All you need to know about a taxpayer funded sex conference in Oregon is what a spokesperson for the event had to say about what the event is all about:

“We really think the message that they are bringing to these children is not value oriented. It’s about helping youth make good choices on their own personal sexuality. It’s about making good decisions about their relationships; it’s about giving them skills to just anything that has to deal with health.”

In other words, one of the organizers of the event says that the event is not about teaching values, but about teaching youth to “make good choices on their own personal sexuality.”

The problem with this statement is that every choice comes from a place of values, which begins with morality. So, for a person to make a “good choice” regarding sexuality that person must first have a moral understanding of his or her sexuality that will enable a good choice. The result of not teaching any values associated with sexuality is exactly the problem, it’s how we arrived at this particular point in our culture.

So what does a sex conference without values and morality teach middle and high-school students? A recent article had this to share regarding the content of the conference:

“Part of the lesson plan at a workshop at the Oregon Adolescent Sexuality Conference is an adult website called Virtual Fem. In addition to the content from that website, numerous handouts, such as one that encourages cyber and phone sex, have been passed out to high school and middle school students in attendance. The pamphlets go on to suggest other ways students can engage in intimate activities without going all the way, including bathing together, shaving each other, wearing each other’s underwear, role playing, buying an extra-large pair of pajama bottoms to sleep in together, lap dances and strip teases. Another workshop at the conference focuses on how to pleasure someone else over the Internet.”

Some of this behavior might be considered strange for an adult. The idea that a middle or high-school student would engage in this behavior is simply inappropriate. But only under the guide of strong morals and values.

For instance, suppose you came home from work one day to find your middle-school daughter in the bathtub with her boyfriend. Would you, as her parent, casually say, “oops, excuse me, didn’t know you were in here. Have fun and I’ll see you when you’re finished.”?

I venture to say the outcome would be less friendly. Ad rightfully so. Even if this scenario involved your high-school daughter I doubt you would be less than outraged. But only under the guide of strong morals and values.

And don’t get me started on what would happen if you walked in on your daughter – middle or high-school – giving some guy a strip tease and lap dance. The places where lap dances occur most often are only accessible to people at least 21 years of age; there’s a reason for that.

Another aspect of the conference informed students that “Meth is widely used for a million reasons to have lots of sex with lots of partners for long periods.”

One person shared that a number of speakers discussed “Internet porn, using Internet sex toys, using meth as is shown in this book for when you’re engaging in sex. It encourages using meth because it helps your sexual drive and what not in here.”

How wonderful. A sex conference for students is giving advice on using illegal drugs that are known to destroy a person’s life all in the name of making “good choices.” Isn’t there something in the law about “contributing to the delinquency of a minor”? What happens to an everyday person that encourages middle and high-school students to use illegal drugs while engaging in sexual activities?

Apparently the only real goals of this conference is to prevent pregnancy and STD’s. It seems that as long as those two things don’t happen that anything else is perfectly acceptable. And without a clearly defined set of morals and values to serve as a guide it’s easy to see how conference organizers can believe this behavior is acceptable for middle and high-school students. Sex is reduced to just another biological function, or social activity. The “hook-up” culture was created when morals and values were removed from sexual activity leaving nothing but an unrestrained humanity hungry for sex.

When this same conference organizer was asked if he believed the materials handed out at the conference would prevent teen sex, his response was:

“I’m not going to address that questions. That question is inappropriate.”

Uhh…inappropriate? You just told middle-school girls to take a bath with their boyfriends before giving them a strip tease and lap dance. But this question is inappropriate. How absurd.

Furthermore, if the goal of the conference, as stated, is to prevent pregnancy and STD’s, there is only one 100% guaranteed way to do that: abstinence. So, shouldn’t there be a conversation about not having sex, not engaging in sexual activity, in order to prevent pregnancy and STD’s?

Some want us to believe that we’re no better than animals; we’re just carnal creatures that need to feed our sexual urges. But the truth is that we’ve been given a sense of morality that animals do not possess. This separates us from them and demands behavior that is higher than that of a purely carnal creature. That any person would willingly present such material to middle and high-school students is reprehensible at best, criminal is more like it. Such a person is dangerous to the overall health and well-being of young people and should be kept form them.

Sex conferences such as this one are inappropriate.