Rebranding Abstinence Only [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
"Well aware that their cause is in trouble and unpopular, purity proponents are revamping their image to appear more mainstream," reports Jessica Valenti. "Think tanks [3] like the Independent Women's Forum [4] and Concerned Women for America [5], abstinence-only organizations, religious leaders and legislators" are reacting to the Obama administration [6]'s "cutting most abstinence-only education funding from the 2010 budget." At the National Abstinence Education Association's (NAEA's) "annual lobby day in March, high on the list of priorities was developing a strategy for continuing to receive federal dollars." In April, NAEA director Valerie Huber told a Capitol Hill briefing, "This is not abstinence only, this is a holistic message that prepares and gives students all of the information they need to make healthy decisions." NAEA -- which hired the PR firm [7] Creative Response Concepts [8] in 2007 -- now calls its programs "abstinence centered," instead of "abstinence only." Huber said that "abstinence education talks about contraception." Valenti counters, "the only time abstinence-only classes will talk about contraception is when they discuss failure rates." WhyKnow, "a major provider of abstinence-only education curriculums," hired a public relations firm [9] "to help recast its image," and changed its name to "On Point." The Medical Institute for Sexual Health [10], "a hard-core abstinence-only organization," renamed itself the Medical Institute, part of an attempt "to legitimize its message by rebranding itself as science-based."