Some parents in Knox and surrounding counties are offended that their children are tested for STD’s when the same child is brought into a juvenile detention center. At least one set of parents feel this usurps their authority, when the juvenile detention center takes a urine sample, with the child’s consent.
Perhaps, those parents should step back and have an honest moment about their attitudes towards sex, because at this point, they are a major part of the problem.
Messer said many parents would be shocked by the sexual mores of children.
“We’ve had some 10- and 11-year-olds reported to us,” Messer said.
“These youngsters are sexually active. And kids are sexually active at a much younger age.”
Attitudes about sexual acts are helping spread gonorrhea and chlamydia, Messer said.
“A lot of people will tell you oral sex is not sex, but it is,” Messer said. “You can contract these organisms from oral sex.”
To go along with this article is a nice little graphic on how many kids that have gone through the detention center who also had wither gonorrhea or chlamydia, starting at age 12 next to the overal numbers for the state. You should really take a look, it’s an eye-opener.
Yet, this is only a picture of those children that have been tested. What of all the other youngsters that are sexually active and have not been tested, that continue to believe that condoms do not work, or that, that golden-oldie nugget — sex feels better without a condom. what of those youngsters, walking around, infecting others, and having their bodies damaged by diseases that are easily cured?
Why this is so important is that the STD rates in Tennessee are abysmal.
A new federal report on sexually transmitted diseases shows Tennessee ranks in the top 10 nationally for having the highest rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that the state ranks eighth for syphilis infections, ninth for chlamydia and 10th for gonorrhea. All three diseases are caused by sexually transmitted bacteria and can be treated with antibiotics.
And what’s worse, these diseases are easy to protect against.
Beasley said the growth of chlamydia and syphilis infections statewide are the most troubling. There was a 58 percent increase in chlamydia cases from 2002 to 2006, with more than 25,000 cases last year. Syphilis infections increased by 48 percent.
Beasley said the data indicate unsafe sex practices and that people can protect themselves by limiting their number of sexual partners and using condoms.
Two things are holding Tenneseans back from really attacaking the STD rates seen in this state. Comprehensive sexual education and parents willing to look at the realities of life rather than try to control their child’s environment outside the home.
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[...] envelope (and keep in mind the stats are from 2006). And then there is the report late last year on TN’s rising STD rates. Tennessee may be known as the Volunteer State, but right now it seems that our youngsters are only [...]
[...] envelope (and keep in mind the stats are from 2006). And then there is the report late last year on TN’s rising STD rates. Tennessee may be known as the Volunteer State, but right now it seems that our youngsters are only [...]
[...] put this into some perspective. As of Nov. 2007, TN ranked 8th, 9th, and 10th in the nation for syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea, respectively, while some TN’eans still believe that HIV/AIDs can be caught from a toilet seat. And, [...]