Teenage Abstinence: Wise Decisions or Pipe Dreams?

Essay by dcnight5College, Undergraduate October 2005

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Introduction: A Rising Trend.

Abstinence among teenagers has been on the rise and has been for quite a while. I couldn't help but wonder what specific reasons young adults had to put off sexual intercourse. Everyone has very different opinions and feelings

on sex; usually it's an amalgamation of the opinions of parents, peers, etc. Today, young adults all over the United States are becoming more and more enlightened and aware of the world around them. The free love of yesteryear is gone and has been replaced with more responsibility and long term thoughts and goals. It's very dangerous out there; it seems like common sense that people would want to protect themselves against the various dangers and grotesqueries in the world around us. Birth control education is a hot button issue, one that is still up in the air. It makes sense to have as much information available to teenagers but certain adults would disagree.

Others think taking the risk is alright, but many teens are well informed on sexual intercourse despite certain people who would rather leave this out of schools and out of the ears and mouths of babes.

Religious Conviction - "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery..." - One of the Ten Commandments, as taken from the Holy Bible.

Religion is the biggest advocate of abstinence. Several if not all faiths believe that premarital sex is a sin and shouldn't even be discussed let alone condoned. The Bush Administration supports abstinence-only education to convey the message that sex should remain between a man and his wife, period. Two years ago, federal government planned on devoting over 270 million dollars towards such programs to promote waiting until marriage for sexual intercourse. Ed Ainsworth, an abstinence teacher from Austin, Texas, disapproves of safe sex education saying it promotes sexual...