Posted by
Edmond Long on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 12:22:34 PM
A troubling practice among teen has recently hit the news. Girls and boys are using their cell phone cameras to take pictures of parts of their bodies which they send to their significant others. Seems they are running afoul of child pornography laws. Given the prevailing attitudes about sex in our society, should we be surprised by what these young people are doing? Indeed, those pictures are only the tip of the iceberg.
Information sent electronically, in this case pictures, is like a word spoken: once the word is spoke, ownership and control are lost. One wonders if the young women understand the proclivity of young males to brag about their sexual exploits? Do they think their boyfriend is the only person who will see the picture they sent? What might have been intended as an adolescent expression of intimacy quickly becomes an act of public indecency and humiliation. How many of those pictures, made with innocent intent, are forwarded on to others?
Our society has lied to teens. The dream of sexual freedom has become for many a nightmare of unintended consequences. A CDC study released on March 11, 2008 estimates that one in four (26 percent) young women between the ages of 14 and 19 in the United States – or 3.2 million teenage girls – is infected with at least one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes simplex virus, and trichomoniasis). The study, presented at the 2008 National STD Prevention Conference, is the first to examine the combined national prevalence of common STDs among adolescent women in the United States, and the study provides the clearest picture to date of the overall STD burden in adolescent women.
The CDC’s Sara Forhan, M.D., M.P.H., said the study also finds that African-American teenage girls were most severely affected. Nearly half of the young African-American women (48 percent) were infected with an STD, compared to 20 percent of young white women. The two most common STDs overall were human papillomavirus, or HPV (18 percent), and chlamydia (4 percent).
Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention was reported to have said, “Today’s data demonstrate the significant health risk STDs pose to millions of young women in this country every year. Given that the health effects of STDs for women – from infertility to cervical cancer – are particularly severe, STD screening, vaccination and other prevention strategies for sexually active women are among our highest public health priorities.” The data were presented by CDC researchers as part of the agency’s National STD Prevention Conference in Chicago. “What’s surprising about this is just how quickly young adolescent women acquire sexually transmitted diseases once they become sexually active,” Fenton said. “Nearly one in five women will acquire one of these infections within the first year after being sexually active.
In the article "Teen sex Leads to Depression and Drug Use," Janice Shaw Crouse highlighted the results of a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study* on teen patterns of drug use and sexual activity. The findings, Crouse pointed out, go against the grain of the position held by social liberals of our day. The UNC-CH study showed that especially among teen girls, extremely negative effects are experienced as a result of sexual activity. Depression was shown clearly to result from either drug use or sexual activity. In fact, the study showed that depression does not lead to sex. In fact, "Depressed girls who are abstinent, however, have decreased odds of engaging in any high-risk behavior," Crouse stated.*
This study should be viewed in light of the advice given by many so-called experts (including individuals and institutions such as Planned Parenthood). Jocelyn Elders, for instance, in her tenure as Surgeon General in the Clinton Administration, advocated for sexual exploration among teens. In 1994, she was invited to speak at a United Nations conference on AIDS. Dr. Elders was asked if promoting masturbation as a means of preventing young people from engaging in riskier forms of sexual activity was appropriate. Her answer: "I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught." The problem with such advice is the effect such a pronouncement has on a young person. If solo masturbation is okay, why not mutual masturbation for a teen couple? If masturbation is okay, why not oral sex? Why not sexual intercourse?