Premarital Sex

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the idea of teenage sexuality, asking whether it is necessarily a bad thing for teenagers to engage in sex or if in some circumstances it is a good thing. It looks at how when the talk of the problems of teenage sexuality come up today in the mass media and in the world of popular culture, the problematic aspects of it are considered to be teen pregnancy and the transmission of STDS among teenagers. It shows that while there is certainly talk of the importance of abstinence, it has become an accepted part of American culture that teenagers will have sex. It also explores why and how such a dramatic shift in cultural attitudes about teenage sexuality has come about. It looks at such issues as why we now warn teenagers about AIDS but still cannot talk to them about the morals of sex.

From the Paper:

"Sex is attractive to teenagers for the obvious reason--it is a pleasurable and often emotionally satisfying activity--and it is worth postponing for many teenagers until after marriage only if marriage seems likely to be a firm possibility, and at a relatively young age. When marriage becomes less important, the idea of premarital sex as both something that is wrong and as a category entirely separate from simply "sex" becomes hard to maintain. Studies of historical patterns of teenage birthrates suggest that from the first generation of women to achieve some measure of financial independence, sex without the burdens of marriage becomes attractive (Odem, 1995, p. 51)."

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