KIDS THESE DAYS:

In 2002, the Rand Corporation published the results of a sex education study undertaken in Los Angeles.

The study found, among other things, that passing out condoms in high school did not increase sexual activity in schools. The study found, instead, that among the students who were already engaging in sexual intercourse, the use of condoms increased.

The behavior modification was so significant, in fact, that the expectation by teenagers was that a condom would be used during intercourse.

Despite this and other reliable research, the schools in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District do not pass out condoms.

So why then aren’t condoms handed out like M&Ms; to our teens? The answer lies in the community; in the parents and guardians who have established behavioral guidelines for their children that are not supported by this type of activity in our schools.

Ours is still perceived to be a conservative area. We don’t tolerate profanity in public or on television, we don’t like government telling us what to do or taking care of us, and we don’t hand out condoms in our schools.

But it’s getting more difficult to hold the line.

One of the key reasons our cause is weakening is because we have allowed nearly every form of media to portray behavior that once was deemed unacceptable. This influence sends our teens a mixed message and undermines the credibility of parents who believe that abstinence, or even just a more thoughtful approach to relationships, even sexual ones, is the most important lesson to teach.

One of the most recent examples is the hit movie “Juno.” The story centers on the title character, who gets pregnant at 16.

Juno decides her best option is to give up the baby for adoption to a family of whom she approves.

For the rest of the movie, Juno, the father of the baby, her friends, her father and the potential adoptive couple she interviews are all trying to make us smile

No one in this movie suffers any consequences whatsoever, save for the couple, who wind up separating before the baby is born.

So let me make one thing clear: Juno is not brave, she is careless. Juno is not concerned, she is cornered.

But that’s how it is in the media. In the movies and on television, couples do not use condoms, there are no sexually transmitted diseases, no emotional baggage with brief hook-ups and no hint of doing things the hard way, of couples working to establish some sort of life together.

Long-term, steady relationships don’t sell popcorn and it’s much easier to create some excitement by working a fling into a movie or TV show every 20 minutes.

And through the movies, TV shows and tabloids, sex is easy and fun, two characteristics that appeal greatly to this young target audience.

But confusing this young audience is easy, too. The Rand study noted, “In addition, it is important for those who provide advice about sexual health to be precise. It may not be clear to an adolescent whether a recommendation of abstinence means abstinence from vaginal intercourse, from anal and oral intercourse, or from all types of sexual activity. If we do not recognize the range of sexual activities that exist, we may easily find ourselves saying one thing and being understood to say another by the adolescents whose health we seek to promote.”

Newport-Mesa parents can trust that the school district is teaching their kids enough to make them aware, but not enough to be dangerous.

The line is drawn at activities such as passing out condoms.

Like the rest of the program, parents can supplement the curriculum by doing that themselves, just as they can teach kids that the sexual activity they see and hear in the movies and on television has no relation to the real world.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to [email protected].