Sex, ETC
"A Website by Teens for Teens"

"A 2001 study published in the American Journal of Sociology found that teens who make virginity pledges stay virgins 18 months longer than those who do not".

Todd Hertz, for Christianity Today, writes that "Because abstinence programs are relatively new compared to risk-reduction or reproductive biology curriculums, there is less research available on them." (source: safersex.org) 

Do Virginity Pledges Work? Thom and Dina didn’t decide to stay virgins as part of an organized movement, but more than two and a half million teens have taken formal virginity pledges, promising to abstain from sexual intercourse until marriage. The virginity pledge movement, started in 1993 by the Southern Baptist Church, has organized at schools, churches, and college campuses across the U.S. But does taking a pledge of virginity really work? A study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development found that pledges help delay sexual activity for certain teens. Typical “successful” pledgers were more likely to be religious, of Asian ancestry, and “less advanced” in puberty. Pledges don’t work as effectively for teens 18 and older. They also only work when some but not too many other teens in a school have also pledged. But if pledgers vow abstinence, then “slip,” the study found that they’re less likely to use contraception than non-pledgers—putting themselves at greater risk for STDs and unwanted pregnancies. Elizabeth Greenberg, 17, ( Source: Sex, ETC "A Website by Teens for Teens")

Read also: The virginity hoax "A federal study reveals the terrible failures inherent in teen vows to chastity..."

Sex, Lies and Abstinence
By Jennifer Block

Advocates for Youth say: There is no scientific evidence that abstinence-only-until-marriage-programs, those that censor information about contraception are effective... On the other hand, research continues to show that comprehensive sex education, which teaches both abstinence and contraception, is most effective for young people. Youth who receive this kind of education are more likely to initiate sexual activity later in life and use protection correctly and consistently when they do become sexually active. Evaluations of comprehensive sex ed programs show that these programs delay the onset of sexual activity, reduce the frequency of sexual activity, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase condom and contraceptive use. Importantly, the evidence shows that these programs do not encourage teens to become sexually active. In short, responsible sex-ed programs work!...

RECOMMENDED READING:

The Fundamentalist's Misuse of Sex  How to develop a healthy view about sex as you grow into adulthood. How to avoid unhealthy attitudes and religious trappings in regards to sex. It is all about maturity, responsibility, compassion and respect for self & others...

Sex &Vulnerability

In The Fundamentalist's Misuse of Sex we read: Sex is not just for fun, for play for physical release, for showing off or any other sort of emotional playing that are often attached to sexuality, Rather sex is for the appropriate expression of vulnerability. Without that, sexual expression can be destructive...

Retired Bishop John Selby Spong gives five points of advice:

 1. The sexual relationship between single adults must be just that-a relationship between single adults. It must not be a violation of either person's marital bond. If one's marital vow is broken by a sexual affair, that affair becomes an expression of dishonesty and will finally be destructive to both the marriage and the character of the violating person. 
 2. A sexual relationship between single adults must be a union of love and caring, not just a union of convenience or desire. 
 3. A sexual relationship does not appropriately initiate a relationship. Rather, a sexual relationship must grow out of the bond that two people build together over a period of time. Sex is not properly shared until many other things are shared, such as time, values, life stories, friendship, communication, and a sense of deep trust and responsibility. In other words, sex is not appropriate until there is a structure that will protect each person's vulnerability. 
 4. Intimacy is by its nature an intensely private and discreet human activity. Appropriate vulnerability requires that it must be kept that way. If both partners are not willing to protect the vulnerability of the other, the relationship becomes hurtful, hateful , and destructive. The sacred exclusive quality of these special moments cannot be compromised by gossip, by indiscretion, or even after the relationship has come to an end, by an expression of one person's anger. The unwillingness to make this commitment, or to carry through on it once made, would argue that the relationship was built on the power of ego needs and are the vulnerably of Personhood. 
 5. The relationship in which sex is shared by single adults needs to be exclusive. It may not turn out to be eternal, but while it is active it does need to be exclusive. Multiple sex partners at the same time is a violation of vulnerability, commitment, honesty, and the reality of caring... (John Spong, Living In Sin, page 214)

Liberal Links About Sex

Conservative Links About Sex

Resource Center for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention
"When teens are more strongly attached to their parents, schools or faith communities and these groups express and model clear values about avoiding sexual risk-taking, then teens are much less likely to engage in sexual risk-taking." Doug Kirby, Ph.D.

The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing  

Families Are Talking  

Family Planning Australia

When love hurts

Pressurepoint

Relationships

Lawstuff

"TRUE LOVE WAITS" SA

Straight Talk Australia NSW

http://www.whosincharge.org 

ClubAC.com - Providing a system of support and education for youth who choose to abstain from anything that might hinder their purpose, dreams and goals, with an emphasis on sexual abstinence

Not Me, Not Now - Not Me, Not Now is a unique, social marketing program that relies on television, radio, and other media to deliver a message of empowerment to kids around the subject of postponing sexual involvement

http://www.justfriends.com 

http://www.facts.cc/index.t
FACTS^TM is a highly effective abstinence-only program for middle school, junior high and senior high students.

Abstinence Clearinghouse - "A non-profit national educational organization that promotes the appreciation for and practice of sexual abstinence through distribution of age-appropriate, factual and medically-accurate materials. The Clearinghouse was founded to provide a central location where character, relationship and abstinence programs, curricula, speakers, and materials could be accessed. The Clearinghouse serves agencies on a national, state and local level, as well as international organizations."