Why are teens having sex!

Why teens are having sex!

By Sherrel Johnson

The basketball player made the world marvel at his healthy exterior. Indeed, Magic Johnson’s case has made great in roads in the fight against H.I.V. Namely, it gave those of the 80’s generation a kind of reassurance that surviving such a life threatening disease was possible. Sex outside of marriage wasn’t so dark and gloomy. With this little ray of sunshine in the world, and the abundance of seriously provocative music filtering through the airwaves, the mood was set for the 90’s as a sexually charged decade.

In 1995 , Tanya was a student in the 10th grade. This young woman had been convinced that it was time to become intimate with her then 12th grade boyfriend. And no, Emile, Tanya’s boyfriend did not pressure her. The two felt that they loved each other and sex was only the next natural step. Besides does any parent ever really talk about when its time to have sex? Or do most parents tell teenagers all the reasons why they should not have sex!

Men whistling. Cars coming to a slow crawl. Lunch offers. “Sweety I can’t buy you lunch eh?” It seems to matter little whether the female was 15 or 51 or if the young lady was covered or scantily dressed. The sexual advances teens experienced in 90’s could power the generators of America. Did these persistent advances intensify an interest in sex? Yes!

With lyrical content in the 90’s like, “girl flex time to have sex” and “big nina bike me a ride pun, me don’t wan no small one” everyone in the 90’s seemed to be diving deeper than ever before into an ocean of sexual mischief. Why wouldn’t Tanya?

With classmates who seemed to spend every minute of the school day talking about who they were involved with, where they had gone over the weekend and who they had been “spilligating” with. Tanya was tired of hearing their stories. The high school student wanted her own. Curiosity had definitely gotten the better of Tanya and it didn’t help having a mother who seemed oblivious to the volcanoe erupting inside of her. As a victim of teenage pregnancy, the subject of sex for before marriage for Tanya’s mother was like coming home to the smell of rotten fish. It had to get out of the house!

For Tanya the first time wasn’t anything to write home to mother about. It was like someone had taken a needle and dragged it along the forearm of her skin for a lifetime. Yet doing it made Tanya feel like one of the guys and less of an alien. Fitting in with the crowd was of paramount importance to her. The condom could have burst and she could have been a victim of teenage pregnancy or H.I.V.. In truth Emile and Tanya were experimenting and things could have gone from good to bad in an instant. Worst still, the chance is that the person chosen for that initial sexual experience could have treated that moment as a passing breeze. This reaction could cause serious emotional pain for those caught in this kind of emotional web. Clearly, some teens are willing to put so much on the line just to fit it. Engaging in sexual activity with another human regardless of the age is surely no light issue.

Additionally, with many youngsters left for hours on end without proper supervision, and the existence of fewer good role models, abstinence is the least likely choice for teens in high school. Recent statistics reveal that young people between the ages of 16-24 are the fastest growing number of persons with H.I.V. In response to this disturbing fact advertisements have been placed in many school zones and high traffic areas in The Bahamas. One such advertisement in the South Beach area reads, “Older men stop having sex with our underaged girls.” In the Down Town area, another advertisement states, “use a condom everytime.” The sexual messages of today is certainly more explicit than in years past. The dancehall and rap music that play day after day on our public buses, and the lewd videos being exchange on social networks today contribute very little to taming the raging hormones of our teens.

Clearly the sex narrative of the 90’s is any different than that of today. Teens today as was those in the 90’s are on a trajectory to say yes to sex and no to abstinence because from the looks of it everyone is “doing it”.