Do not teach your students out of the book "Lifetime Health" from Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. "Lifetime Health" is one of the worst education sources you can give to a class, and "Lifetime Health" is awful. Avoid "Lifetime Health" at all costs.
Okay, now let's get started, shall we? I will providing (low-quality, I know) pictures of the text I'm quoting, because I know that many people wouldn't believe this crap otherwise. Of course, this book is all abstinence only. The chapter "Benefits of Abstinence" spends 15 pages trying to scare teenagers about how horrible sex is, how it will make you a mental and emotional wreck, and how you can't have sex because you will automatically get a disease...unless you're a good lil' citizen and get married, of course! Marriage fixes everything! I wish I was exaggerating.
WARNING! This post contains overwhelming amounts of sarcasm, as yours truly finds it the only way to address such mind-numbing stupidity as you will find within the pages of "Lifetime Health".
This...is the most stupid, ridiculous, and misinforming quote I have seen in the history of education:
"Married individuals who were not sexually active before their marriage don't have to worry about sexually transmitted diseases."
Seriously. I could not make up a quote that dishonest if I tried. So, perfectly-pure-virgins who get married have no chance of getting a STD/STI, because married people are just better than those unmarried heathens, so their bodies are perfectly healthy, and everything's safe! Sigh. Earlier in this same book, it also mentions that the only people at risk for sexual diseases are those "outside of a committed monogamous relationship". So...only sleeping with one person grants you and that person automatic immunity? The logic fails me.
2.If you don't look serious enough when you say "no", you're confusing the poor rapist, and it's not rape!
"Your body language should match what you are saying. Stand up straight, and look the other person in the eyes while talking. Avoid laughter or other nervous behaviors, such as fidgeting. Good nonverbal skills are important because sending a mixed message may confuse the other person and weaken your refusal."
This section tells you that if someone is trying to force you to have sex, you can say "no" - but if you act "nervous" then you're "weaken[ing]" your refusal and "confusing" the person who's trying to force you to have sex. See, if you have the audacity to be nervous when you have a possible rapist in front of you, well then it's just all your fault!
No. If you indicate that you don't want to have sex, you can be standing fully naked in front of a person, making a "come-hither" gesture - you have still said no, and that person is still a rapist if they continue. Body language alone (without speaking) is how someone should first and foremost realize whether someone is willing or not, but if there is a verbal refusal, that is that. I don't care how "nervously" or 'uncertainly' it is said - it IS said.
3.Fat people have no self-control and will eat anything in front of them.
"...Your new goals should not contradict your earlier ones. Let's go back to the goal of losing weight. But now you have another goal. You want to learn how to bake fancy desserts. Something should tell you that these goals might not work well together."
Because, y'know, if you're fat and there's unhealthy foods nearby, you're just going to eat them. Otherwise, why would you be fat, duh?
Funny. I know how to cook meat, and occasionally cook 'fancy meat dishes' for my family. Remember that whole vegetarian thing? But of course, anything you cook you've gotta eat, because, y'know, a little thing called "self-control" does not exist.
4.Teenagers are irrational, arrogant, idiotic whiny brats incapable of making good decisions while adults are perfectly reasonable, calm, and intelligent.
This entire textbook is chock-full of ageism, but the section on "growing up" has some of the worst examples. There's a lot to talk about here, some of which isn't in those three pictures, but believe me, it's in there. Let's start with those pictures:
"Teen says: 'You just don't understand!'. Parent says: 'Of course I understand, I was your age once too, you know'. Teen says: 'All my friends get to stay out late as they want. I'm the only one with a curfew!' Parent says: 'I'm not their parent - I'm yours.'"
And of course, everything is illustrated with an image of a teen shouting, while her parents speak calmly. The picture is captioned "Most adolescents feel that their parents don't understand them. Hang on, because these feelings will pass."
Of course. You see, we teenagers are physically unable to have a proper conversation, as all we do is shout at our poor, reasonable parents. Those parents never shout or swear at us, nuh-uh. Because their brains are "more sophisticated and complex", they can "make logical, mature decisions" and "are also able to view situations from another person's perspective". But not us teens, no - we're just so irrational, am I right guys?
And as for "these feelings will pass": I don't doubt that there are some teens who wrongly think people misunderstand them. And guess what else I don't doubt there are? Some adults who wrongly think that people misunderstand them. Irrationality is not determined by age. It is determined by people. Also, "pass"? What if *gasp* - these teens are right - their parents actually don't understand them? I know, shocker, right? How could the rational parents, who can "view situations from another person's perspective", be wrong? Well guess what - my mother does not understand that I cannot simply turn off my vocal tic, and that I'm not being 'selfish' when I refuse to go to therapy for it. (Therapy that causes physical pain to me.) I don't think that feeling is going to pass anytime soon.
This quote (not shown in the pictures) is both gold mine of ageism and ridiculous:
"During the middle adolescent period, teens often believe that nothing bad will ever happen to them. For example, teens believe that others may get into accidents but they themselves will not."
Yes, you read that completely right. The idiotic authors of this book think that adolescence brings, along with a load of other hormones, some magical mental shift that makes us think we're invincible.
Here's the thing: When I turned 13, I did not jump in joy and think "Woohoo, nothing can ever hurt me! I'll never get into an accident now!" And when I do turn 16, I will not jump in joy and think "Yes, drunk driving, here I come!" (I'll give more on the ageism in the drunk driving section later.)
Honestly, dear David P. Friedman, Curtis C. Stine, and Shannon Whalen: I would love to be able to believe that nothing bad can happen to me. I would be ecstatic if I could walk my dogs in the park and not be constantly looking over my shoulder. I would be overjoyed if I could get back on my bike and ride through the city, but I can't, because I'm too damn scared of getting into one of those accidents that you think I think I'll never get into. I would love to not form my life around a rape schedule. You know what I believe? I worry that bad things will happen to me all the time. I hate having this constant anxiety.
And I really don't fucking appreciate you writing a book that not only insults teens everywhere in general, but tells us what we believe. You are adults. You do not know what we feel. You do not know how we think (here's a hint: it's not "in a simple way"). And it is as simple as that.
Okay, now that I got that anger out, there will be more installments of this coming. Because this poor excuse for an educational material is over 600 pages long.
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