STD Prevention: Behavior Change

Abstinence

Many people believe, usually for religious reasons, that the best protection against STDs is sexual abstinence before marriage and exclusivity within marriage. While such reasoning sounds perfectly logical, its logic has rarely been reflected in actual human sexual behavior. Since time immemorial, countless females and males in every culture and global region have ignored pleas to remain abstinent. Thus, STDs have always spread, and they still continue to do so today. Therefore, promoting sexual abstinence as a way to prevent STDs is an uphill fight at best, and, as experience shows, it never succeeds with more than a small minority of the people at risk.

Chastity Card “True Love Waits”
This small card is distributed to teenagers on an annual “chastity day” organized by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami, FL., USA. The card, resembling a bank card (ATM card) can be signed by the holder.