsequent psycho-social
adjustments were no better than those who didn’t have the surgery. And so at Hopkins
we stopped doing sex-reassignment surgery, since producing a “satisfied” but still
troubled patient seemed an inadequate reason for surgically amputating normal
organs.122
114
E.g. JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 172, 174, 191, 194, 196-197, 199, 204-
205.
115
Id. at 191.
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION LEVEL A, supra note 54, at xiii.
117
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at xvi.
118
Id. at 37, 41.
119
Id. at 236.
120
Id. Appendix C at 3.
121
Id. Appendix C at 10.
122
Paul McHugh, Transgender Surgery Isn’t the Solution, WALL ST. J., June 12, 2014,
http://www.wsj.com/articles/paul-mchugh-transgender-surgery-isnt-the-solution-1402615120.
116
26
Gender differences are very real. Biology is not politically correct. As educator and family
therapist Steve Biddulph summarized:
Some gender differences between boys and girls do begin to appear early on. Here are
just a few discoveries researchers have made:
• Boy babies are less aware of faces.
• Girl babies have a much better sense of touch.
• The retinas in the back of boys’ eyes are differently made, so they see more
movement, and less color and texture.
• Boys grow faster and stronger, yet they are more troubled by separations from their
mother.
• Boys in toddlerhood move around more and occupy more space.
• Boys like to handle and manipulate objects more, and build high buildings out of
blocks, while girls prefer low-rise.
• At preschool boys tend to ignore a new child who arrives in the group, while girls will
notice and befriend him or her.123
The idea that boys and girls tend to have different tastes is unthinkable to the excessively
politically correct crowd. But biology gets in the way, as neuroscientists Sandra Aamodt and
Sam Wang commented:
One of our colleagues, who was dedicated to freeing her kids from traditional gender
expectations, bought a doll for her son and trucks for her daughter. She gave up her
quest after she found the boy using the doll to pound in a nail and the girl pretending
that the trucks were talking to each other.124
Louann Brizendine, M.D., one of whose patients attempted a similar failed “experiment” on the
patient’s three and one-half year-old daughter, explains:
There is no unisex brain. She [the daughter] was born with a female brain, which came
complete with its own impulses. Girls arrive already wired as girls, and boys arrive
already wired as boys. Their brains are different by the time they’re born, and their
brains are what drive their impulses, values, and their very reality.125
Perhaps most notably, “[m]en, quite literally, have sex on their minds more than women do . . . .
Males have double the brain space and processing power devoted to sex as females.”126
123
STEVE BIDDULPH, WHY BOYS ARE DIFFERENT—AND HOW TO HELP THEM BECOME HAPPY AND WELLBALANCED MEN 14-15 (Ten Speed Press, 3rd ed. 2013) (1998).
124
SANDRA AAMODT & SAM WANG, WELCOME TO YOUR CHILD’S BRAIN: HOW THE MIND GROWS FROM
CONCEPTION TO COLLEGE 63 (2011).
125
LOUANN BRIZENDINE, THE FEMALE BRAIN 12 (2006).
126
Id. at 91.
27
Speaking on gender differences, Dr. Grossman rejects political correctness, and notes that “the
most powerful messages our kids get [about gender and behavior] are not from their
environment. They are from their hypothalamus, ovaries, and testes . . . . To deny these forces of
nature in the interest of promoting specific social agendas is an unethical and hazardous
blunder.127
4.5 – Teaching Boys and Girls: Together or Separate?
Do you want your daughter to be learning about her period when a bunch of boys are present? If
the teacher asks students if they have any honest questions about biology, will your daughter feel
comfortable enough to raise her hand, knowing that some of the boys in the background will
snicker at the mere mention of a “period” or “breast”? Educator and family therapist Michael
Gurian suggests that at least some single-sex groupings during sex education courses should be
made, “so that sensitive and difficult areas can be covered without members of either sex
shutting down or resorting to attention-getting devices with the other sex.”128
The evaluators of the Draw the Line, Respect the Line curriculum, during a study, offered
“boys’ day” and “girls’ day” to separate the sexes, which were “aimed at students who might feel
uncomfortable asking a question in a mixed-gender group.”129 The curriculum, however, gives
no guidance to the instructor regarding when boys and girls should be separated, with the
exception of small single-sex discussions groups for the evaluation of a previous day’s HIVpositive speaker.130
The Grades 4-6 version of the F.L.A.S.H. curriculum states:
Using Coed or Single-Gender Groups
Probably the ideal is a combination: one lesson, perhaps #9 or 10, single-gender and the
rest coed. The advantage of single-gender lessons is that students may be somewhat
more comfortable asking questions aloud. One advantage of coed lessons is that
mutual respect and understanding develop, instead of an aura of mystery and
illicitness...there is less need to tease or “gossip” on the playground, since everyone has
heard the same things. Also we model that men and women, parents and children of
both genders, can talk together. In any case, consult your principal and your district’s
guidelines if you are not sure which to do.131
The Grades 7-8 version of the F.L.A.S.H. curriculum consistently combines boys and girls.
Students work in pairs or trios, for example, to review what they’ve learned about HIV.132 The
GROSSMAN, YOU’RE TEACHING MY CHILD WHAT?, supra note 34, at 53.
GURIAN ET AL., supra note 112, at 289.
129
COYLE ET AL., DTL GRADE SEVEN, supra note 36, at 5; MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note
127
128
37, at 5.
130
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 77.
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, at 8.
132
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 23, at 4.
131
28
curriculum also utilizes the term “wet dream” during its puberty lesson133 and addresses
masturbation during a discussion on touching and abstinence.134 The Special Education
curriculum addresses masturbation as well.135
During the HealthTeacher curriculum’s instruction on sexual anatomy, the menstrual cycle, and
sperm production, the text instructs teachers to divide boys and girls to complete paperwork.136
The Making a Difference! curriculum encourages a “talk circle” between all students (regardless
of gender) at the end of each module, where they can “discuss their thoughts and feelings.”137
The curriculum also teaches boys and girls—at the same time—about body changes as breast
development and penis development.138
The Level A version of the Positive Prevention curriculum states that for small group
discussions, “it is sometimes appropriate to team boys against girls, for example when exploring
attitudes toward dating and sex.”139 In one lesson, it is recommended that boys and girls be
separated from each other into small groups to discuss reasons for abstaining from sex.140
Unfortunately, any public school that separates boys and girls for sex education might face a
lawsuit from the leftist American Civil Liberties Union. Incredibly, the ACLU has likened
single-sex arrangements to racial segregation.141 Perhaps this is why the curricula do not
emphasize the separation of the sexes. (Ironically, not too long ago, leftist feminists protested
Mills College’s proposed plan to admit men as undergraduates.142 The protests, in part, were
based on the notion that a coeducation setting would shortchange women.143)
4.6 – Condom Limitations
Latex (natural rubber) condoms can reduce the risk of both pregnancy and the spread of some
sexually transmitted diseases. They do, however, have their limitations. To what extent do the
curricula discuss condoms, and how?
133
Id. Lesson 2, at 11.
Id. Lessons 12 & 13, at 6.
135
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Lesson 17, at 5.
136
DAVIS ET AL., HEALTHTEACHER MIDDLE, supra note 48, at 135, 176.
137
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 35.
138
Id. at 57.
139
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION LEVEL A, supra note 54, at xxiv.
140
Id. at 147.
141
More Public Schools Splitting Up Boys, Girls, IDAHO PRESS TRIB., July 9, 2012,
http://www.idahopress.com/news/local/more-public-schools-splitting-up-boys-girls/article_dc73c2c0-c984-11e186a9-001a4bcf887a.html.
142
Jennifer Bermon, 25 Years Ago: When Mills College Students Rallied to Keep It a Woman’s
Institution, MS. MAG, May 4, 2015, http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/05/04/25-years-ago-when-mills-collegestudents-rallied-to-keep-it-a-womans-institution.
143
Jorie Lueloff, Coed Classes Shortchange Women, CHI. TIMES, June 6, 1990,
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-06-06/news/9002160205_1_mills-college-mills-students-mills-women;
Larry Gordon, Mills College Will Begin Admitting Men, L.A. TIMES, May 4, 1990, http://articles.latimes.com/199005-04/news/mn-118_1_mills-college.
134
29
The Grade 8 version of Draw the Line, Respect the Line claims that condoms “can be 98%
effective in preventing HIV, other STD, and pregnancy, but only if they are used correctly and
consistently—every time a person has sex.”144 Condoms are listed one of the “choices so you
don’t get STD.”145
The Grades 7-8 version of F.L.A.S.H. states that “Condoms are very good protection against
most STDs (the ones spread by semen and vaginal fluid).”146 The curriculum lists abstinence,
monogamy, and the consistent use of condoms as “[t]he best (most certain) ways people can
protect themselves and their partners from getting or giving” a sexually transmitted disease.”147
The curriculum does not give any estimates on the effectiveness or failure rates of condoms in
preventing HIV.148 The Special Education version of that curriculum discusses condoms and
how they may prevent disease.149
The Level A version of the Positive Prevention curriculum states that the latex male condom is
“very good protection against HIV” and that it “reduces the risk of other STD’s.”150 It also
states:


Couples who used latex condoms consistently and correctly experienced a 98%-100%
success rate in preventing the transmission of HIV.
Couples who used condoms inconsistently or incorrectly still experienced an 85%-90%
success rate in preventing the transmission of HIV.151
The Making a Difference! curriculum discusses male and female condoms as barrier methods
which help prevent STDs and pregnancy.152 It also carries a mixed message on condoms to
instructors:
Some [student] participants may correctly assert that condoms can be used to reduce
the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, and pregnancy. Acknowledge
the accuracy of this assertion, but emphasize the fact that abstinence is the best and
most effective way to eliminate the possibility of sexually transmitted diseases,
including HIV, and pregnancy. Don’t bash condoms or provide exaggerated information
on failure rates.153
So while the curriculum states that it emphasizes abstinence on the one hand, and anticipates that
questions about condoms may be asked, it fails to provide guidance regarding what is an
“exaggerated” failure rate.
144
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 88.
Id. at 129.
146
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 5, at 3.
147
Id. Lesson 4, at 9, 12.
148
Id. Lesson 21, at. 9.
149
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Lesson 26, at 6.
150
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION LEVEL A, supra note 54, at 81, 141. 143.
151
Id. at 138.
152
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 221.
153
Id. at 115.
145
30
The Grade 8 version of Draw the Line, Respect the Line states that it is a “common
misperception that condoms contain ‘holes’, and that HIV can pass through the holes.
Laboratory studies show that intact latex condoms provide a continuous barrier to
microorganisms, including HIV.”154 The Grades 7-8 version of F.L.A.S.H. states, in bold letters:
“NO DISEASES TRAVEL THROUGH LATEX OR POLYURETHANE.”155 On the other
hand, the Special Populations version of Positive Prevention states that 0% to 2% of latex
condoms have factory defects.156 The Level A version of that curriculum states that “up to 2% of
the time there may be manufacturer defects (holes) in the latex.” That version, however, is
describing a latex glove.157
So, do latex and/or polyurethane condoms have holes? The FDA website states:
The FDA works with condom manufacturers to help ensure that the latex and
polyurethane condoms you buy are not damaged.
Manufacturers “spot check” their condoms using a “water-leak” test. FDA inspectors do
a similar test on sample condoms they take from warehouses. The condoms are filled
with water and checked for leaks. An average of 996 of 1000 condoms must pass this
test.158
Given the FDA’s current standards regarding manufacturer defects, four out of every one
thousand latex and polyurethane condoms might fail the “water-leak” test—that is, if a condom
manufacturer does not voluntarily hold itself to a higher standard than what the FDA requires.
Condom manufacturer Durex claims of its products: “If the sample [condom] fails any of the
tests, the whole batch is rejected!”159 Condom manufacturer Trojan claims that it also submits
every single condom to electronic testing.160
If a condom does fail the water-leak test, there is a risk of some exposure to HIV. Even condoms
that are not defective (and therefore considered “intact”) still have pores that can theoretically
allow a virus to pass through. However, due to the low infectivity of the HIV-1 virus, the pores
of “intact” condoms are very unlikely to transmit an amount of the HIV virus capable of causing
infection.161
154
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 87.
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 4, at 6.
156
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 235.
157
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION LEVEL A, supra note 54, at 137.
158
Condoms and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, U.S. FOOD & DRUG ADMIN.,
http://www.fda.gov/ForPatients/Illness/HIVAIDS/ucm126372.htm (last updated Jan. 15, 2015).
159
What Quality Tests Do Durex Condoms Through?, DUREX.COM, http://www.durex.com/enlat/askdurex/faq%27s/pages/whatqualitytestsdodurexcondomsgothrough.aspx (last visited July 3, 2015).
160
How are TROJAN Brand Condoms Manufactured?, TROJANCONDOMS.COM,
http://www.trojancondoms.com/resources/faqs.aspx (last visited July 3, 2015).
161
Ronald F. Carey et al., Implications of Laboratory Tests of Condom Integrity, 26 SEXUALLY
TRANSMITTED DISEASES 216, 219 (1999), available at http://bit.ly/1EkRk7S.
155
31
So the good news is that, while condoms are not as effective as abstinence (which can never
fail), non-defective condoms can help to reduce the risk of HIV infection. The bad news,
however, is that condoms are not effective if they are used incorrectly.162 They may also break163
or slip.164 Further, their effectiveness is dramatically diminished if they are used
inconsistently.165
The fact of the matter is that condoms are not always used consistently. Condom consistency
actually decreases among adolescents who are older, have sex more frequently, and who are in
longer sexual relationships. Further, adolescents who engage in casual sex are less likely to use a
condom the first time they have sex.166
During a Grade 8 Draw the Line, Respect the Line in-class condom demonstration, students are
informed that “sometimes can condoms break (2 or 3 out of 100 times) during sexual intercourse,
usually because people don’t know how to use them correctly.”167 Other curricula fail to provide
such information. Sources vary regarding actual latex condom breakage rates during penile to
vaginal intercourse; one study states a rate of 0.2%,168 while another has 3.3%.169
The Making a Difference! curriculum informs instructors: “The facilitator should note that some
individuals may have a latex allergy or develop awareness of a latex allergy in the future. It is
appropriate to consistently remind participants that polyurethane condoms are an effective
alternative condoms if allergies are present.”170 The other curricula do not mention latex
allergies. Some studies have shown that some synthetic condoms (such as those made of
polyurethane, orstyrene, ethylene, butylene, and styrene) have higher breakage rates than natural
latex condoms. The risk ranges from 264%171 to 800%172 as high as the risk one takes when
using a latex condom.
Even if condoms are used consistently, they may give users a false sense of security. A review
of multiple studies of condom use among heterosexuals shows that, even among consistent
162
Fact Sheet for Public Health Personnel, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION,
http://www.cdc.gov/condomeffectiveness/latex.html (last updated Mar. 25, 2013).
163
Ronald F. Carey et al., supra note 161, at 219-220.
164
Condom Fact Sheet In Brief, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION,
http://www.cdc.gov/condomeffectiveness/brief.html (last updated Mar. 25, 2013).
165
See supra note 162.
166
Jennifer Manlove et al., Condom Use and Consistency Among Male Adolescents in the United States,
43 J. ADOLESCENT HEALTH 325, 332 (2008), available at http://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(08)001869/pdf.
167
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 83.
168
Terri L. Walsh et al., Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Nonlatex Condom: Results from a Randomized,
Controlled Clinical Trial, 35 PERSP. ON SEXUAL REPROD. HEALTH 79, 83 (2003), available at
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3507903.pdf.
169
Ann Duerr et al., Assessing Male Condom Failure and Incorrect Use, 38 SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED
DISEASES 580, 582 (2011), available at http://bit.ly/1LiZu5R.
170
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at v.
171
Maria F. Gallo, Nonlatex Versus Latex Male Condoms for Contraception, COCHRANE DATABASE
SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS, no. 1, 2006, at 1, 6, available at
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003550.pub2/pdf.
172
Terri L. Walsh et al., supra note 168, at 85.
32
condom users, the effectiveness rate of preventing HIV transmission was “approximately 80.2%,
but may be as low as 35.4% or as high as 94.2%.”173
Further, condoms are less useful at preventing the spread of some STD’s. Several of the
curricula fail to fully disclose these risks. Consistent condom users can reduce the risk of
transmitting herpes, but their risk is reduced by only about 30% when compared to non-condom
users.174
The Grade 7 version of the Draw the Line, Respect the Line curriculum tells of a story that
implies that condom use would have prevented a fictional character from getting HPV.175 The
Grade 8 version of the curriculum merely states that condoms “may help prevent HPV.”176
Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website notes that “HPV can infect
areas that are not covered by a condom - so condoms may not give full protection against getting
HPV.”177 One study showed that consistent condoms use reduces the risk of transmitting HPV,
but the risk was only cut by only 46% when compared to sex without a condom.178
The Grades 7-8 version of F.L.A.S.H. discloses that condoms may not protect against HPV,
since they may not cover the infected area.179 The Special Education version of that curriculum,
however, does not clarify that condoms may not protect against HPV.
HealthTeacher discloses that genital warts (HPV) can be transmitted by skin to skin contact,
even without sexual intercourse. It also states that “[p]ersons who choose to be sexually active
can protect themselves from HIV/STD by using condoms correctly and consistently.”180
However, it does not clarify that HPV can be transmitted even when a condom is used.
Another report shows that even when condoms are used both correctly and consistently during
every act of heterosexual penile to vaginal intercourse, sex with a condom reduced the risk of
transmitting Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Trichomoniasis by only about 40% when compared to
sex without a condom.181 The curricula might benefit by the addition of such a disclosure,
173
Susan C. Weller & Karen R. Davis-Beaty, Condom Effectiveness in Reducing Heterosexual HIV
Transmission (Review), COCHRANE DATABASE SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS, no. 1, 2002, at 1, 6, available at
http://apps.who.int/rhl/reviews/langs/CD003255.pdf.
174
Emily T. Martin et. al, A Pooled Analysis of the Effect of Condoms in Preventing HSV-2 Acquisition,
169 ARCHIVES INTERNAL MED. 1233, 1237 (2009), available at
http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/data/Journals/INTEMED/9903/ioi90031_1233_1240.pdf.
175
COYLE ET AL., DTL GRADE SEVEN, supra note 36, at 131, 133.
176
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 88.
177
Genital HPV Infection - Fact Sheet, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION,
http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv.htm (last updated Feb. 23, 2015).
178
Christine M. Pierce Campbell et. al, Consistent Condom Use Reduces the Genital Human
Papillomavirus Burden Among High-Risk Men: The HPV Infection in Men Study, 208 SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED
DISEASES 373, 377 (2013), available at http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/208/3/373.full.pdf+html.
179
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 4, at 6.
180
DAVIS ET AL., HEALTHTEACHER MIDDLE, supra note 48, at 233.
181
Richard A Crosby et. al, Condom Effectiveness Against Non-Viral Sexually Transmitted Infections: A
Prospective Study Using Electronic Daily Diaries, 88 SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS 484, 488 (2012),
available at http://sti.bmj.com/content/88/7/484.full.pdf+html.
33
especially since a 2009 study shows that 24.1% of U.S. female adolescents aged 14 to 19 have
one of these diseases.182
As we noted earlier, the FDA has not approved of condoms for use during anal sex.183 Among
all of the curricula that bring up the topic of anal sex, none of them mention that fact. Further,
according to AIDS Map, the results of a recently-released report regarding men who have anal
sex with men show that “there was no significant difference in HIV acquisition rates between
men reporting they ‘never’ used condoms in the previous six months and men reporting they
‘sometimes’ used them.” Even among the consistent condom users, condoms were only 70.5%
effective in preventing HIV transmittal during anal sex.184
4.7 – Health Risks
Some of the curricula give helpful information regarding these threats to health. Yet some of the
information is either incorrect or incomplete.
The Grades 7-8 version of F.L.A.S.H. states that HIV, Syphilis, Hepatitis B and C, and HPV are
life threatening. It discloses that the HPV vaccine doesn’t protect against all types of HPV. The
curriculum also classifies Chlamydia, gonorrhea, pelvic inflammatory disease, genital herpes,
and cytomegalovirus as serious diseases.185 The curriculum states that Chlamydia can be cured,
but that it also may not show symptoms.186
HealthTeacher states that Chlamydia187 and gonorrhea188 usually have no symptoms among
women.
A Making a Difference! appendix item discloses that for Chlamydia and gonorrhea, many
people never have any symptoms.189 The appendix also discloses that some people with herpes
“do not have any symptoms,” and that “you do not have to have sexual intercourse” to get herpes
or HPV.190 Yet the curriculum also states that “body rubbing/massaging, mutual masturbation”
are “effective against HIV and some other STDs as long as bodily fluids are not exchanged.”191
182
Sara E. Forhan et. al, Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Female Adolescents Aged
14 to 19 in the United States, 124 PEDIATRICS 1505, 1507 (2009), available at
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/124/6/1505.full.pdf+html.
183
See supra note 72.
184
Gus Cairns, CDC Researchers Publish Estimate of Effectiveness of Condom Use in Anal Sex, AIDS
MAP (December 19, 2014), http://www.aidsmap.com/CDC-researchers-publish-estimate-of-effectiveness-ofcondom-use-in-anal-sex/page/2930716.
185
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 4, at 4.
186
Id. Lesson 4, at 5, 6.
187
DAVIS ET AL., HEALTHTEACHER MIDDLE, supra note 48, at 237.
188
Id. at 239.
189
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 249.
190
Id. at 243-244.
191
Id. at 275.
34
What is not made clear, however, is that HPV can be transmitted by the skin-to-skin contact that
is involved with mutual masturbation.192 The same is true for herpes.193
The Positive Prevention Special Populations curriculum lists Chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis,
and public lice (Crabs) as “treatable but repeatable.” It discloses that Chlamydia and gonorrhea,
if left untreated, can cause permanent damage to the reproductive system and sterility.194
It is true that Chlamydia can be treated with antibiotics. However, antibiotics might not be able
to make the disease go away completely. The disease is very persistent—possibly because even
after treatment with antibiotics, the disease can survive in the gastrointestinal tract.195 Further,
the scar that Chlamydia leaves behind can interfere with a fertilized egg and may disrupt it from
implanting in the uterus.196
None of this is described in the curricula we reviewed. Yet this information has profound
implications for any girl who wants to be a mother someday. A person infected with Chlamydia
will often exhibit no symptoms.197 The need for abstinence until adulthood is all the more
urgent. Dr. McIlhaney, an infertility specialist, saw with his own eyes the impacts of these
disease, and how they destroyed some young women’s dreams of motherhood: “Many of his
patients required his care because the women had been infected with Chlamydia when in high
school or college. Almost none had known of the infection. Almost none were aware that their
sexual involvement when young could result in infertility later.”198
Young girls are not told that they may be too young to have sex, given that their biology makes
them vulnerable to HPV. As noted in Missouri Medicine:
Another factor that can increase the susceptibility of female adolescents to HPV
infection includes the physiologically large cervical transformation zone, or “immature
cervix, “ that is undergoing active squamous metaplasia. The thinly layered columnar
epithelium appears to be especially vulnerable to HPV, and allows the virus direct access
to the basal epithelial cells through a wound or abrasion. Early age of first intercourse
may be related to increased HPV acquisition, not only because of the potential for
192
Laurel A. Mills et. al, Sexually Related Behaviors as Predictors of HPV Vaccination Among Young
Rural Women, 20 J. WOMEN’S HEALTH 1909, 1910 (2011), available at
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/jwh.2011.3000.
193
AM. MED. ASS’N., FAMILY MEDICAL GUIDE 456, 482 (4th ed. 2004) (1982).
194
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 273-275.
195
Roger G. Rank & Laxmi Yeruva, Hidden in Plain Sight: Chlamydial Gastrointestinal Infection and Its
Relevance to Persistence in Human Genital Infection, 82 INFECTION & IMMUNITY 1362, 1369 (2014), available at
http://iai.asm.org/content/82/4/1362.full.pdf.
196
Astrid Hjelholt et. al, Tubal Factor Infertility is Associated with Antibodies against Chlamydia
Trachomatis Heat Shock Protein 60 (HSP60) but not Human HSP60, 26 INFECTION & IMMUNITY 2069, 2069 (2011),
available at http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/8/2069.full.pdf+html.
197
Chlamydia - CDC Fact Sheet, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION,
http://www.cdc.gov/std/Chlamydia/stdfact-Chlamydia.htm (last updated Dec. 16, 2014).
198
JOE S. MCILHANEY ET. AL., supra note 73, at 42.
35
higher numbers of sexual partners, but because young adolescents are much more likely
to have this large area of metaplasia at the transformation zone.199
Dr. Grossman puts this matter in layperson’s terms:
[T]he cervix of a teen has a central area called the transformation zone. Here the cells
are only one layer thick. The transformation zone is largest at puberty, and it slowly
shrinks as the cervix matures. The thin folds of fragile, single cells are transformed pro
progressively into a thick, flat shield with many layers. The “T-zone” can be seen during
a routine pelvic exam. It makes the cervix look like a bull’s eye, which is fitting, because
it’s exactly where the bugs want to be . . . .
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to get through the many layers of the mature cervix. But
penetration of the transformation zone’s single layer is a cinch, making this area of the
cervix prime real estate for genital infections. This is one of the reasons for our current
pandemic of genital infections in teen girls.200
Based on this, Dr. Grossman asserts that “girls should be advised to delay sexual behavior... .
Not for moral reasons, and not for emotional . . . but for medical reasons alone.”201
4.8 – Abstinence and Marriage
BOE Policy No. 2110, “ABSTINENCE-BASED EDUCATION POLICY”, in place from
September of 1995 until June of 2015, stated in full:
In order to help students make decisions that promote healthy behaviors, the
Department of Education shall instruct students that abstention from sexual intercourse
is the surest and most responsible way to prevent unintended pregnancies, sexually
transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and consequent emotional distress. The
abstinence-based education program shall:
a. support abstention from sexual intercourse and provide skill development to
continue abstention;
b. help youth who have had sexual intercourse to abstain from further sexual
intercourse until an appropriate time; and
c. provide youth with information on and skill development in the use of protective
devices and methods for the purpose of preventing sexually transmitted diseases
and pregnancy.202
199
Melissa L. Lawson, Human Papillomavirus Infection in Adolescent and Young Women, 105 MO. MED.
42, 43 (2008), available at
http://www.msma.org/docs/communications/MoMed/HPV%20in%20Adolescent%20and%20Young%20Women.pd
f.
200
GROSSMAN, YOU’RE TEACHING MY CHILD WHAT?, supra note 34, at 77.
201
Id. at 80.
202
HAW. BOARD EDUC. POL’Y No. 2110 (1995), available at
http://www.hawaiiboe.net/policies/2100series/Pages/2110.aspx.
36
BOE Policy 103.5, “SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION” which passed in June of 2015, replaces
BOE Policy No. 2110. The new policy states in full:
In order to help students make decisions that promote healthy behaviors, the
Department of Education shall provide sexual health education to include age
appropriate, medically accurate, health education that: (1) Includes education on
abstinence, contraception, and methods of infection prevention to prevent unintended
pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection, including human immunodeficiency virus;
(2) Helps students develop relationships and communication skills to form healthy
relationships that are based on mutual respect and affection and are free from violence,
coercion and intimidation; (3) Helps students develop skills in critical thinking, problem
solving, decision making and stress management to make healthy decisions about
sexuality and relationships; (4) Encourages student to communicate with their parents,
guardians and/or other trusted adults about sexuality; and (5) Informs students of
available community resources. Instruction will emphasize that abstention from sexual
intercourse is the surest way to prevent unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted
infections such as HIV/AIDS, and consequent emotional distress.
A description of the curriculum utilized by the school shall be made available to parents
and shall be posted on the school’s website prior to the start of any instruction. A
student shall be excused from sexual health instruction only upon the prior written
request of the student’s parent or legal guardian. A student may not be subject to
disciplinary action, academic penalty or other sanction if the student’s parent or legal
guardian makes such written request.203
The very concept of abstinence is sometimes ridiculed in our culture. According the authors of
Girls Uncovered, “[a] number of women in their mid-twenties (one a bank vice president)
transferred their medical care to [Dr. Joe McIlhaney] because their previous doctors had actually
made fun of them for being virgins.”204 Yet a study commissioned by the U.S. Dept. of Health
and Human Services found that 71% of parents and 53% of teens agreed that it was against their
values to have sexual intercourse before marriage.205
Abstinence isn’t just about moralism or Bible-thumping; it is about a child’s overall well-being.
The earlier a girl starts to have sex, the less likely she is to use contraceptives consistently later
in life.206 Early sexual activity may also be a sign of (though perhaps not the cause of)
HAW. BOARD EDUC. POL’Y No. 103.5 (2015), available at
http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/DOE%20Forms/Health%20and%20Nutrition/BOE103_5_061615.p f.
204
JOE S. MCILHANEY ET. AL., supra note 73, at 113.
205
LAUREN OLSHO ET AL., NATIONAL SURVEY OF ADOLESCENTS AND THEIR PARENTS: ATTITUDES AND
OPINIONS ABOUT SEX AND ABSTINENCE 51 (2009), available at
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/fysb/20090226_abstinence1.pdf .
206
Brianna M. Magnusson et. al, Early Age at First Intercourse and Subsequent Gaps in Contraceptive
Use, 21 J. WOMEN’S HEALTH 73, 75 (2012), available at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3283439/pdf/jwh.2011.2893.pdf.
203
37
depression.207 One study found that schools that adopted abstinence curricula showed an
increase in higher student passing rates for a state math achievement examination.208 Further,
sociology professor Sinikka Elliott’s research suggests that:
[A]bstinence is appealing to parents less for its moral message than its promise of
psychological, physical, and financial well-being. That is, despite their ambivalence,
many parents promote abstinence because they hope it will keep their children safe and
safeguard their futures. . . .First, parents think sex (by which they mean heterosexual
intercourse) is enormously risky--resulting in innumerable negative physical, emotional,
and financial consequences....Second, in addition to emphasizing the dangerous
consequences of sex, the parents articulated a view of teenagers as vessels of raging
hormones who lack the capacity to approach sex responsibly.209
Unfortunately, Professor Elliott’s study also found that “most of the parents professed that sexual
abstinence until marriage (or adulthood) is what they would prefer for their children, but also a
belief that this is probably not realistic.” For example, one self-described non-religious parent
“uses the language of abstinence until marriage in discussing sex with her son because, despite
her belief that it is unrealistic and that her son will not abstain until he is married, she does not
know what else to tell him.”210 These parents’ lack of confidence in their ability to lead their
own children, however, is ill-founded.
Parental attitudes about sex can and do have an impact on the sexual behavior of their children.
One report showed: “Adolescents whose parents wanted them to be over 18 when they first have
sex had lower odds of having had sex.”211 This echoes an earlier report’s statement: “Parents
and families whose adolescent children feel connected to them and those who are perceived by
the adolescent as disapproving of their teens being sexually active provide some protection from
early sexual intercourse. Disapproval of adolescent contraception protects teens from early
sexual involvement as well as from pregnancy.”212 Another report found that for parents who
conveyed restrictive values regarding intercourse, their children were more likely to delay
207
Luanne K. Jamieson & Terrance J. Wade, Early Age of First Sexual Intercourse and Depressive
Symptomatology among Adolescents, 48 J. SEX RES. 450, 457 (2011), available at
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s4800244&db=aph&AN=62
666680&site=ehost-live.
208
Kenneth F. Ferraro & Karis A. Pressler, Do Abstinence Education Programs Influence High-School
Academic Performance? 26 AMER. J. HEALTH STUD. 230, 233 (2011), available at
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kenneth_Ferraro/publication/265491279_DO_ABSTINENCE_EDUCATION_
PROGRAMS_INFLUENCE_HIGHSCHOOL_ACADEMIC_PERFORMANCE/links/54d0e1d40cf298d6566940fe.pdf.
209
Sinikka Elliott, “If I Could Really Say that and Get Away with It!”: Accountability and Ambivalence in
American Parents’ Sexuality Lessons in the Age of Abstinence, 10 SEX EDUC. 239, 243 (2010), available at
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s4800244&db=aph&AN=52
288419&site=ehost-live.
210
Id. at 245.
211
Monica A. Longmore et. al, Parenting and Adolescents’ Sexual Initiation, 71 J. MARRIAGE FAM. 969,
977 (2009), available at
http://facweb.northseattle.edu/lchaffee/PSY100/Journal%20Articles/Longmore%20et%20al%202009.pdf.
212
ROBERT W. BLUM & PEGGY MANN RINEHART, REDUCING THE RISK: CONNECTIONS THAT MAKE A
DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF YOUTH 20 (1997), available at http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED412459.pdf.
38
intercourse. On the other hand, for parents who endorsed contraceptive use, their children were
less likely to delay intercourse.213 Yet another study shows that adolescents whose parents
disapproved of sex were less likely to initiate both oral sex and vaginal sex.214 Adolescents who
perceive that their mothers’ approved of sexual activities are less likely to delay sexual
activity.215 A father’s disapproval about adolescent sexual behavior can delay or reduce sexual
behavior in their children.216
Unfortunately, many parents and their children don’t talk about the crucial issues. One study
found that teens more likely to talk to their best friends than their own parents about condom use.
Further, only 26% of teens spoke with their parents about all of the following topics: Using
condoms, using other birth control, the risk of STD’s, the risk of HIV/AIDS, the risk of
pregnancy, and abstinence.217
Parents can help prevent the initiation of adolescent sex through monitoring. One study showed:
“Among the [adolescent] respondents who had had intercourse, 91% said that the last time had
been in a home setting, including their own home (37%), their partner’s home (43%), and a
friend’s home [12%] . . . . “218 Further, abstinence education can have a positive impact. A 2008
study of seventh-grade students in Virginia found that students who took an abstinence education
course were only 46% as likely as their peers to lose their virginity after one year.219
With all this in mind, how do the curricula in Hawaii DOE schools measure up in terms of
promoting abstinence?
The Grade 8 version of the Draw the Line, Respect the Line curricula asks (but does not firmly
answer):
What are you going to do now to prevent HIV, other STD and unplanned pregnancy in
your life? Will you choose to kiss, but not go any further? Will you decide it’s OK to
213
Alison Parkes et. al, Is Parenting Associated with Teenagers’ Early Sexual Risk-Taking, Autonomy And
Relationship with Sexual Partners?, 43 PERSP. ON SEXUAL AND REPROD. HEALTH 30, 35 (2011), available at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3437472/pdf/psrh0043-0030.pdf.
214
Melina Bersamin et. al, Parenting Practices and Adolescent Sexual Behavior: A Longitudinal Study,
70 J. MARRIAGE FAMILY 97, 105-106 (2008), available at https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/wiley/parenting-practicesand-adolescent-sexual-behavior-a-longitudinal-ydBuyI4d93.
215
Hyeouk Hahm et al., Longitudinal Effects of Perceived Maternal Approval on Sexual Behaviors of Asian
and Pacific Islander (API) Young Adults, 37 J. YOUTH ADOLESCENCE 74, 79 (2007), available at
http://www.bu.edu/awship/files/2013/10/longitudinal-effects.pdf.
216
Vincent Guilamo-Ramos et. al, Paternal Influences on Adolescent Sexual Risk Behaviors: A Structured
Literature Review, 130 PEDIATRICS e1313, e1323 (2012),
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/130/5/e1313.full.pdf+html
217
Laura Widman et. al, Sexual Communication Between Early Adolescents and Their Dating Partners,
Parents, and Best Friends, 51 JOURNAL OF SEX RES. 731, 734 (2014), available at
http://mitch.web.unc.edu/files/2013/10/Widman-et-al-2014-JoSR.pdf.
218
Deborah A. Cohen et. al, When and Where Do Youths Have Sex? The Potential Role of Adult
Supervision, 110 PEDIATRICS e66, 3 (2014), http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/110/6/e66.full.pdf+html.
219
Stan E Weed et al., An Abstinence Program’s Impact on Cognitive Mediators and Sexual Initiation, 32
AMER. J. HEALTH BEHAV. 60, 70 (2008), available at
http://www2.cortland.edu/centers/character/images/sex_character/StanWeed_AbstinProgram_CogMediators_SexIni
tiation.pdf.
39
touch above the waist but not below? Will you choose not to have sex until you are
older and married? Will you choose to use condoms every time if you decide to have
sex?220
A lesson in the Grades 4-6 version of the F.L.A.S.H curriculum discusses condom use. Before
that discussion is reached, the curriculum recommends that instructors tell their students the
following:



The only 100% safe way to protect yourself from HIV is not to use injection drugs at all
ever and to practice sexual abstinence . . . .
Sexual intercourse, when two people are older and love each other very much, is an
important part of most people’s lives. It’s a way to show strong affection, and it’s also
the way to make babies. It’s very private and personal and special. Decisions about sex
are very complicated.
They are really adult decisions. When young people try to make sexual decisions, things
often don’t go right. Sex is worth waiting for until you’re an adult.221
A lesson in the Grades 7-8 version of F.L.A.S.H states:
The best (most certain) ways people can protect themselves and their partners from getting
or giving an STD are:
 Not having oral, anal, or vaginal sex (This is called abstinence and it is safest.)
 Only having sex with one other person, who only has sex with them, ever. (In a marriage
or a long-term partner relationship where they have had years to build trust.)
 Using a condom every time they have sex.222
Another section of that curriculum recommends that teachers discourage teen pregnancy by
inviting an adult speaker “who made a conscious decision to delay parenting until at least age
20” to speak to the students. The curriculum encourages asking such a speaker such questions as
“What made you decide to wait until you were older to have a baby?” and “Were there things
you were looking for in a partner that you didn’t find until you were older? Like what?”223
A lesson in the F.L.A.S.H Special Education curriculum recommends that teachers tell students
the following:
In our culture, many people think it is best to wait to have sexual intercourse until you
are an adult. They think that having sex is not safe for children or teenagers. Some
believe adults should wait until they are married to have sex. They think it’s wrong to
have sex unless you are married, even if you’re grown. Others think it’s wrong unless
you are in love. But almost all think it’s important to wait until you are an adult. Really
220
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 20.
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, Lesson 17, at 6.
222
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lessons 10 & 11, at 4.
223
Id. Lesson 4, at 9.
221
40
think hard about your feelings and beliefs and those of your family, before you make up
your mind about sex. I would really encourage you to discuss this with your family or a
trusted adult.224
Another lesson in that curriculum states that abstinence is the only 100% effective way to
prevent the spread of STD’s.225
The HealthTeacher curriculum instructs teachers to “[s]tress the percentage of students who are
not sexually active.”226 The curriculum discloses: “Sexual activity involves physical and
emotional risks and responsibilities better managed when students are older or in a more stable
relationship.”227 It also states that “mutual monogamy” is a safe behavior.228 The curriculum
also addresses some of the feelings that children go through after their parents divorce.229 There
are enclosed scripts are about achieving nonsexual goals—like fundraising for camp230 and
preparing for a career.231 The curriculum notes that goal-setting “can provide motivation to
avoid early sexual behavior and the risks that accompany it, including unintended pregnancy,
HIV infection, and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).”232
The First Module of the Making a Difference! curriculum states goals and learning
objectives.233 None of the goals mention abstinence until marriage, or even abstinence until
adulthood.
The curriculum further states:
Sexual arousal can make your palms sweaty, your heart beat faster, or make you feel
like there are butterflies in your stomach. Boys may experience erections, and girls may
feel warm and tingly in their genital area.
Sexual emotions can be strong and confusing. These feeling are normal. However, what
you do about them is important! The proud and responsible thing to do is to take time
to get know your feelings. You do not have to have sex.234
“You do not need to have sex” is hardly a ringing recommendation for abstinence. The
curriculum also states that “[i]t’s NOT a good idea to HAVE sex until you are prepared to have
sex with respect and responsibility.”235 Instead of informing young students when they will be
prepared when they reach a clear landmark (such as marriage, or attainment of financial
224
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Lesson 22, at 2.
Id. Lesson 25, at 3.
226
DAVIS ET AL., HEALTHTEACHER MIDDLE, supra note 48, at 212.
227
Id. at 213.
228
Id. at 249.
229
Id. at 135.
230
Id. at 191.
231
Id. at 203.
232
Id. at 193.
233
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 31, 50-51.
234
Id. at 56.
235
Id. at 64.
225
41
independence during adulthood), the curriculum leaves a noticeable canyon of ambiguity.
Students are even encouraged to “brainstorm” on the benefits of sex versus abstinence.236 What
if a twelve year-old girl believes she might be “prepared” to have sex with “respect and
responsibility” with her sixteen year-old boyfriend? Students and parents should heed the words
of Dr. Grossman:
How old should one be to start having sex? This is not a complex question requiring
lengthy elaboration. Sex is for adults—both in years and maturity. When sex
educators believe there’s no right or wrong answer to this question, when they say,
“you must decide what’s right for you,” they are negligent.237
Further, while the Making a Difference! curriculum discusses bad reasons for having sex—such
as, “to get back at your parents,”238—the curriculum gives scant attention to the good reasons for
and benefits of abstaining.
The Level A version of the Positive Prevention curriculum states that the use of condoms and
other STD prevention methods are better and safer than no protection at all. However,
abstinence is the only truly “safe” option and other methods are not equal to abstinence.239
As we see, some of the “pro-abstinence” messages of the above-mentioned curricula are halfhearted. This problem is exacerbated when we explore other parts of the curricula in Section 5.3
of this Report. Plainly stated, it is easier for an abstinence message to become lost given the
mixed message of the curricula as a whole. Though we are not saying that only conservatives
believe in abstinence, it is likely that some of the mixed messages from the curricula result, in
part, from a left-of-center philosophy. Professor Donna Frietas, who describes herself as “leftleaning,” complains: “Our society suffers from a lack of serious reflection on what practicing
abstinence might look like, and how the many ways of living abstinence might benefit a broad
segment of the young adult population.”240 Yet while she tries to champion abstinence, she also
redefines it to include “temporary abstinence” for adults.241
4.9 – Reproduction; Pregnancy
In the Grades 4-6 version of the F.L.A.S.H. curriculum, students learn, in reasonably significant
detail, how a fertilized egg develops into a newborn baby.242 The curriculum recommends, as an
optional step, the use of fetal models.243 The Grades 7-8 version of the curriculum takes students
through the stages of reproduction.244
236
Id. at 70-71.
MIRIAM GROSSMAN, NEW YORK CITY SEXUALITY EDUCATION REPORT 13 (2012), available at
http://www.miriamgrossmanmd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/sex_ed_report.pdf.
238
Id. at 59.
239
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION LEVEL A, supra note 54, at xii.
240
DONNA FREITAS, THE END OF SEX: HOW HOOKUP CULTURE IS LEAVING A GENERATION UNHAPPY,
SEXUALLY UNFULFILLED, AND CONFUSED ABOUT INTIMACY 152 (2013).
241
Id. at 154
242
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, Lesson 14, at 6-7.
243
Id. Lesson 13, at 1.
244
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lessons 7 & 8, at 1-25.
237
42
The Special Education version of F.L.A.S.H. also covers human reproduction, and encourages
instructors to make use of the NOVA film The Miracle of Life.245 Drawings of the full
development of a baby are shown.246 However, the curriculum lacks terms like “zygote” and
“embryo.”
The Special Education version of Positive Prevention discusses the male and female
reproductive organs.247 On the other hand, the actual stages of pregnancy are omitted. Most of
the other curricula devote little to no time to the stages of reproduction.
Dr. Grossman remarks:
Sex ed provides kids with pages and pages of information about contraception and
abortion, leading them to believe that in a zillion years, when they do want to get
pregnant, all that’s necessary is to stop—stop taking the pill, stop using the diaphragm,
and stop wearing a condom. Pull the goalie and let the babies roll. Easy, right?
Try telling that to the hordes of women seeking treatment at fertility centers all over the
country. Many of them can’t conceive because they waited too long.248
The authors of a fertility book warn: “Women whose eggs are older make embryos that are more
likely to be chromosomally abnormal. That can mean no pregnancy at all, miscarriage, or birth
defects.”249 Freezing eggs can be costly.250 Further, “what often happens is that long before [a
woman’s] egg supply runs out, the eggs get depleted or damaged along the way, leading to
decreased fertility. . . .”251 Further, the authors advise women that “your fertility begins to
decline in your twenties, then continues on a steady downward slope all through your thirties.”252
Boys and men may need to heed the restrictions of age as well. Some studies have found that a
man’s sperm decreases in both quality and quantity as he ages past thirty-four or forty.253 The
lower-quality sperm of a father over the age of forty may increase the likelihood that his
offspring may suffer a disability.254
245
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Lesson 19, at 3.
Id. Lesson 20, at 5-6.
247
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at xiii.
248
GROSSMAN, YOU’RE TEACHING MY CHILD WHAT?, supra note 34, at 123.
249
KYRA PHILLIPS & JAMIE GRIFO, THE WHOLE LIFE FERTILITY PLAN: UNDERSTANDING WHAT AFFECTS
YOUR FERTILITY TO HELP YOU GET PREGNANT WHEN YOU WANT TO 145 (2015).
250
Id. at 146.
251
Id. at 6.
252
Id. at 7.
253
Joao Batista A. Oliveira et al., The Effects of Age on Sperm Quality: An Evaluation of 1,500 Semen
Samples, 18 JBRA ASSISTED REPRODUCTION 34, 38-39 (2014), available at
http://www.jbra.com.br/media/trab/arq_238; Bronte A. Stone et. al, Age Thresholds for Changes in Semen
Parameters in Men, 100 FERTILITY & STERILITY 952, 955 (2013), available at
http://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(13)00687-0/pdf.
254
Michael Zitzmann, Effects of Age on Male Fertility, 27 BEST PRAC. & RES.: CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGY
& METABOLISM 617, 620 (2013), available at https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/elsevier/effects-of-age-on-malefertility-GIZ899EbJT.
246
43
Ironically, most of the curricula that we reviewed discuss anal sex repeatedly—but never spend
any time informing students that there may be an upper age limit on when they can mother or
father their own biological children.
44
5.0 – Age Appropriate?
As we have noted, Hawaii state-funded sex education, by law, must be age appropriate. That, is,
it must be “suitable to a particular age or age group based on developing cognitive, emotional,
and behavioral capacity typical for that age or age group.”255 How do the “other curricula” fare?
5.1 – Legal Ramifications Relating to Age
Under Hawaii law, a person (regardless of age) commits the offense of sexual assault in the first
degree (a class A felony) if he sexually penetrates a child aged thirteen or younger. The consent
of the minor is irrelevant. A person also commits the same offense if the minor is age fourteen
or fifteen, the suspect is at least five years older than the minor, and the suspect is not legally
married to the minor.256
Further, under Hawaii law, a person (regardless of age) commits the offense of sexual assault in
the third degree (a class C felony) if he makes sexual contact with a child aged thirteen or
younger. Again, the consent of the minor is irrelevant. A person also commits the same offense
if the minor is age fourteen or fifteen, the suspect is at least five years older than the minor, and
the suspect is not legally married to the minor.257
Further, Hawaii law recognizes the offense of “Continuous sexual assault of a minor under the
age of fourteen years.” This is a class A felony, which one commits when (1) the suspect resides
with the minor or has recurring access to the minor, AND (2) the suspect engages in three or
more acts of sexual penetration or sexual contact with a minor aged thirteen or younger.258
“Sexual penetration” is defined as:
(1) Vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse, fellatio, deviate sexual intercourse, or any
intrusion of any part of a person’s body or of any object into the genital or anal opening
of another person’s body; it occurs upon any penetration, however slight, but emission
is not required. As used in this definition, “genital opening” includes the anterior
surface of the vulva or labia majora; or
(2) Cunnilingus or anilingus, whether or not actual penetration has occurred. 259
“Sexual contact” means:
255
HAW. REV. STAT. § 321-11.1 (2014), available at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol06_Ch0321-0344/HRS0321/HRS_0321-0011_0001.htm.
256
HAW. REV. STAT. § 707-730 (2014), available at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0707/HRS_0707-0730.htm.
257
HAW. REV. STAT. § 707-732 (2014), available at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0707/HRS_0707-0732.htm.
258
HAW. REV. STAT. § 707-733.6 (2014), available at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0707/HRS_0707-0733_0006.htm.
259
HAW. REV. STAT. § 707-700 (2014), available at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0707/HRS_0707-0700.htm.
45
. . . . any touching, other than acts of “sexual penetration”, of the sexual or other
intimate parts of a person not married to the actor, or of the sexual or other intimate
parts of the actor by the person, whether directly or through the clothing or other
material intended to cover the sexual or other intimate parts.260
Under Hawaii law, a minor who participates in “sexting” of a nude image of any minor is
committing a petty misdemeanor.261
According to a book on teen pregnancy, “[a]bout 18%-24% of girls who began to have sex
younger than at the age of 14 say that it was involuntary and 27% characterized their first sexual
experience as unwanted.”262 Most minor-aged females who have engaged in sexual behavior at
age 14 or younger regret doing so, as they believe that they were too young at the time.263
Given the above information, how well do the curricula do at informing students that underage
sexual activity may be the wrong thing to do, or even illegal?
The Grade 7 version of Draw the Line, Respect the Line contains a role-playing scenario in
which an adult teacher plays the role of “Samuel.” Another character, “Elena,” is to be played
by “the other teacher, classroom aide, or prepared students volunteer.”264 The scenario script is
as follows:
Samuel and Elena meet at a party. They dance and talk together. Some couples have
gone upstairs to make out. Elena takes Samuel’s hand to go upstairs, but he doesn’t
really want to go.
Elena (Helper): Let’s go upstairs.
Samuel (Teacher): No, I don’t want to go upstairs.
Elena (Helper): Don’t you like me?
Samuel (Teacher): Yes, I like you. I just don’t want to go upstairs.
Elena (Helper): Why not? Everyone else is.
Samuel (Teacher): Let’s keep dancing instead. I like the way you dance.
Elena (Helper): Sure, let’s dance.265
260
Id.
HAW. REV. STAT. § 712-1215.6 (2014), available at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0712/HRS_0712-1215_0006.htm.
262
NAOMI B. FARBER, ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY: POLICY AND PREVENTION SERVICES 16 (2nd ed. 2009)
(2003).
263
Sian Cotton et. al., Adolescent Girls’ Perceptions of the Timing of Their Sexual Initiation: “Too Young”
or “Just Right”?, 34 J. ADOLESCENT HEALTH 453, 455 (2004), available at
https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/elsevier/adolescent-girls-perceptions-of-the-timing-of-their-sexual-initiationNhdrBKTsJB; Susan L. Rosenthal et al., Heterosexual Romantic Relationships and Sexual Behaviors of Young
Adolescent Girls, 21 J. ADOLESCENT HEALTH 238, 241 (1997), available at
https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/elsevier/heterosexual-romantic-relationships-and-sexual-behaviors-of-youngZXv347AYRx.
264
COYLE ET AL., DTL GRADE SEVEN, supra note 36, at 52.
265
Id. at 119.
261
46
The curriculum gives no explanation as to why a grown adult should be roleplaying with a 12
year-old student in such a capacity—given that “Elena” wants to “make out” and possibly have
sex with “Samuel.”
The Grade 8 version of that curriculum includes a scenario with a 16 year-old boy and 13 yearold girl. They are alone at his house, and they kiss romantically. The boys anticipates, in his
mind, that they might have sex. At that moment, however, his mother walks in. The curriculum
suggests that the boy and girl might be going too far because of his age, but there is no outright
warning about the problem of possible legal consequences.266
F.L.A.S.H references the topic of the age of consent in the appendices of the Grades 4-6,267
Grades 7-8,268 and Special Education269 versions of the curriculum. However, the subject is not
presented as a main part of the curriculum.
The Making a Difference! curriculum asks students to ponder: “Why do you think some teens
your age are having sex?”270 The curriculum also presents a case study:
Jolie is 13 and Malik is 16 . ...When Malik asks Jolie about having sex with him, Jolie
doesn’t know what to say. She really wants to wait until she’s older and maybe even
engaged . . . . Jolie and Malik are making out on the couch at his house. His parents
won’t be home for a while. Things begin to get hot and heavy. They both are very
sexually excited. How can Jolie avoid having sexual intercourse?271
This curriculum fails to warn students against the propriety of being alone and unsupervised with
another teenager of the opposite sex. More incredibly, however, the curriculum also fails to
notice that Malik, according to the law in some states, is about to commit statutory rape/sexual
assault. Since Jolie is only thirteen, Hawaii law states that she cannot legally consent to sexual
penetration.272
Contrast that omission to the discussion that that curriculum provides regarding sexting. The
curriculum does mention that “there may be legal actions. Some states consider it a juvenile
offense to sext, both for the recipient and the sender.”273 We note that although Making a
Difference! discourages sexting, some parents might question the wisdom of introducing
children as young as 11 years old to the topic. Though statistics vary, it appears that a very low
number of children aged 13 and younger have engaged in sexting—perhaps as low as 4%.274
266
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 44, 45, 143.
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, Appendix C, at 4.
268
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Appendix C, at 4.
269
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Appendix C, at 4.
270
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 43, 58.
271
Id. at 108.
272
HAW. REV. STAT. § 707-730 (2014), available at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0707/HRS_0707-0730.htm.
273
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 138.
274
Luke Gilkerson, Sexting Statistics: What Do the Surveys Say?, COVENANT EYES (Jan. 20, 2012),
http://www.covenanteyes.com/2012/01/10/sexting-statistics-what-do-the-surveys-say.
267
47
The Special Populations version of the Positive Prevention curriculum briefly addresses
California law for the age of consent, which is the age of 18 in that state.275 An appendix item
discusses statutory rape in more detail; however, it appears that that discussion is for reference
purposes only, and is not intended for classroom instruction.276
None of the other curricula mention age of consent issues.
5.2 – Too Much Information, Too Soon?
Child development expert David Elkind is concerned about the fact that many schools “reflect
the contemporary bias toward having children grow up fast.”277 He observes: “Sex education in
schools, given at even younger ages and without clear-cut theoretical or research justification, is
another way in which some contemporary schools are encouraging their pupils to grow up [too]
fast.”278 He reasons:
Inevitably . . . the conviction that “earlier [sex education] is better,” which so dominates
today’s educational climate, means that such programs will be and are being used with
preteen and young teenagers who may be given more information than they want or
need. The real question is not whether sex education should be provided in the schools
but, rather, whether what is offered in the name of sex education is meaningful and
useful to the age groups for whom it is provided. Unfortunately, the answer is often
“no,” and many young people are exposed to programs and information that reflect
adult anxieties about teenage sexuality much more than the very real concerns and
anxieties experienced by the young people to whom the programs are directed.279
The Grades 4-6 version of the F.L.A.S.H. curriculum informs students about puberty.280 Among
other matters, it includes information that men may ejaculate during masturbation, during a
sexual touch with a partner, or during a “wet dream.”281 The Special Education version of the
curriculum presents an account of a heterosexual couple that has been dating for three years, and
they decide to have sex without using a condom. The male character transmits gonorrhea to the
female character, but they “temporarily abstain” from sex, and receive medication for
treatment.282 The curriculum does not make clear the ages of the characters, nor does it explain
why it is playing with the definition of the word “abstain.”
The HealthTeacher curriculum is milder. It explains how boys and girls attitudes change about
each other during puberty.283 It also acknowledges that it is normal for adolescents to be curious
about sex.284 During an instruction on sexual anatomy, the curriculum provides drawings and
275
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 453.
Id. Appendix A, at 29-30
277
ELKIND, supra note 17, at 49.
278
Id. at 66.
279
Id. at 65.
280
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, Lesson 9, at 1.
281
Id. at 5.
282
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Lesson 25, at 4-6.
283
DAVIS ET AL., HEALTHTEACHER MIDDLE, supra note 48, at 151.
284
Id. at 155.
276
48
computer-generated models—not photographs—of sexual organs.285 Yet the drawings are
comparable to what one might find in an encyclopedia, and are neither unnecessarily graphic nor
provocative.
The Making a Difference! curriculum directs the instructor to ask these boys and girls: “How
Do People Express Their Sexual Feelings?” The curriculum anticipates some of the answers that
the students might give, including such answers as “kissing”, “holding hands”, and “talking”, as
well as “oral sex”, “masturbation”, “sexual fantasy”, “anal sex”, “vaginal intercourse”, and
“grinding.”286 And just in case students miss a few, the curriculum directs instructors to place a
poster on the wall, which includes those terms.287
The Level A version of Positive Prevention provides optional, digital color photographs—not
drawings—of the effects of various sexual transmitted diseases on the human body. Some of the
photographs show actual genitalia and private parts. The curriculum cautions instructors to “get
administrative approval” before these photographs are shown to students.288
The Special Education version of that curriculum discusses the male and female reproductive
organs and condom usage. During the discussion, drawings are presented of the sexual anatomy.
The drawings are somewhat cartoony, including one image of an ejaculation. The drawings are
very poor in quality, and lack the straightforward, non-provocative professional detail and
attention to scale that one usually finds in Gray’s Anatomy or an encyclopedia set.289
5.3 – “Rational” Youth
Neurobiologist Semir Zeki comments that “the all-engaging passion of romantic love is mirrored
by a suspension of judgment or a relaxation of judgmental criteria by which we assess other
people.” He adds: “Love is often irrational because rational judgments are suspended or no
longer applied with the same rigour.”290 Do the authors of the sex education curricula take this
irrationality into account when addressing teenage sexual behavior?
The Grade 7 version of Draw the Line, Respect the Line directs instructors to read a story about
a party out loud. It has a “Sad” ending, as well as an alternate “New Movie Ending”:
[Sad Ending] Marco took Tina’s hand and started to go up the stairs . . . . Tina and Marco
went into the bedroom. Soon they were lying in bed, kissing and touching. They didn’t
really talking about having sex. It just happened. After they did it, Tina and Marco
found their friends and went home.
285
Id.at 165, 171, 183.
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 65.
287
Id. at 65-66.
288
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION LEVEL A, supra note 54, at 59.
289
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 61-67, 71-73, 77-79, 229-232, 409-412.
290
Semir Zeki, The Neurobiology of Love, 581 FEBS LETTERS 2575, 2577 (2007), available at
http://cmb.duke.edu/sites/default/files/5D-3.pdf.
286
49
[New Movie Ending] Tina and Marco found the bedroom and were lying on the bed,
kissing and touching. Even though it felt very good, both Tina and Marco began feeling
more uncomfortable. They both realized that they didn’t want to have sex right now.
So they stopped. Then they found their friends and went home.291
The intent of this activity is to “enable students to identify, discuss and personalize immediate
and short-term consequences of having sex or not having sex, with an emphasis on emotional
consequences.”292 Later, the curriculum revisits the story and suggests (but does not firmly say
so) that Tina and Marco would have been better off avoiding a situation where parents are not
home, where the house is dark, and where there is alcohol.293
Instructors ask Grade 7 boys and girls this question: “How do you think most people feel talking
about sex?”294 Students are also asked to read stories out loud, such as the following, which
reads in part:
James feels this incredible surge of sexual energy. He wraps his arms around Alana and
lies down on top of her. He thinks this is probably the most exciting moment in his
entire life. Alana likes kissing James. It feels good to be close to him. She lets him start
touching her body. She feels excited, and her stomach feels all mixed up from it.
James really like Alana. Touching her feels great. He wonders if now is the right time to
actually have sex, but he also wonders if he might be pressuring Alana. Then he thinks:
“This must feel as good to her as it does to me. Otherwise, she’d tell me. Right?”
Alana wonders what James is expecting from her . . . . She wants to be close to James,
and she know she and James could have sex right now, but she doesn’t think it’s what
she wants.295
The Grade 8 version of Draw the Line, Respect the Line tells a story of “Herman uses a
condom.” Herman is 19 and his girlfriend Kiva is 18. He attempts to have intercourse with her
while using a condom. However, he bungles his attempts, and either breaks them or uses them
inside out. Before continuing with intercourse, he throws multiple condoms away.296 The
scenario (correctly) implies that throwing away of each condom after each bungle is appropriate.
The curriculum, however, also assumes that the 13 year-olds who hear this story will have the
maturity—during the heat of passion—to be willing to correct their mistakes, until they “get it
right.”
Making a Difference! includes role-playing scenarios, including this Valentine’s Day scenario:

Person 1: . . . . We’ve been dating for a while, I love you, and I’m ready.
291
COYLE ET AL., DTL GRADE SEVEN, supra note 36, at 101.
Id. at 29.
293
Id. at 37.
294
Id. at 17.
295
Id. at 99 .
296
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 159, 161, 163.
292
50



Person 2: Well, I’m not. I love you but I’m not ready to sleep with you. I know you are
the person that I want to be with, but I also know that I need you to be understanding
and patient. I want to sleep with you but only when I’m absolutely sure—when I’m not
scared or in doubt.
Person 1: Well, I don’t want to feel like I’m pressuring you to do something that you
don’t want to. It’s important that you’re sure. So, I guess I’ll wait until you are ready.
Person 2: Thanks for understanding baby. I love you so much and I’m really glad that
you are willing to hold on for a bit.297
In the course of in-class games, the instructor tells students, in the guise of promoting abstinence,
that a young couple can engage in activities such as masturbation, kissing, massaging, and
having fantasies, and grinding as alternatives to actual intercourse.298
The Special Populations version of the Positive Prevention curriculum contains “pressure lines,”
to which students are directed to say “no.” A sample line is: “Come with me to this great party.
There are not going to be any parents and one of the guys is bringing beer.”299 Yet on the other
hand, the curriculum also presents a scenario in which two characters are on the brink of having
sex. One character is reluctant to use a condom; the other character (the students in the class) are
directed to say: “I want us to be safe and use a condom—or else no sex!” The curriculum calls
this “condom negotiation.”300
While the above role-playing scenarios seem to favor abstinence, the curricula make a faulty
assumption: That children as young as eleven years old are rational enough to determine when
they are ready. Another faulty assumption: That kids, once they start kissing or massaging their
partners, won’t be tempted to proceed to intercourse.
The authors of some of the curricula also appear to believe that teenagers will be able to plan
rationally, and, if they do have sex, take the time to put on condoms properly. But how can
instructors expect teens will “plan” to use condoms when most teens who have had sex did not
“plan” to do so? One publication found that “65% of teenagers report that their first sexual
experience was unplanned; 21% state that although not planned, it was not unexpected; only
15% report that their first sexual experience was planned.”301
Dr. Grossman states the matter quite bluntly:
[T]he premise for teaching “safe sex” is based entirely on the assumption that teens can
think through complex issues, plan ahead, and consider consequences. “Reasoning,
judgment and decision-making,” the very things they’re still developing, are precisely
the skills teens must have to determine their “readiness” for a “mature sexual
297
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 81-82.
Id. at 99, 124.
299
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 177.
300
Id. at 415-417.
301
George Loewenstein & Frank Furstenberg, Is Teenage Sexual Behavior Rational?, 21 J. APPLIED SOC.
PSYCHOL. 957, 982 (1991), available at
http://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/docs/loewenstein/TeenageSexualBehRational.pdf.
298
51
relationship.” How, in light of the insights this young century has brought us about teen
risk-taking and decision-making, can sex educators still tell kids, “only you know when
you’re ready,” and instruct parents to “respect” their teen’s decision?
....
Sorry, you may have all the good intentions in the world, but even if you provide all the
information, and teach all the skills, you can’t bank on producing a sexually responsible
teen. The wiring isn’t finished. The circuits aren’t complete. The driver is unskilled, and
only one thing will help: time.302
Unlike other curricula, HealthTeacher more clearly instructs students on how to avoid being
alone with a significant other, by not accepting an invitation of a girlfriend or boyfriend who
“wants you to come to his/her house after school.”303
Teens do not think like adults, and they should not be treated as such. Two forms of impulsive
behavior (“temporal discounting” and the surprisingly-scientific term “acting-without-thinking”)
work against teens, and help bring about early sexual debut.304 Even teens kissing alone while
parents and guardians are away can be in a hazardous situation. Kissing may very well be “an
adaptive courtship strategy that functions as a mate-assessment technique, a means of initiating
sexual arousal and receptivity, and a way of maintaining a bonded relationship.”305 In other
words: Kissing can lead to sex, either immediately or in the long run.
If an unmarried teen or child is insistent on having sex, the answer is not for his or her parents to
throw up their hands and say, “Oh well, I guess you know what’s best. Here’s a condom.”
Instead, Dr. Grossman takes a stand: “If...nothing adults do has any impact, the answer is still not
birth control; it’s crisis intervention by a team of mental health professionals.”306
Several of the curricula also have students practice giving others advice. The Grade 7 version of
Draw the Line, Respect the Line teaches students how to answer such questions as: “I don’t
want to have sex. What can I tell her if she wants to do it? What else could I say?”307 The
Grade 8 version of that curriculum asks students to ponder answering: “What are the most
important things about condoms that you would tell your brother or sister?”308
The Grades 7-8 version of F.L.A.S.H. encourages students to write “skits,” including “advice”
skits with such topics as: “You ask a friend how you can get more information about STDs,” or
they “You see a friend’s STD medicine and wonder if you have the same thing and if the pills
GROSSMAN, YOU’RE TEACHING MY CHILD WHAT?, supra note 34, at 76.
DAVIS ET AL., HEALTHTEACHER MIDDLE, supra note 48, at 225.
304
Atika Khurana et. al., Early Adolescent Sexual Debut: The Mediating Role of Working Memory Ability,
Sensation Seeking, and Impulsivity, 48 DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOL. 1416, 1416 (2012).
305
Susan M. Hughes et. al, Sex Differences in Romantic Kissing Among College Students: An Evolutionary
Perspective, 5 EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOL. 612, 628 (2007), available at http://www.epjournal.net/articles/sexdifferences-in-romantic-kissing-among-college-students-an-evolutionaryperspective/getpdf.php?file=EP05612631.pdf.
306
GROSSMAN, YOU’RE TEACHING MY CHILD WHAT?, supra note 34, at 206.
307
COYLE ET AL., DTL GRADE SEVEN, supra note 36, at 177.
308
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 85.
302
303
52
would work. Your friend knows that using his or her pills would be dangerous.”309 Another
“advice” scenario states in part:
Your cousin is in a relationship with someone and told you they’re having sex. They
haven’t ever used a condom because your cousin says the person doesn’t have any
diseases and looks clean. And your cousin says condoms break anyway . . . . What could
you say or do to help your cousin reduce the risk—to help your cousin not get HIV or
another STD?310
A Making a Difference! role-play activity encourages students to give “advice” to others by
role-playing in a sex call-in show. Students are asked to give answers to such questions as: “I
keep hearing that teens my age are getting diseases. Is oral sex safe? How do we protect
ourselves from diseases?”311
The Level A version of Positive Prevention introduces several hypothetical scenarios in the form
of letters asking an advice columnist for help In one scenario, an unnamed character asks the inclass students to come on over to “spend the night” even though parents won’t be home.
Students are asked how they would refuse such an invitation—in order to completely avoid a
compromising situation.312
The HealthTeacher curriculum instructs students on how to give other students advice on
avoiding sex.313 A hypothetical student asks:
I have been going with Jordan for three months now . . . . When we are together, we
can’t keep our hands off each other . . . . Lately, we’ve talked about having sex. I’m sure
just about everybody at school has already had sex. I really can’t think of any good
reasons to wait. I want to show Jordan how much I care. What do you think?314
Although some of the curricula (like the Positive Prevention and HealthTeacher examples
above) instruct the student “advisor” to recommend abstinence, none of the curricula explain
why the heavy burden of providing such advice should fall on the shoulders of an 11 year-old
child in the first place. Further, in the real world, it is always possible that the “advisor” student
may get into an extended debate, and the “advisee” student may win over the “advisor”
student—and even persuade the “advisor” student to engage in sex.
5.4 – Not “Everyone” is Having Sex
The curricula (except HealthTeacher) seem intent on teaching children aged 13 and under the
ins and outs of sex. The authors of the curricula appear to be under the impression that most
children are going to have sex.
309
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 5, at 4.
Id. Lessons 12 & 13, at 6.
311
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 149.
312
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION LEVEL A, supra note 54, at 169.
313
DAVIS ET AL., HEALTHTEACHER MIDDLE, supra note 48, at 213.
314
Id. at 217.
310
53
David Elkind observes: “In the early 1960’s about 10 percent of teenage girls and some 25
percent of teenage boys were sexually active.”315 But while teen sexual activity has risen since
then, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of females
between the ages of 15 to 19 who engaged in sex dropped from 51% to 43%, while the
corresponding statistic for boys dropped from 60% to 42%.” The same report also found:
For both male and female teenagers, a significantly smaller percentage were sexually
experienced if:
- they lived with both parents when they were aged 14
- their mothers had their first birth at age 20 or over
- the teenager’s mother was a college graduate
- the teenager lived with both of her/his parents.316
More importantly, students in Hawaii are more likely to abstain from sex than students in the rest
of the country as a whole. Only 5% of Hawaii students under the age of 13 have engaged in sex.
Further, 63% of Hawaii high school students have never had sexual intercourse.317
5.5 – Warnings Against Predators
The Grades 4-6 version of F.L.A.S.H. warns students about sexual abuse from adult predators.
The curriculum warns against letting people touch their private parts, except when appropriate,
as in a doctor’s visit.318 It rightfully instructs students to make a report when they are victims of
inappropriate touching from adults, even when such adults ask children to keep such incidents
“secret.”319 The Grades 7-8 version addresses predatory behavior, and tells students that they
have a right “never to be touched in a sexual or affectionate way without your permission” as
well as the right “never to be touched in an exploitive way.” It also presents, as an example of
inappropriate behavior, an instance where an uncle enters a minor’s room when the minor is
changing clothes.320 It advises victims of sexual assault to call the police or Child Protective
Services.321 The Special Education curriculum warns children of exploitation from adults, and
the need to report when students are threatened by inappropriate touching.322
The Special Populations version of Positive Prevention recommends avoiding risky/dangerous
situations like “dark alleys and parking lots,” “hitchhiking,” or “being alone on a date with an
315
ELKIND, supra note 17, at 18.
GLADYS MARTINEZ ET AL., TEENAGERS IN THE UNITED STATES: SEXUAL ACTIVITY, CONTRACEPTIVE
USE, AND CHILDBEARING, 2006-2010 NATIONAL SURVEY OF FAMILY GROWTH 6 (2011), available at
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_23/sr23_031.pdf.
317
Hawaii Adolescent Reproductive Health Facts, U.S. DEP’T HEALTH HUM. SERVICES,
http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/states/hi.html (last updated Nov. 13,
2014).
318
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, Lesson 7, at 3.
319
Id. Lesson 7, at 5.
320
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 20, at 4.
321
Id. Lesson 20, at 6.
322
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Lesson 15, at 3-4.
316
54
older person.” It wants students to refuse when “a stranger asks” them to “go with them.”323
The curriculum also informs instructors that if a girl claims she is having sex with an older man,
then the teacher should contact law enforcement or social services.324 Yet that curriculum’s
warning against predators rings somewhat hollow when one considers the philosophical
perspective of the authors of the curriculum. An appendix item claims that: “[f]rom the time we
are born, we are sexual beings . . . .”325 The same item goes on to tell us that infants are
interested in sex:
Infancy through 3 years old. Infants and young children find great pleasure in bodily
sensations and exploration. Fascination with genitals is quite normal during this period
and should not be discouraged or punished by parents or caregivers.326
323
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 171.
Id. Appendix D, at 34.
325
Id. Appendix B, at 22.
326
Id. Appendix B, at 27.
324
55
6.0 – Ethical Considerations
6.1 – Abortion
The Grades 7-8 version of F.L.A.S.H. names abortion as a possible response to an unplanned
pregnancy.327 The Special Populations version of Positive Prevention does the same.328
Neither curriculum mentions the possible mental health consequences that a woman may suffer
after she chooses an abortion. New Zealand researchers, led by Professor David M. Fergusson,
analyzed data from a twenty-five-year period:
This study produced evidence consistent with the view that in young women, exposure
to abortion was associated with a detectable increase in risks of concurrent and
subsequent mental health problems. This conclusion is based on the following lines of
evidence:
1. On the basis of concurrently assessed data . . . young women reporting abortions had
elevated rates of mental health problems when compared with those becoming
pregnant without abortion and those not becoming pregnant.
2. These associations persisted after extensive control for a range of confounding
factors, suggesting a possible causal linkage between exposure to abortion and mental
health problems . . . .
3. To examine the direction of causation, a prospective analysis was conducted in which
exposure to abortion by age 21 was used to predict subsequent mental health problems
....
That analysis showed that even following control for confounding factors, exposure to
abortion prior to age 21 was associated with increased risks of later mental health
problems. In general, these results are consistent with the view that exposure to
abortion was associated with increased risks of mental health problems independently
of confounding factors. The study estimates suggested that those who were not
pregnant or those becoming pregnant but not having an abortion had overall rates of
mental disorders that were between 58% and 67% of those becoming pregnant and
having an abortion.329
Ironically, the professor has no pro-life bias. He has stated: “I remain pro-choice. I am not
religious. I am an atheist and a rationalist. The findings did surprise me, but the results appear
327
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lessons 10 & 11, at 12, Lesson 14, at 3.
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 262.
329
David M. Fergusson et. al, Abortion in Young Women and Subsequent Mental Health, 47 J. CHILD
PSYCHOL. & PSYCHIATRY 16, 22 (2006), available at
http://www.unav.edu/departamento/preventiva/files/file/aborto_psych_JChildPsych2006_Fergusson.pdf.
328
56
to be very robust because they persist across a series of disorders and a series of ages.”330 He also
stated: “If we were talking about an antibiotic or an asthma risk, and someone reported adverse
reactions, people would be advocating further research to evaluate risk . . . . I can see no good
reason why the same rules don’t apply to abortion.”331 Notably, he sought to publish the study
because it would be “scientifically irresponsible” not to do so.332
If a pro-choice atheist finds it fit to address potential psychological effects of abortion, why can’t
the sex education curricula do the same if and when they discuss abortion?
6.2 – Abortifacients
Connected to the issue of abortion is a debate regarding when “conception” even occurs. The
Grades 4-6 version of F.L.A.S.H. states:
Fertilization is what you call it when a sperm cell enters an egg . . . . After the egg is
fertilized, it will take a week or so to finish traveling down the tube into the uterus,
where it will nest. That’s called implantation. The combination of fertilization and
implantation is what we call conception, meaning a pregnancy has begun.333
Similarly, the Grades 7-8 version of that curriculum teaches that “fertilization + implantation =
conception.”334
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) takes the position that
conception does not occur until after implantation.335 Ironically, however, a 2011 survey shows
that 57% of obstetricians/gynecologists disagree with that position.336 The Merck Manual states
that pregnancy “begins when an egg is fertilized by sperm,”337 and equates conception with
fertilization.338 In their book filled with amazing ultrasound images of a baby developing in the
womb, two Harvard radiology professors unambiguously write that the first trimester of
pregnancy “begins with a single microscopic fertilized egg.”339 Gray’s Anatomy agrees that
pregnancy begins at fertilization,340 while pictures from a British Museum (Natural History)
330
The 7:30 Report (Australian Broadcasting Corporation television broadcast Mar. 1, 2006), available at
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2006/s1541543.htm.
331
Greg Tourelle, Abortion Raises Depression Risk, Say NZ Researchers, N.Z. HERALD, Jan. 4, 2006,
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10362363.
332
Ruth Hill, Abortion Researcher Confounded By Study, N.Z. HERALD, Jan. 5, 2006,
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10362476.
333
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, Lesson 12, at 3.
334
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lessons 8 & 9, at 15, 21.
335
Press Release, ACOG Statement on “Personhood” Measures (Feb. 10, 2012), available at
http://www.acog.org/About-ACOG/News-Room/News-Releases/2012/Personhood-Measures.
336
Grace S. Chung et. al, Obstetrician-Gynecologists’ Beliefs About When Pregnancy Begins, 206 AM. J.
OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY 132.e1, 132.e3 (2012), http://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(11)02223-X/pdf.
337
MERCK MANUAL OF MEDICAL INFORMATION 1434 (Mark H. Beers ed., 2nd ed. 2003) (2000).
338
Id. at 1800.
339
PETER M. DOUBILET ET AL., YOUR DEVELOPING BABY: CONCEPTION TO BIRTH 7 (2008).
340
GRAY’S ANATOMY, supra note 64, at 167.
57
exhibit declare (both visually and literally) that the moment of fertilization is “when a new life
comes into being.”341
Due to the disagreement among OB/GYNs over definitions, the author of a study in The Journal
of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine suggested that, for the sake of informed consent of the
women who use birth control, that the ACOG reconsider its definition of “conception” and
“pregnancy.”342
Given this background: Do the sex education curricula that provide information about birth
control also address the risks that some methods may pose to a fertilized egg that has not yet
implanted?
The Grades 7-8 version of F.L.A.S.H. discusses emergency contraception, as well as DepoProvera (which is injected), Implanon (which is an implant), the patch, the Mirena IUD, and the
vaginal ring.343 The Special Education version of the curriculum teaches students, among other
methods, about IUD’s and Plan B.344
The Level A version of Positive Prevention states that products such as Depo-Provera and
Nuvaring prevent pregnancy.345 The Special Populations version mentions Emergency
Contraception, NuvaRing, Plan B, the Pill, and Implanon as birth control methods.346
A fertilized egg normally implants in the endometrium, which is the lining of the uterus.347 The
above-mentioned curricula do not inform students that the manufacturers of these products
caution that the use of the products may make changes to the endometrium and/or prevent
implantation.
For example, the manufacturer of Plan B states that:
Plan B One-Step is believed to act as an emergency contraceptive principally by
preventing ovulation or fertilization (by altering tubal transport of sperm and/or ova). In
addition, it may inhibit implantation (by altering the endometrium). It is not effective
once the process of implantation has begun.348
The website of the manufacturer of Nuvaring states:
341
STEPHEN PARKER, LIFE BEFORE BIRTH: THE STORY OF THE FIRST NINE MONTHS 2 (1979).
Joseph A. Spinnato, Informed Consent and the Redefining of Conception: A Decision Ill-Conceived?, 7
J. MATERNAL-FETAL & NEONATAL MED. 264, 264 (1998).
343
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 14, at 3, 5, 8.
344
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Lesson 23, at 3-4.
345
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION LEVEL A, supra note 54, at 143.
346
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 201-207.
347
Implantation: Reproduction Physiology, ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/284036/implantation (last updated Dec. 15, 2014).
348
DURAMED PHARMACEUTICALS, INC., HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESCRIBING INFORMATION 4 (2009) (1982),
available at http://www.planbonestep.com/pdf/PlanBOneStepFullProductInformation.pdf.
342
58
Although the primary effect of this action is inhibition of ovulation, other alterations
include changes in the cervical mucus (which increase the difficulty of sperm entry into
the uterus) and the endometrium (which reduce the likelihood of implantation).349
The manufacturer of the Mirena IUD states that:
Studies of Mirena and similar LNG IUS prototypes have suggested several mechanisms
that prevent pregnancy: thickening of cervical mucus preventing passage of sperm into
the uterus, inhibition of sperm capacitation or survival, and alteration of the
endometrium.350
The manufacturers of Implanon,351 Depo-Provera ,352 “the Pill,”353 and “the Patch”354 make
similar disclosures.
An appendix item in the Making a Difference! curriculum provides instructors with additional
information, intended to address “needs that may emerge in the group.”355 The curriculum
discusses the use of Paraguard IUDs, Mirena IUDs, “the Pill,” “the Patch,” Depo-Provera, and
Implanon. While the curriculum discloses that Paraguard IUDs “make it very hard for fertilized
eggs to attach to the wall of the uterus”,356 there is no disclosure of the possibility that that same
interference may occur when the other birth control methods are used.
6.3 – Parental Rights
As we demonstrated in Section 4.8 of this Report, parental attitudes and instructions can have a
substantial effect on the sexual behavior of their children. Given the crucial roles of mothers and
fathers, any sex education curriculum that fails to inform parents of its content, or that helps
create a divide between children and parents, is putting family integrity—and student health—at
risk. So how do the curricula fare?
The Making a Difference! curriculum tells students: “When people share private information in
this group, it should be kept private . . . . We will not talk about any personal information we
hear in this group.”357 Similarly, the Grades 7-8 version of F.L.A.S.H imposes this rule:
“Protecting one’s own and other peoples’ privacy means not sharing very personal issues in the
349
MERCK & CO., INC., HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESCRIBING INFORMATION 14 (2012) (2001), available at
http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/n/nuvaring/nuvaring_pi.pdf.
350
BAYER HEALTHCARE PHARMACEUTICALS INC., HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESCRIBING INFORMATION 17 (2014)
(2000), available at http://labeling.bayerhealthcare.com/html/products/pi/Mirena_PI.pdf.
351
MERCK & CO., INC., HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESCRIBING INFORMATION 18 (2014) (2001), available at
http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/i/implanon/implanon_pi.pdf.
352
PFIZER INC., HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESCRIBING INFORMATION 13 (2015) (1959), available at
http://labeling.pfizer.com/ShowLabeling.aspx?id=522.
353
JANSSEN PHARMACEUTICALS, INC., ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN LO TABLETS (NORGESTIMATE/ETHINYL
ESTRADIOL) 1 (2010) (1998), available at https://www.thepill.com/sites/default/files/pdf/OTC_LO_PI_-03H268.pdf.
354
JANSSEN PHARMACEUTICALS, INC., HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESCRIBING INFORMATION 25 (2014) (2001),
available at http://www.orthoevra.com/sites/default/files/assets/OrthoEvraPI.pdf.
355
JEMMOTT ET AL., MAKING A DIFFERENCE!, supra note 50, at 211
356
Id. at 221-222.
357
Id. at 38.
59
large group, not using names or relationships when you talk about personal issues, and not
quoting classmates outside of class.”358 The Special Education version of F.L.A.S.H tells the
instructor that “a gentle reminder [to students] that discussion is private and confidential may
prevent catastrophes and confusion.”359 The Special Populations version of Positive Prevention
directs students to maintain confidentiality during class sessions.360
While the above instructions may be intended to stop hurtful on-campus gossip, the curricula do
not clarify to students that they still have a right to tell their own parents about what they learned
about in school. Further, if the personal information being shared in class is that embarrassing—
why are the curricula assuming that 11 to 13 year-old children are mature enough to exchange
such information in class in the first place?
The Grade 8 version of Draw the Line, Respect the Line tells students (who are likely about 13
years old) that condoms “are available at markets, drugstores, and family planning and STD
clinics. They also may be available in vending machines or at some schools. Anyone can buy
condoms, regardless of age or gender.”361 While this is true (except for the fact that DOE
schools are not allowed to distribute condoms362), the curriculum does not instruct students that
they should—for their own safety—talk to their parents first. The authors fail to notice that
while a student might have the means to purchase condoms, the students probably won’t have the
means to pay for medical treatments that may be necessary if a condom breaks—and Mom and
Dad will be the ones responsible for finding ways to foot those bills. The Special Education
version of F.L.A.S.H., directs instructors to tell students: “Discuss places where condoms can be
purchased – a pharmacy, a grocery store, a vending machine. They can be found at some clinics
for free.”363 Again, parents are left out of the picture.
The Special Education edition of F.L.A.S.H. also gives students the option to work on
worksheets with and to be in contact with a “trusted adult” to “talk to privately and honestly if
they had questions, concerns, or problems about growing up”—including matters of sexuality.
The trusted adult need not be a parent. It is not even necessary that the “trusted adult” be a
family member or even a household member. The “trusted adult” is to be given a form letter that
explains that the exercises are to “reinforce classroom learning,” “share information,” and “find
out what your young adult is thinking about, or worrying about, regarding growing up.”364
The Grades 4-6365 and the Grades 7-8366 versions of F.L.A.S.H contain similar language.
Nowhere in the F.L.A.S.H curricula does one find any indication that a parent needs to be
informed when a student chooses a non-parental, non-familial “trusted adult.”
358
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 1, at 3.
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, at 5.
360
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 3.
361
MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note 37, at 87.
362
HAW. BOARD EDUC. POL’Y No. 2245 (1994), available at
http://www.hawaiiboe.net/policies/2200series/Pages/2245.aspx.
363
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Lesson 26, at 6.
364
Id. Lesson 2, at 5-7.
365
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, at 12.
366
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, at 13.
359
60
One letter to the trusted adult in the Special Education F.L.A.S.H curriculum poses questions for
discussion between the student and the adult, such as “What is our home rule about me touching
my own body? What about touching my genitals? Where in our house is that okay?”367
Draw the Line, Respect the Line instructors are encouraged to have office hours to be available
to talk to students. There is no guidance on what types of conversations would be appropriate or
inappropriate.368 F.L.A.S.H instructors are also encouraged to give students access to talk to
them privately about questions.369
The Grades 7-8 version of F.L.A.S.H assigns students to ask librarians, counselors, “natural
helpers” (trained peers), or doctors some questions about their services.370 Students are not
directed to make their parents a part of the conversation. The questions include:



If a student came to you with a possible sexually transmitted infection, what would you
do?
If a student came to you with a pregnancy question, what would you do?
If a student came to you with a birth control question, what would you do? 371
In the Level A version of Positive Prevention, students are instructed how they can be tested for
HIV. Steps included in the process are:






Call [the clinic] for information.
Visit the clinic
Talk to a counselor
Body fluid sample and/or a visual examination
You may need to return to the clinic
Review the results, make plans372
Steps such as “Reach out to your parents” and “Seek parental instruction” are conspicuously
absent. This is hazardous. As Dr. Grossman cautions: “Allowing a teen to make health
decisions in a closed room with her provider undermines and weakens the parent-child
relationship. PP [Planned Parenthood] does that with this approach.”373
The Grade 7 and Grade 8 versions of Draw the Line, Respect the Line contain a suggested
parental notification letter. The most controversial issue that the letter mentions is that the
program “helps students learn ways to prevent HIV infection, other sexually transmitted disease
367
368
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Lesson 2, at 8.
COYLE ET AL., DTL GRADE SEVEN, supra note 36, at 23; MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note
37, at 35.
369
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, at 12, 14; REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, at 13;
STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, at 16.
370
REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 42, Lesson 15, at 3.
371
Id. Lesson 15, at 6.
372
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION LEVEL A, supra note 54, at 149, 186, 188.
373
GROSSMAN, YOU’RE TEACHING MY CHILD WHAT?, supra note 34, at 207.
61
(STD), and pregnancy. The lessons emphasize that choosing not to have sex is the safest
choice.”374
The Level A version of Positive Prevention contains sample parent notification letters.375 None
of the letters are very specific about any of the controversial aspects of the curriculum. The
guidelines to teachers for parent meetings tells teachers to “[s]hare sample lessons and activities
with parents.”376 However, the guidelines to not specify what lessons and activities should be
shared. The Special Populations version of the curriculum has similar parent notification
letters.377
The “trusted adult” concept for F.L.A.S.H is not fully explained in the curriculum’s parental
notification letters. The letters also fails to summarize the controversial content of the
curriculum.378
In contrast to the other curricula, HealthTeacher leans toward transparency. It informs
instructors: “When teaching sensitive subjects such as reproductive health, it is essential to
follow state and district guidelines for notification of parents and to provide opportunities for
community members to preview materials.”379
374
COYLE ET AL., DTL GRADE SEVEN, supra note 36, at 7; MARIN ET AL., DTL GRADE EIGHT, supra note
37, at 7.
375
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION LEVEL A, supra note 54, Appendix B, at 3, 5.
Id. Appendix B, at 7.
377
CLARK ET. AL, POSITIVE PREVENTION SPECIAL, supra note 55, at 5-10.
378
REIS ET AL., 4/5/6 F.L.A.S.H., supra note 41, Appendix A, at 1; REIS ET AL., 7/8 F.L.A.S.H., supra note
42, Appendix A, at 1; STANGLE ET AL., SPECIAL EDUCATION F.L.A.S.H., supra note 43, Appendix A, at 1.
379
DAVIS ET AL., HEALTHTEACHER MIDDLE, supra note 48, at 175.
376
62
7.0 – Legal Concerns
Given the issues with some of the curricula, should the State be concerned about possible legal
challenges from parents?
7.1 – Previous Court Cases
On the one hand, it may appear that there is little that parents can do within the judicial system.
Some courts have taken the position that once children are enrolled in public schools, a parent
does not have a right to control content of curriculum.380 The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
ruled against a family that complained about a survey that was administered to their children.
Some of the questions were related to sex. The court ruled that the United States Constitution
“does not vest parents with the authority to interfere with a public school’s decision as to how it
will provide information to its students or what information it will provide, in its classrooms or
otherwise.”381 (The Federal Ninth Circuit includes Hawaii.382)
A federal district court in Connecticut reviewed a public school’s decision to give a student
failing grade for not attending a sexual health education class. The student’s parent had objected
to the class due to the fact the content conflicted with the family’s religious beliefs. The court
sided with the school. The court found the “health” requirement was a legitimate state interest
that would survive a constitutional challenge. The only option the court left the parent was to
place the child in a private school or homeschool the child, even though “the options of private
school or home schooling may be unrealistic.”383
The Supreme Court of Hawaii has also ruled that as long as parents have a right to withdraw
their children from sex education, the privacy rights and free exercise rights of parents are not
violated.384
7.2 – How the State Might be Liable to Families
On the other hand, as we have demonstrated, several of the curricula are not medically accurate
and not age appropriate, in spite of the requirements of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.
The sex education batter is no longer merely about beliefs or feelings; this is about saving lives
and disease prevention. Parents should not have to “opt-opt” their children from curricula that
provide medically inaccurate, age-inappropriate information.
380
E.g., Brown v. Hot, Sexy & Safer Prod., Inc., 68 F.3d 525, 533-534 (1st Cir. 1995); Myers v. Loudoun
Cnty. Sch. Bd., 500 F. Supp. 2d 539, 545 (E.D. Va. 2007).
381
Fields v. Palmdale Sch. Dist., 427 F.3d 1197, 1206 (9th Cir. 2005).
382
What is the Ninth Circuit?, USCOURTS.GOV,
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/judicial_council/what_is_the_ninth_circuit.php (last visited July 9, 2015).
383
Leebaert ex rel. Leebaert v. Harrington, 193 F.Supp.2d 491, 501 (D. Conn. 2002).
384
Medeiros v. Kiyosaki, 478 P. 2d 314, 316-319 (Haw. 1970).
63
In 2012, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Gay
Straight Alliance Network, and two parents. The plaintiffs complained against the abstinencefocused sex education curricula that the Clovis Unified School District in California was using at
the time. The plaintiffs claimed, among other allegations, that the curricula were medically
inaccurate.385
The plaintiffs dropped the lawsuit in 2014, after the School District made changes.386
Nevertheless, a California court awarded plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees.387 In its decision, the court
also asserted that “access to medically and socially appropriate sexual education is an important
public right.”388
Whatever the merits (or lack of merit) of the curricula used in Clovis, this remains clear: As we
have demonstrated in this Report, no one can assume that a curriculum that minimizes the
importance of abstinence is automatically medically accurate or age-inappropriate. Arguably
then, given the deficiencies of some of the curricula in the State of Hawaii, the DOE is denying
children access to effective education. Ironically, the ideological left’s lawsuit in Clovis may
very inspire the dismantling of the libertine sex education in Hawaii.
(Disclaimer: We note that this Report cannot and should not serve as a substitute for legal
advice. Therefore, it is up to the State and the DOE to review such matters with their own legal
counsel. On the other side of the coin, parents who wish to pursue legal action should probably
seek assistance from a private attorney.)
385
Teresa Watanabe, Clovis Unified District Sued Over Abstinence-Only Sex Education, L.A. TIMES, Aug.
22, 2012, http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/22/local/la-me-sex-ed-20120822.
386
Grace Rubenstein, ACLU: Clovis School District Has Fixed ‘Abstinence-Only’ Sex-Ed
Curriculum, KQED NEWS (Feb. 26, 2014), http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/02/26/127740/aclu-forced-clovisschool-district-fix-sex-education.
387
Hannah Furfaro, Sex Education for Students a Public Right, Judge Rules in Clovis Unified
Case, FRESNO BEE, May 14, 2015, http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/education/article21013362.html.
388
Brent Bozell, The ‘Science’ of Sex Education, TOWNHALL.COM (May 22, 2015),
http://townhall.com/columnists/brentbozell/2015/05/22/the-science-of-sex-education-n2002396/page/full.
64
8.0 – Conclusion
As we have seen, there are negative and positive aspects to the curricula reviewed in this report.
In short summary:



HealthTeacher is the most modest of the curricula. It has less “shock value,” and parents
will likely have the least objections. However, it lacks information about the stages of
human reproduction. We also again note that the version that we reviewed might be
replaced in the schools.
All three versions of F.L.A.S.H. go through the stages of reproduction in respectful
detail. Other portions of the curriculum, however, may give parents pause.
The Special Populations version of Positive Prevention appears to be the curriculum that
is most likely to “push the envelope.” Yet while it brings up sensitive topics (like anal
sex), it fails to bring up all the consequences of those topics.
Students are facing increased departures from reasonable sex education. And it gets worse as
students get older: Words of caution are replaced with words of libertinism. Even the respected
Yale University hosted a “Sex Week,” which featured a lecture from a porn producer on the
business of pornography.389
But for now, parents of DOE middle school children must take charge of their children’s sexual
education. Such parents may wish to consider the following steps (among others):





Affirmatively “opt out” your children from sex education if their schools do not offer
curricula that meet your standards.
Make contact with local community groups that offer alternative sex education programs.
Keep open the gates of communication with your children’s teachers about the curricula
at their schools. We know there are many fine teachers who, regardless of their own
worldviews, are more than willing to engage with and respect the wishes of parents and
guardians.
During the legislative session (which starts in January of every year), sign up at the State
of Hawaii Legislative Website at http://capitol.hawaii.gov for hearing notices regarding
bills that will be heard before the House and Senate Committees on Education. Submit
testimony, and speak from the heart.
Email the Board of Education at boe_hawaii@notes.k12.hi.us to make a request for
notices regarding future BOE meetings.
Most importantly: Love and “be there” for your kids.
389
NATHAN HARDEN, SEX AND GOD AT YALE: PORN, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, AND A GOOD EDUCATION
GONE BAD 34 (2012).
65