Abstinence as HIV Prevention Strategy

[toddjh]

I'm curious to know if the teenage pregnancy rate has increased within that same time frame. I'll give it a Google...but, it's too late now. Hawks have to sleep, too....

According to this document from the CDC, teenage birth rates in the U.S. in 2000 were the lowest they'd ever been. Unfortunately, those data do not appear to take abortions into consideration.

Jeremy

 

[Meadmaker]

Based on the limited data that I found, I would tentatively conclude that sexual behavior has increased (up about 20%), but not too drastically.

So, more people are having sex today than 20 years ago, but today's high schools are not dens of iniquity, and those of my generation were not convents in disguise.

You are a recent product of today's public school system, then. What would you say about my young friend's assessment, the one who chose not to date at all in high school because she thought that most people equated dating with having sex. Was she just a bit overly cautious?

I must say it goes along with other anecdotal evidence I've heard, but anecdotal evidence isn't exactly reliable. The impression I've got, again from anecdotal evidence, as opposed to real data, was that in my day, we were likely to try out various sexual activities without actually "doing it". "Heavy petting" was something that a fairly large number of teenagers were doing, without "going all the way".

Speaking to people about teenagers these days, the anecdotal evidence suggests that if you get to "third base", then it is pretty likely that no one is covering home plate, whereas in my day, you pretty much knew the throw was coming in and you had to hope for an error, at least on the first few attempts. (And I still love listening to that anthem of my teen years, "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights", a song which seems hopelessly dated today.)

 

[Meadmaker]

But, regardless of exactly what teens are doing today, we know that they are having sexual intercourse more often than they used to.

It brings up two questions for me. First, why? I think that the saturation coverage of sex information, pornography, and sexually titillating media has something to do with it.

The second question is, is this a bad thing? It makes me uneasy, but, well, really, is it so bad? Let us pretend for a moment that birth control is pretty darned effective, and STDs are controllable. That's the message of this thread, isn't it? Don't teach abstinence, teach something that is more realistic. For those of us who don't believe that sex outside of marriage is a sin, what should we tell our kids about why they shouldn't do it?

It is something that as a parent of a future teenager, I have wondered about. For daughters, you can, and should, make sure they understand that he might love you right at that particular moment, but there's no guarantee he will still love you after you leave the car. That's human nature and always has been. But, what about sons?

Should fear of heartbreak when she dumps you after you've been having sex be a reason not to have sex? I've read lots of advice on the subject, and it all sounds pretty hollow. It is either, "It's dangerous because of pregnancy and STDs.", or "It's wrong."

Well, I don't believe the latter, and the former is somewhat exaggerated if the proper precautions are followed. I will rely on the former arguments, because I'm pretty sure my kid will be better off if I am encouraging him NOT to have sex, but I'm not convinced by my own arguments. How can he be convinced?

 

[Ove]

In Denmark teenagers are allowed to have sex from the age of 15. It has been like that since the 70's (i believe, can't remembner the date) and this has NOT resulted in an increase of teenage births BUT there has also in the same period been a massive increase in sex-education in scool. It is not allways easy, often teachers get people in to teach the class because they have discovered that teenagers have a difficulty discussing such things with people they know,,,,, what a paradox.
We nowadays have "travelling sex-ed clinics" mostly in the shape of a bus/truck that visits scools and teach the kids about sex. They are off course staffed with very experienced teachers and the method has prooven very sucessfull.

I have a teenage daughter and the one thing i (or rather my wife) has emphasized is protection, protection against diseases and pregnancy. She's not into dating yet so the problem hasn't creeped up but i sure wouldn't try to teach abstinence to her. Sex is a natural thing between two people that love each other.

I WOULD be troubled if she became pregnant "too young" but that is because i really think that would be "wasting her life". I've met some women at my work who had children very early in life and their stories are somewhat identical. In the beginning all is idyllic, mother cares for her children, raises them good and keeps the house. Then suddenly the kids are at age and mummy is still young. The children don't need her that much any more and she then tries to get a job. She then discovers very quickly that job opportunities for non educated are VERY few and she begins to regret bitterly that she didn't finish scool.