Despite of the availability of the
contraceptives, there's still a high rate of unwanted (teen)
pregnancies. I've read an article about the "three best ways to
prevent it before discussing surgical or chemical
contraception at all”. And those so-called
social contraceptives are quite amazing I think (but my view may be blurred, because it was discussing the Dutch
policy too).
1. Keep girls in school uniforms for as long as possible. This is to prevent youngsters to become much too sexualised at too young an age. Meaning, young
chicks wearing tight t-shirts and short skirts dress themselves too sexy: their body may be up to it, but they're not psychologically ready for it and don't understand the
consequences fully. And they "challenge" the boys too much. This aspect made me think about the
Islam:
Muslim woman have to cover themselves partially or fully as a way to protect themselves from men who otherwise may get
sexually aroused. So women have to hide their
femininity because otherwise we're not capable of dealing with it?
2. A culture of gossip. Aka: women don't want to be known as a
slut. In smaller
communities there's more
social pressure and control of who's doing what with whom, the gossip circuit. Not wanting to have such a bad name ought to make women think twice about their intended actions. Second aspect of the gossip is, at least in
the Netherlands, that teen pregnancies are just not done. It is regarded as totally
stupid (because of the abundant contraception
propaganda), people will think of you as a
loser, somebody with problems and not being able to cope with themselves in a proper manner. It is not regarded as
immoral, but as a
failure. And who wants to be a failure?
3. Adult supervision. According to the research of this professor, most girls get
pregnant in their parent's home when they are unsupervised. In other words, it is ok for the father and mother to go out to work when the girls are really young, but when they're in their teens, one of them have to be at home to keep an eye on the activities of their
offspring. On the other hand, doesn't it give a bit more
excitement when you can get caught?
One thing about all this what irritates me most is that all three aspects are directed towards the
behaviour of
girls/
women.
As if! What about the
responsibilities of the
men involved? Wouldn't it be a good way to prevent pregnancies to
educate men what
harm they can do? It seems like men's behaviour is taken for granted, as a
fact. But, hello, two people are involved here, and they both do have the responsibility to prevent unwanted (teen) pregnancies.
The three “social contraceptives” mentioned are from the research results of Prof. Malcom Potts (Emeritus Professor in sexology at the University of Berkeley in California), the explanations are my interpretation.