Everything After - A 9.11 Youth Circle - Why R So MANY teenagers having sex?!?!

I think a lot of the problem is the media. Magazines like "Seventeen" are teaching teens, girls especially, that it's OK and normal to have sex, as long as you use a condom. It is still really easy to gets AIDS and other STDs, even with condoms. What's more, as the billboards around here are fond of saying, "Latex won't protect your heart". I think schools and the media need to take a more active stance in promoting abstinence. Thankfully, pop stars like Jessica Simpson are showing that virginity is still an option and an admirable thing. We're worth waiting for!

Well I am a strong believer in not haveing pre-maridial sex. I think that a lot of kids are being pulled into peer pressure, and its like when all of your friends aredoing it you might be pulled into it. and i think its gross becuase people can easily take advantage of you and you could be left with a relly horrible STD or even worse HIV. ANother thing is that condoms arent 100% because they can break. BU thats usually why people use spermicides. ANd then there are these one night stands. I really dont know whats going on with our youth , but kids wont learn until soemthing happens to them , which is really saad. Lastly, girls think that if they get preganant they can always get an abortion, and I am totally against abortions. I hate it how Bush says he is pro life and yet he goes and says pro choice indirectly.

That's true, Kallie. Bush's rhetoric and his actions are so contradictory because he's trying so hard to stay in the exact middle of the road. Pretty soon he'll learn that he has to take a stance on something (aside from terrorism), or he's going to get run down. You can please some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time. . .

However, more on topic: I know two girls, one 14 and one only twelve (that's right, 12 years old!) who have lost their virginity. They both come from broken, abusive homes and do badly in school, and each of them has attempted suicide. Not to say that all teens who have sex are ill or abused, but I think perhaps these things can be linked. Studies show that teens from broken homes tend to be depressed and have low self-esteem. In my opinion, this would lead them to look for the love in a boyfriend or girlfriend, since they don't feel loved by their families. Part of the problem is that sex and pregnancy are taken too lightly. Another part is that teens believe that their relationships will last forever. One of the two girls I mentioned, told me, "I wonder sometimes why I did it. Did I think the heartbreak would someday fade? Or did I think the love wouldn't?"

Yeah Kalidah I have lots of aquaintences who have lost their virginity like in teh 6th , 7th , and 8th grade. They also do experimental thigns with drugs and liqour. BUt in this case its like a group kind of thing where if everyone else does you have to , to get popular. And also a lot of the girls are like forced to have oral sex with guys. Like there was this girl who was told if she didnt do anythign with thi guy he would say thigns about her to everyone. And in my school things spread like quicksand.Its really sad.

Hi guys can somebody clear up with me the grades in the States? Im from Engand, im 17 and in Year 12, so can somebody work out what grade that would make me over there?
Anyway I havea girlfriend, Im just 17 and she's nearly 17, we're both legal to have sex. But we havnt. WHY? because we're in no rush to, it's something that we've both never done, but have openly told each other that we'd both like to have sex one day. My point is that my relationship with Laura is not one a sexual one, even though one day in the not-to-distant future we will have sex, but it has to feel right for both of us, and it has to be the right time, it really annoys me how many couples in the same year as me and YOUNGER treat sex as an occupational hazzard of being in a relationship, im sure that you all get my point.

cheers, ash reeves

I didnt mean to say that having sex is wrong, i just say, if you're legal, why should it be questioned? STD's etc, I know I know the debate could rage on for centuries, the truth of the matetr is that it is induhviduals choices to use contraceptives, and with lots of �'s being spent of sex ed (escially in this country) people cannot say they dont know the risks and how to prevent them.

cheers, ash reeves

Grades are pretty much the same, we go to 12th grade (17-18 years old) and then to college. I don't know what the big deal about sex is. If your ready then fine, but if you not, then it can ruin things for you. I think sex is ok if your ready. It gets to be too much though. For example, my friend is sexually active with her boyfriend of a year, but becuase it is a long distance relationship (he lives about an hour a way and in college, she is only in 11th grade), it has become the only thing holding their relationship together, and that is really sad.

Hold on in England there is an age that you have to be to have sex? Wow! I think that is a great idea. even though obviously peopel are not goign to follow by it , I think its a great idea. In the states you can have sex at any age. As long as the on of the persons is not over 18 and the other isnt. Otheriwse this would be considered rape.

When my adopted brother was 17, and his girlfriend was too, they thought that they were very much in love. They decided they were "ready" to have sex, and that Spring, my nephew was concieved. As soon as he found out that his girlfriend was pregnant, my brother got scared, broke off the relationship, and moved away. No one heard anything from him for over a year, until DFS demanded that he start paying child support. So the girl that he was once so in love with is now single-handedly raising a child (while she attends college and works two shifts), with nothing more from him than a slim check once a month.

There is no way to measure when you're "ready". I'm sure they both felt real good at the time, and I don't doubt that they loved eachother-- but not enough. If people are really in love I think they should get married, and if they are not in love they should not be having sex.

Well.. I will be completely honest with you all. I have had sex. In fact I had sex when I was around the age of 13 or something! I feel really bad about what I did, but I was kinda pressured into it and I didnt know how to turn him down. I look back on what all I have did and I get sick to my stomach. I have a little cousin who is about to be 12 and I look at her and just get sick. I know the mistakes I have made and I am very very lucky that something didnt happen to cause me to be pregnant. Just about anything you can think of, I have did it! Thats just really sad. I mean Im hearing my friends talking about "Omg he kissed me" and I just think.. why cant I be freaking out about a kiss. I mean, I havent did anything since this one boyfriend, I mean I was with him for almost 3 years and thats why I did it I guess, i dunno! But i still feel bad for my actions and all. I keep talking to my best friend about it and she says that I act like one of the many virgins in the world. Thats good, Im proud of that!! Oh, and Ashley, U r a guy arent you? Mom met someone from England in FLorida one time and his name was Ashley and he was a guy so I was just wondering! BUt i agree, I think an age to have sex would be a great idea!!

I believe one of the reason kids have sex so early at this age is that they are confusing lust with love.

Also, they aren't mature enough to realize that there will be consequences to their actions. They throw good judgment out the window for the sake of fleshy pleasures.

I think that teens have sex more now than before because it's all about experiementing and just doing it to do it. Not even because there's love but just because "it's fun". Many teens don't even know all their options before they take such a big step. Which is why later on they deal with so many consequences.