What's the fundamental problem that's leading to so many teenagers having sex, including anal sex and even prostitution? Is this the result of poor sex education? Why isn't the $200 million the US government spends annually on abstinence promotion programs working? (Perhaps it's because some of that money is going to fund sex education courses that teach 5th graders how to have intercourse.) In the UK, the National Health Service's approach is to use (purported) pornography to encourage teenagers to use condoms (see also here). In the Netherlands, the "moral rules cast sexuality as a part of life that should be governed by self-determination, mutual respect, frank conversation, and the prevention of unintended consequence." (Interestingly enough, the Dutch don't seem to have much of a problem.) What is it that parents and society aren't doing properly that's leading teenagers to have sex, especially unprotected sex?
FTA:
The stereotype of randy teen boys with sex on the brain may lead you to believe guys engage in more risky sexual behavior than their female counterparts. But, it's teen girls who are actually more likely to jump into bed sans condoms during their first sexual encounters, according to research presented this week at an American Public Health Association meeting in Denver.
Teenage girls are 30 percent more likely than boys to have unprotected sex the first time, regardless of parental warnings and previous sex education, according to the research reported on WebMD.
But the risky sexual behavior is not because girls just wanna have fun. They want love, which outweighs what they may have learned in sex education classes or from parental lectures, Nicole Weller, the Arizona State University doctoral student who led the research, tells WebMD...
Other key findings of the study reported on WebMD:
* Less than 1 percent of those questioned had their first sexual experience at age 11.
* Two and a half percent reported their first sexual intercourse at age 12 and 6.7 percent at 13.
* About 13 percent reported having sexual intercourse for the first time at age 14, about 16 percent at age 15, some 20 percent at 16, around 23 percent at 17, 12 percent at 18, and 5 percent at 19.
* African American teens were 41 percent more likely than whites to have unprotected sex in their first encounters.
Teen Girls More Likely to Have Unprotected Sex Their First Time
DISCUSS!
Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on Nov 17, 2010 at http://www.braincrave.com/viewblog.php?id=385
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