Adolescents and abstinence: is it a realistic option? Being a teenager is difficult today. Not only do you worry about keeping your grades up to get into the right school, but you also worry about pressure from your peers. In addition, peer pressure is the pressure to have sex not only from friends, but also from books, television, and movies.
Having sex is a serious decision, not one to be made lightly, which often happens. Practicing abstinence may seem difficult or even impossible to do today, but they are doing it more than teens realize. They listen to stories in the locker room and during class about this and that having sex with this or that. In most cases, that is a lie. In most cases, it is someone who reinforces his own ego at the expense of someone else’s reputation.
Pledging is popular today. Teens are making the decision to wait to have sex until later in life. Some promise to wait until they are married. Others promise to wait until a certain age, where they can appreciate and understand that sex is not just an action. As cheesy as it sounds, saving yourself for the right time and the right person is what many teens want.
However, the benefits of abstinence far outweigh peer pressure. When you wait to have sex, you don’t have to worry about the serious consequences that come with it. Having sex may sound like fun, but dealing with a pregnancy, baby, or illness is not.
A single sexual encounter can create a baby. Don’t believe the myth that you can’t get pregnant the first time or any of the other myths floating around. If you have sex, you can get pregnant. That’s why many teens choose to wait to have sex, they see what a baby does in their friends’ lives, and they know they want more than that for themselves.
Pregnancy is not the only concern, illness is too. Not just the simple STDs of the past, but also the serious illnesses that will stay with you your whole life. Like herpes and the HIV virus. Using protection isn’t always enough either. The only way to make sure you don’t get infected with a sexually transmitted disease is to not have sex.
Despite pressure from friends and the media, more and more teens are practicing abstinence, even if they don’t advertise it. They are realizing that if they want a good and happy future, they need to think about their actions when they were still teenagers. The things you do as a teenager can affect your entire life, so choosing abstinence is the best thing a teenager can do today.