a reply to:
Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
They are young, they are raging with hormones and strong biological urges to hump like bunnies. And unless someone breaks it down to these kids
exactly what sex involves and why this is a bad idea regarding their developing young bodies, these kids are going to follow their urges, are going to
pick up advice and "knowledge" on the street which will steer them wrong and ruin their lives.
Yep!
You and reldra are spot on.
Hormones will rule with adolescents. You can not 'lecture' kids into not being sexually mature. You can not 'override' those hormones.
The problem is that parents are too uneducated themselves to teach sex ed objectively. In Georgia, as a matter of fact, back around the turn of the
21st century --- they did an experiment with changing school hours for high-schoolers. Instead of starting at 7 am (which high-schoolers can barely
manage, because their physical, biological development changes their sleep cycle), they started at 9. They went until 5.
The outcomes were that the students not only did better academically (because they were actually AWAKE and their brains were in gear), but also ---
TEEN PREGNANCY WENT DOWN.
This was a side-effect of changing the hours. It is "latch-key" kids who are unsupervised for the 3 hours of the afternoon before the working parents
arrive home who were getting pregnant.
I worked with teen mothers -- and they were very very interested in learning how to take care of their babies. They were also acutely aware that they
had messed up their school trajectory. The BEST way to handle it is to provide care for the kids AT THE SCHOOL.
Kids have sex. There is nothing any adult can do to stop them short of keeping them prisoner. And even then, the kids are not supervised 24/7.
The issue with the USA is that it remains the MOST PURITAN of western societies. Europe and the UK are far and away ahead of the USA in sexuality
being an accepted part of being human. Nudity isn't as big of a deal. Kids are taught the actual names of the body parts, and it used to be that
masturbation was taught as a good alternative to actual intercourse. Even mutual masturbation.
I am not going to 'argue' this with any of the prudes who have chimed in here. Teens have sex. They are, biologically, sexually peaking. NOTHING
WILL STOP THIS. If society doesn't want to educate them properly and provide them with birth control, but instead to demonize, shame, embarrass,
hover over, and control them --- then society must ALSO expect teen pregnancies.
A neighbor lady, a grandmother, told me a few years ago that her daughter was having a second child, and the older child asked where babies come
from.....
the grandmother told him: The baby comes out of mommy's FOOT.
what bullcrap.
That poor kid. Thank god schools have stepped up to take up the slack. Yes, the slack. The SLACKER parents who think that if they just don't talk
about it, or tell the kid the facts, it will go away. It's retarded. Socially regressive. Don't want kids to get pregnant? TEACH THEM HOW TO AVOID
IT.
I won't argue this with anyone. I will provide sources if requested. Anyone who is bleating about "abstinence only" being the best practice for
handling adolescent sexuality as it rears its insistent head is kidding themselves.
There is NO SHAME in sex. It is a natural biological process.
Has been forever. MOST cultures around the world (except the Abrahamic religions) don't condemn it as filth. They teach the kids what to expect, and
how to deal with it. My daughter became active in high school, and she told me. And I made sure she had access to birth control.
Now, ten years later, she's still not a parent. Neither is my son, who is 25.
I would also add that when teens DO get pregnant their own parents must be supportive - not punitive.
But - that's just current thinking about best-parenting practice.
And finally --- if 'abortion' is forbidden, then 'SOCIAL SUPPORT' and PARENTING TRAINING MUST be provided for those babies and THEIR MOTHERS.
That's all I have to say. Good thread, reldra.
S/F
edit on 8/29/2016 by BuzzyWigs because: (no reason given)