IN the US, many teenagers are growing up sexually confused by the conflicting messages of abstinence-only education programmes promoted by the religious right and the administration of President George W. Bush.

Recent studies, as late as May in the Journal of the American Medical Association, show such programmes have little impact on sexual behaviour, fail to prevent pregnancies and don't reduce rates of sexually transmitted infections (STI).

An excerpt from one abstinence-only video entitled 'No Second Chance' warns: 'What if I want to have sex before marriage? ... Well I guess you just have to be prepared to die. And you'll probably take with you your spouse and one or more of your children.'

Typically, such messages use guilt and fear to 'motivate' youngsters into abstaining from sex until marriage, discourage condom use and pass on inaccurate information and biased language.

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