Sex and sexuality

Safer sex

Sexual development

For parents

What every teen should know

You are a teenager. This means you are neither a kid nor an adult.
Indeed, teenagers are not kids because at this age young people begin getting closer to the world of adults which used to seem mysterious and completely closed for them before.

However, teen life experience is so small that no one wants to acknowledge their being adult. Teens really wish to get this experience and unfortunately many of them begin making quite serious mistakes while trying to become “real grown-ups”.

The main trouble is that quite often young people think that this “adult experience” which they are so eager to get necessarily implies smoking, alcohol, drugs and sleeping around. They do not understand yet that really reasonable and mature people avoid any sorts of addiction and unsafe sexual behavior which often leads to quite severe consequences.

What can you do in order to avoid these consequences which might damage your health as well as negatively influence your future?
Actually, there is a good way out. And it is quite simple. The more you know about what is happening to you, the stronger you are protected against mistakes you might make because of lack of experience.

This means that being a teen you should learn about yourself as much as possible. You must get to know a great deal of things such as: why your body and psyche is changing, why you dream about things you never seen or experienced in reality. What are pollutions and menstruation? Are such things normal? Why do they occur?

You might be ashamed of speaking about such issues with your parents or a doctor. Perhaps many people of your age have the same problem. That is why teenagers are so often mislead by various myths and misbelieves related to sex and sexuality. Some teens think that masturbation is mortally dangerous, other ones are strongly convinced that a girl cannot get pregnant the first time she has sex. As the result young people make crucial mistakes which might considerably affect their health and future ability to conceive. Don’t you think that you had better ask advice from parents who gave you birth, who brought you up and who know about sex, pregnancy and contraception much more than your classmates, even those ones who boast of their enormous sex experience.

However, not all parents want to speak with their children about sex and issues related to it. Some of them hold an erroneous opinion that a teenager is too young to be aware of such things. Thus their children’s questions remain without answers which are so necessary and even vitally important to teens.

As the result many young people have a completely wrong idea of contraception. Every year thousands of teenage girls have abortions done thus risking their health and future ability to give a birth to a child. And abortion is not the only trouble which could happen to a sexually illiterate teenager. Sexually transmitted diseases and infections are also the result of lack of necessary knowledge. Some of these diseases such as HIV or hepatitis can be prevented but cannot be treated (at least in the present). The only thing modern medicine can do today is to minimize symptoms of HIV and hepatitis with help of some drugs. Other sexually transmitted diseases are not so dangerous, but they also can lead to quite severe complications, for example to infertility.

Actually, STDs and unwanted pregnancy is not the only problem teens face. The fact is that many teens begin their sex life too early without having necessary knowledge about sex and sexuality. They do not know what they should do to get pleasure and to make the partner enjoy intimate relationships.
Get to know about properties of your and your partner’s body. Become aware of your partner’s desires and learn to respect them. Now we are turning back to the issues we began our talk with.

Do you want to be considered a grown up? Than learn to become responsible for your actions. An adult differs from a kid not only by being allowed to do things a kid cannot. A grown up cares for himself and for the beloved person. A really mature person is always responsible for his or her partner’s well-being. Only being mature and responsible enough can two people be happy staying together. Even a very young man (a man, rather than a selfish kid) will never make his girlfriend have abortion done. A woman even being a very young one will be always eager to give her partner pleasure.

So what should you know?
You should know what is happening to your body and psyche while teen age, when and how you should begin your sex life. To be sure you can come in sex contacts you should be aware of STDs and unwanted pregnancy as well as of the ways to prevent these troubles. Get to know about the differences between sexuality of the opposite genders. Get answers to all your questions related to sex, sexuality and other sorts of relationships between men and women. This knowledge will help you avoid troubles and enjoy sexual relationships with the person you love.
Let nothing sadden your life, your happiness and your love!