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In the Bronx, girls rule

Rachel Hart,
Reproductive Freedom Project
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June 21, 2006

I love this story!!

Right on the heels of yesterday's post about 100 REAL hot women comes an amazing story out of the Bronx about girls in PS 218 advocating for sex ed classes and winning!

The NY Post article yesterday on this story has also has some great quotes:

"The only sex education we have is music videos, the Internet and books because our parents don't talk about it with us and we don't get it in school," said Ashley Reyes, 13, who with her friends collected 206 signatures from classmates and peers.

Sex is such a taboo topic at PS 218, the girls claim, that the school has not even launched a state-mandated HIV/AIDS curriculum because of complaints from parents. The school did not return phone calls for comment.

These girls live in a borough where, according to the city Health Department, 12.8 percent of teenage girls become pregnant. Five of the 10 girls said they know a teenager who got pregnant.

Katherine George, 13, who helped write the petition in an after-school program run by the Women's Housing and Economic Development Corp. (WHEDCo), said "abstinence only" lessons just don't cut it.

"Teaching kids abstinence makes them more intrigued," George said. "Your mom can tell you, 'Don't take a cookie from the cookie jar,' but you still want the cookie."

And to think that this effort was launched by 12 and 13 year olds!

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