Friday, May 23, 2003

More Postings About Sex!(!!)

Hey, who doesn't like sex? (You there, you who just raised your hand...that's right, slowly...it's down. Of course it is. Everyone loves sex.) And who didn't fritter away many an afternoon in high school pondering carnal matters in lieu of studying for standardized exams? Some of us even put these thoughts into practice, and took on the responsibility of sexual activity before our aesention into adulthood. (Not me, of course. I was busy studying for the aforementioned exams. Or hanging out with my parents.)

So this brings me to worththewait.org. It has noble and respectable ambitions: to inform teens of the potential risks of sexual activity, and to offer strategies for dealing with the many sexual pressures associated with adolescence. They warn against pregnancy, STDs, and, very importantly, the negative emotional repurcussions that can often result from engaging in sexual content before one is actually "ready." This is all well and good.

The problem lies in the degree to which they comdemn sex. They assert that protected sex is just as dangerous as unprotected sex, and that all sexual activity (oral and anal, too; not just intercourse) is equally dangerous. The are essentially offering an all-or-nothing ideology to young adults, which can only fail because most of them will choose all. Probably no matter what, about half of high school students will have sex (those are the prevailing statistics). Giving them no moderate or safe alternative to unprotected intercourse is setting the demands for throbbing teenagers too high, or at least too narrow. My answer: encourage abstinence, emphacize that it is the only fool-proof method to avoid disease and pregnancy; but be realistic, and promote safe sex, educate about protected oral sex, and always remember to extoll the virtues of masturbation. (That's right. I said masturbation.)

posted by Rebecca C. Brown at 12:10 AM

Comments:

Post a Comment