The dark side of globalization
ONE dark side of globalization is the increasingly uneven distribution of income between the rich nations and the poor ones as well as between the rich families within a given country and the suffering masses. But I have seen another dark side of globalization during my ongoing residence in a European country. The anti-family and anti-marriage cultures of many European countries are setting bad examples to the emerging economies and can undermine the stability of the most important unit of society, the family. Almost subliminally through the international press, citizens of the developing countries are being exposed to a lifestyle that goes against their traditional values. A very popular lady politician from a major European country has been living in with another important politician, without the benefit of a civil or religious marriage, and has borne four children with him. They just separated after more than twenty-seven years of living together. A major European government is obliging all schools to offer a subject called Education for Citizenship with a syllabus that openly teaches children about the amorality of abortion, contraception, and homosexuality. With their consciences totally deformed by the millions of abortions they have been aware of for decades, some of which involve killing the baby just before or immediately after being born, some mothers in another European country have actually murdered their newly born babies and buried them in their gardens or flower pots. I can go on and on. But these are a few of the examples of practices that can eventually contaminate the cultures of developing countries.In the Philippines, the most visible practices affecting sex, marriage, and the family are those of the United States. It would be important for parents and educators to be aware of these practices and know how to separate the chaff from the grain as they try to transmit the appropriate values to their children. Especially critical for training in appropriate behavior concerning sex and marriage is the usually turbulent adolescent period, when the youth can be especially vulnerable to wrong examples from abroad. A recent publication published by the Oxford University Press entitled Forbidden Fruit by Mark D. Regnerus is a useful guide to understanding "sex and religion in the lives of American teenagers." There are both positive and negative aspects of the US adolescent lifestyle that can be educational to parents and educators in the Philippines.
In a review of the book by W. Bradford Wilcox that appeared in the Weekly Standard, we are informed that as regards sex and religion, the US is divided between Red America and Blue America. In Red America, especially in the South, Regnerus finds that teenagers particularly teenagers hailing from evangelical Protestant homes – are more likely to hold traditional beliefs about sex. Sex is supposed to be reserved for marriage. In the words of one evangelical teen, "Sex is a great gift that God gave us and so...I think it should only be used then, when you’re married." But Regnerus also finds that, despite their avowed sexual traditionalism, Southern teens – including evangelical teens – typically end up losing their virginity before teens who hail from the North, particularly Jewish and mainline Protestant teens.
In Blue America, by contrast, teenagers – especially those hailing from Jewish and mainline Protestant homes – do not necessarily object in principle to premarital sex. As Clint, an 18-year-old mainline Protestant from Michigan, puts it, "There’s no reason... that, you know, you should save yourself for marriage in every single instance... You know it’s, it’s a situational thing." But surprisingly, teens from the North (and again, especially Jewish and mainline Protestant teens like Clint) are more likely to abstain from sex, despite their avowed sexual progressivism. Indeed, in spite of his flexible sexual morality, Clint is a virgin who reports that he is glad he hasn’t found himself in "that situation" – that is, having sex, because it’s "one less thing to worry about." These differences are explained by the author by referring to class and cultural differences among the American social groups studied.
Forbidden Fruit has another valuable finding that can be immediately communicated to Filipino parents and educators. Contrary to what the apostles of adolescent "sexual health" would have us believe, teenagers are kidding themselves if they think that a condom will protect them from all the consequences of sex. Among other things, Regnerus finds that, for most teens, sex is a gateway into sex with multiple partners; in other words, if a teen engages in sex with one partner, odds are that he (or she) will move onto other partners before he enters adulthood.
Regnerus also reports that 55 percent of sexually active teens wish they had waited longer to have sex. Regret is especially high among adolescent girls, who are more likely than boys to report they were pressured to have sex, that they did not realize how emotionally involved they would get after sex, or that they felt abandoned in the wake of a brief sexual encounter. Not surprisingly, teenage girls who are sexually active – particularly teenage girls who have had more than one partner, which is the norm (as we have seen) among those who are sexually active – are significantly more likely to report they are depressed than their peers who are virgins. Kimberly, an 18-year-old from Utah, reports that sex "messed me up emotionally and physically... I mean I was depressed for a while but my friends helped through it... I think people don’t realize how emotionally involved you get."
Regnerus presents findings that suggest that the abstinence movement has played an important and often unheralded role. One important group in that movement is True Love Waits. Regnerus estimates that more than 2.5 million teenagers have taken abstinence pledges since the campaign was initiated by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1993. Although most young men and women who take the pledge ultimately end up losing their virginity before marriage, pledgers are significantly more likely to delay sex by more than a year, to have fewer partners, and to abstain from sex before marriage, than teens who did not take the pledge. These behavioral changes, in turn, translate into lower level of teen pregnancy and abortion among the millions of American teens who have pledged abstinence through True Love Waits.
Before it is too late, parents and educators in the Philippines should be strongly committed to helping their teenage children weather the turbulent years of adolescence, strengthening their character so that they do not succumb to the wrong examples with which they are bombarded by mass media, the Internet, telenovelas, and films. An outstanding initiative is that of the Educhild Foundation, Inc., the Development Advocacy for Women Volunteerism (DAWV) Foundation, and the InterMedia Consulting A.C., an international foundation that promotes family and educational values in collaboration with I Am S.T.R.O.N.G., a decision-making program for young people carried out with the Department of Education. On November 20 to 22, 2007, these four organizations are holding an international congress in Manila on Education in Love, Sex, and Life. The Congress will be attended by parents, educators, students and officials of government, church, media, and other experts who will discuss topics on adolescent psychology, human sexuality, sex education at home and in school, teenage lifestyle and chastity education in order to actively promote initiatives all over the world in defending family values and sexual morality
