Our parents say just don’t have sex, and that’s the end of it. Their sex talk consists of: don’t have sex because you’ll get pregnant. The school’s sex talk is even better: don’t have sex because you will catch a disease. They put it in such a negative light, when really it’s natural; it’s necessary to sustain human life. Is their plan is to scare us or convince us that sex is bad or evil until we’re wise enough to know better (or they may say until we’re old enough because they believe wisdom comes with age)?
Let’s look at this from a purely logical standpoint.
Teenagers’ bodies are able to produce offspring; so adults argue that we shouldn’t have sex because we might (or some say WILL) conceive a baby. Okay, so being the 21st century, we have this awesome thing called contraceptives; indeed, in this day and age it is widely acknowledged that sex is seen more as an outlet of pleasure than a means of reproduction. Using a condom correctly (yes, let’s teach our children how to use one correctly!) will only result with a pregnancy in 3% of users, and oral birth control has an effectiveness of 92%. Let’s say we’re responsible young couple, and we use both; we have a 0.24% chance of getting pregnant; that’s less than 1%!
Okay, so if parents made contraception available to their children, they most likely wouldn’t get pregnant. But they will catch an STD… won’t they? While we’re talking about a totally reasonable world, with contraception available, why don’t we make STD testing available too? Two people committed to one another would get tested, and if they are both healthy, disease-free consenting people who are very unlikely to conceive a child, why shouldn’t they have sex?
I know, you’re still thinking, it’s a sin to have intercourse with someone you’re not married to. I’m sorry, but I believe in logic and reasonable solutions. How do you argue or compromise with God, a being I can’t see, have a conversation with, and who may not even exist?
Another excuse I hear very commonly used is that you’re not ready to have sex. Not ready? Okay, so physically, we are totally checked off. Does that mean we aren’t ready… emotionally? What’s the worst thing that can happen? We get very emotionally attached to our partner, who does not become attached to us. We (people in general) lose close loved ones all the time, due to death, disease, divorce, and many other things. Yes, those things are awful, but my point is we don’t completely lose our minds when we lose someone we love. We move on. And that’s a worst case scenario; you can stay together and be very happy and have lots of sex if that’s what both partners want.
So what we’re left with is that sex is only for adults. It’s a right they… earned, I supposed? Yes, I know teenagers (17 and under) are minors and therefore their parents can prevent them (in theory) from having sex, and aren’t even required to give a reason. But you know what? I’m one upping your parents; I’m giving reasons, and they’re solid logical reasons why teenagers who desire to be sexually active should not be ostracized by our society.