As a new mother, I have begun to think about issues prevalent to most teenagers. The general consensus is that those are the most trying years of a child’s life, and a time where they seem to rail against their parents the most, no matter what their parent’s stance is on certain subjects. In class a couple of weeks ago we watched part of a show where moms were training their daughters in the art of beauty pageantry. This is just a microcosm of the sexualization of our society, especially directed at young people. Even compared to the hippie generation of free love, I believe that we have been introducing more sexual themes and its been to a younger and younger audience. Once again, I think that the females are getting the short end of the stick. They are the ones with lower self-esteem, especially through middle and high school, and are made to feel that exposing more skin and being readily available for physical pleasure is the way to make friends and influence people. One problem is that giving into the peer pressure of actually having sex can lead teen girls to become more depressed (www.4parents.gov) than they were previously. Also, a huge problem, is the amount of teenage pregnancy. According to the 4parents.gov website, the statistics reveal that the problem is on the decline, however it is still a very real issue. For a moment, putting aside the emotional repercussions, teens have higher risk pregnancies. They often do not have good habits, including a nutritional diet. They also are more reticent to seek prenatal care, as well as being at a higher risk for pregnancy-related high blood pressure which leads to other complications (according to the National Institutes of Health). How can a child raise a child, when they have not begun life yet as autonomous human beings? How do we as parents and society, separate the sex present in music and advertising and real life to our teenagers?
Trista
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Reading through the topics on Teen Pregnanct and Teen Sex, I would say the two work together because, it is the Teen Sex that leads to the unwanted Teen Pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteIt is rather unfortunate that parents who accuse their daughters of early pregnancy forget the causes if it. As we watched the video in class, parents who allow their little daughters to training as beauty pegeants,expose the children to early sex, leading to the unwanted teenage pregnancy.
I was very surprised when I heard this week in the news that every year, there is about a third of school drop- out before getting to high school level.I know girls will be a percntage of that.
I believe it is time parents try to think over the good morals they would like their daughters to know so that they start teaching the little children to grow up with to be good models for others.
I don’t think the issue is teen sex. While our mothers and grandmothers grew up in a time that promoted saving sex until marriage, we are in a new time and age where the majority of people do have sex before marriage and have multiple partners. Instead of society trying to stop teen sex or sex before marriage, I think that we should all stop pretending that times are the way they were in the 50’s and accept that the majority of people do have sex before marriage and many of them start in high school and college. The median age for first intercourse is 16.9 years for boys and 17.4 years for girls.1 There are differences in age of initiation by race and ethnicity as well, with 275 of African American high school boys, 11% of Latino boys and 5 % of white boys initiating sex before age 13.1 It is clear regardless of what parents say, young adults are going to engage in sexual activity with their increasing amounts of independence.
ReplyDeleteWhat society needs to focus on is educating and promoting safe sex practices. In 2005, 63% of high school students report using a condom the last time they had sexual intercourse.1 This value should be at 100%, especially because it prevents the spread of infectious disease. While adolescents are more likely to use condoms, young adults ages 18-24 are more likely to use birth control pills.1 Since the pill is 99.7% effective against pregnancy, I think that all teenage girls should be offered the pill openly and without judgment. The pill has other great health benefits besides prevention of pregnancy, including less acne, fewer menstrual cramps, and more regular periods. The best thing a mother can do is state her personal opinion about teen sex but then say that it is up to their daughter/son and if they need help getting birth control methods they should openly ask and they won’t be judged. Wouldn’t you rather know your son/daughter was engaging in safe sex than wondering if they were having sex? Society needs to except that times have changed and there need to be more resources through schools and community programs to teach teens that if you are going to make the decision to have sex, there are multiple resources to make it safe.
1. http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/upload/3040-03.pdf
As parents and guardians we need to take a clear responsibility in order to address our Teenagers by acting open minded in educating and consulting our children,as it has to start from our families/parental level to the community/society level... i think in doing this it will help our Teenagers in a right direction.
ReplyDeleteI completly agree with Amanda, that the issue isnt sex, but about teaching kids about contraception. The truth is, that teenagers are going to have sex. By teaching them safe practices, we are giving them information that they need/deserve to know. In my Childhood Development class, my teacher told us that one reason why some girls want to have a baby early is because they want to be loved. There are also many other reasons for teen pregnancy. I think that if there is early education about issues teens face ( such as peer pressure and other social issues)- issues that might actually give some reasons about why they are having sex- then perhaps teens can better understand themselves and be safe.
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