Focus on the Family’s abstinence education now being taught in China’s schools
Filed under: China
Topics covered : Boners & Boobs, Crazy Christians, Culture Wars, Sluts & Whores
You know how tobacco companies are giving up on the American market and instead shifting their efforts to developing nations to find their next generation of smokers? The same thing may be happening with abstinence education. Seems that Focus on the Family’s abstinence literature has been adopted by at least one school district in China.
According to GoKunming, ”The conservative American organization Focus on the Family gained its first major toehold in Chinese classrooms this past week. The Yunnan provincial education bureau has ordered high schools and universities to teach Focus on the Family’s ‘No Apologies’ strategy for rejecting premarital sex.”
Ruh roh.
If you’re not familiar with Focus on the Family, it’s a massive American “parachurch organization” that teaches (among other things) that:
- Children can achieve their goals and dreams without the distraction of consequences from sexual activity.
- Delayed gratification is essential to adult maturity.
- Learning to develop friendships without physical intimacy is essential to healthy marriages.
- Multiple sexual partners can be dangerous to one’s physical, emotional, mental and social health.
- Pornography is dangerous to the individual and society.
- Religious beliefs and heritage surrounding sexuality should be honored.
I mean…sure, fine. No problem. Girls: Protect your privates. Boys: Stop trying to stick it everywhere. And when you do, wrap that shit up. But abstinence education in America has been an utter disaster. I’m not the only person saying that keeping kids in the dark is ultimately a disservice. Like it or not, kids are gonna drive that car. Better teach them how to buckle up, steer and use the brakes as needed.
What exactly does Focus on the Family’s literature in China say? Here’s a sample from GoKunming:
Scripted role playing that is part of the “No Apologies” program includes scenes such as these:
Boy: “If you love me, then you’ll agree to have sex with me.”
Girl: “If you love me then you won’t ask me to give up my cherished chastity.”Boy: “I want to dedicate myself to you and only you.”
Girl: “If I’m the only one for you then you can wait until we get married.”It is unclear how “No Apologies” ended up getting included in Yunnan’s school curriculum – Focus on the Family, which has a Chinese website, is not well-known in China. On the other side of the Pacific it is a well-known, influential and divisive member of the American political landscape.
More details from the Global Times, who seem to have been first on the scene with an English translation of the original story:
Girls in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province will be given a US-published booklet that teaches chastity and offer tips on how to say no to boys asking for sex.
The Yunnan provincial education department demanded all local high schools and universities teach girls how to reject sexual requests until marriage, the Chuncheng Evening News, a newspaper run by Yunnan Daily, reported Tuesday.
The local authority introduced a textbook as a sex education tool in the classroom. It’s from Focus on the Family, a US-based Christian ministry.
For example, if the boy says, “It’s safe, I have a condom,” the girl can reply, “You want to bet my future with that condom?”
The booklet covers a wide range of topics including the human reproductive system and preventing AIDS.
Yang Gonghe, the director of the disciplinary works committee of the provincial education department, said that sex and life education would be introduced to other provinces.
As usual, Focus on the Family isn’t disseminating an overtly Christian message. That is to say, they’re not claiming that “Jesus Loves Virgins” (which he does). It’s a very shrewd move. If their efforts are going to succeed, they need to adapt the message to the medium, so to speak.
Particularly in China. Speaking to the Global Times, Yang Wanqiu, a professor working at Yunnan University’s counseling center, explained his support for the abstinence program. And it has nothing to do with Jesus, piety or purity:
“If a girl had sex with her boyfriend, she would become mentally dependent on the boy,” Yang said. “It would do no good for her studies and daily life.”
Clearly, sluts don’t make good workers.
Let’s remember that James Dobson, who founded Focus on the Family, is the same man who accused SpongeBob SquarePants of being part of a “pro-homosexual” agenda targeting thousands of elementary school kids. What exactly was that agenda? “Tolerance.” Barney and Jimmy Neutron were in on the plot, too. Then there’s George Alan Rekers, co-founder of the Family Research Council (a former division of FOTF and now its political muscle), who was caught taking a fabulous European vacation with a male prostitute earlier this year.
—American conservative group makes inroads into China’s classrooms | GoKunming
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