Causes of Teenage Sex

Going by the manner in which majority of parents handle teenage sexuality, it would be nonexistent if they had their way.

Only a few actually discuss it with teens at home and when they do, approach it in a manner suiting only them.

They fail to conceptualize the emotional confusion that run riot in the minds of the teens, while others choose to disregard it!

In many parts of the world, teenage sexuality is seldom discussed, except in schools or between teens themselves. Parents tend to stress the disadvantages of early sex and expect to be heard.

These boys and girls are only constantly reminded about the consequences of early sex i.e. teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

The causes of teenage sexuality listed below should be part of the most involving discussions in society.

• complexities of adolescent years
• lost values in society today
• the evolution of television
• the evolution of sex itself
• tradition
• social media

Because of cultural and other social reasons, the age bracket for teenage youth usually ranges between thirteen and nineteen.

Around this time in life, hormonal changes start spiking. This leaves the teens wondering what actually is taking place. The teenage children become curious about everything and sexuality does not escape them.

Matters are not made easy by suspicion of bedroom antics by parents.

This is the same period that children are in high school and are probably residents in school. It is also the time when they get new friends who easily become influential in their lives.

Given the diversity in their backgrounds, information and misinformation on sexuality start here.

A cold war of sorts with parents starts from here. Yes, this little war between parents and teenagers has always become a problem during school years and has become even more interesting in the 21st century.

The desire to entrench values and conscience in the teens is with no doubt very important. If children come to accept religious and other values and embrace them wholeheartedly, then parents have won a big battle.

Good values and morals include the ability to know what is right and what is wrong. It is much like a conscience which warns you silently that theft is bad just before you thrust your fingers in the store cash box that does not belong to you.

In the same way, teens with established moral values will know that sex before marriage is improper.

Good values transcend through families and generations and in close-knit religious settings. A teenage child without a set of rules is a time bomb waiting to happen.

Assuming that parents themselves have values and morals in them, their ability to entrench these in the children will help a lot.

Lack of morals in parents is disastrous for growing teenage children.

Remember the days when sex and f* words were taboo? They were only mentioned in the confines of bedroom curtains.

Remember when playboy magazines were tucked under the mattress? When families could watch television with peace of mind and never worry about sleazy sexy scenes?

As a matter of fact, age restrictions rating used to work.

Fast forward to the present day and sex and f* words are everywhere. It is amazing how these words are used even at home!

Playboy magazines have become old school because of prevalent porn sites and explicit material, and most disk drives at home now store porn.

Right up to the years of the Second World War (WWII), most of the world was beautiful, characterized with cultural and predefined communal tenets.

Cherished family and religious values were passed on to the young ones and family values mattered a lot. The father/mother-child relationship was admirable.

WWII was instrumental in quietly cutting through the family fabric. Married couples were separated for months for the sake of war, and young boys were recruited into the armies.

This resulted in a mixture of cultural beliefs and lifestyle. The married men in harms were denied conjugal rights and the effects were obvious. After experiencing and loving sex with their wives and having to go without for months on end, they were left condemned to understandable temptations.

Different fighters, coming from different backgrounds responded differently.

The cultural mix softened hearts and many resorted to sex with locals of all ages, teens included. Most of the relationships were forced, hence creating another ill in society. The power of the uniform ruled, and continues to rule even today.

When these men in uniform traveled back home they carried with them the new 'culture'. Over time,the family bond was broken as extramarital affairs became common place.

Like the famed writer WB Yeats wrote in his poem, The Second Coming, ‘Things fall (fell) apart; the center cannot hold’, all forms of conscience started dying and the world has never recovered.

The matter of sex continues to divide sections of the men in uniform until today. The controversial sexual exploits by Barack Obama's bodyguards is a case in point.

In traditional African societies, a girl child was ripe for marriage as soon as she developed breasts.

Given the stress-free communal settings then and good livelihood, the health of the people was excellent. Children grew up fast and it was common for twelve to fourteen-year-old girls to develop breasts quite early in life.

These were aptly married off.

This, coupled with the fact that girls in some communities walked bare-chested , men were always tempted to ask for their hands in marriage.

Early marriage was also widespread because African societies encouraged polygamy.

Families also traded their teenage daughters for property and there was nothing wrong with that.

Some monarchies in southern Africa still practice early marriage.

Even today, young girls, walking bare-chested are still paraded before King Mswati of Swaziland, who chooses whoever he wants, irrespective of age.

As a matter of fact, age was never an issue in African traditional setting. Age got factored into people's lives when European education was introduced in the continent.

Only a few years ago we worshiped the power of the computer and everyone was crazy about the mouse and keyboard.

Fast forward to the current decade and it is apparent that information has evolved positively and negatively.

Social networking media is with us and the impact is for all to see.Teens have embraced information that is embedded within Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp, Tumblr, Pinterest etc with absolute madness.

According to Yahoo Shine observation, more and more teens are posting ever more explicit photos on their walls in order to attract more Likes and comments from friends. Many teens worship and have crushes on some of their newly acquired friends or celebrities on social sites and will do 'anything' to make them real friends.

The forum has provided the ultimate meeting point. This is no sex but is appropriately SEXY! and anything sexy is a precursor to sex. It is something parents do not condone but can do nothing about.

Save for the developed countries where a handful of parents use Internet and social network sites, parents in third world countries, in their 40s and upwards, haven't the slightest idea what these are!

Parents and family need to guide their precious daughters and sons with insight if they are to conquer early sex, pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

When we all accept that early sex may breed its own ills, maybe then shall we learn to hold high family and religious values and save ourselves from the resultant headache and pain.

And yes, teen pregnancy and STIs are real. But parent and family responsibility in the life of a teenager is to offer complete guidance and support in the event of a sexual experiment gone wrong!