Youth against teenage sex
COMMENTARY
Eugene Chu

I was surfing the Internet a few weeks ago and saw an interesting headline from AOL’s AIM Today. The beginning of the headline, “Teens say they respect this ...” caught my attention. I expected the rest of the headline to be about the latest social or material fad, but when I clicked on the link, I saw something pleasantly surprising. According to a new survey, high school teens respect sexual virginity. The survey, conducted by Seventeen magazine and International Communications Research for the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that American teens believe that being a virgin is “a good thing” in high school.

Despite America’s superpower status in the world, social problems still exist. Unsafe teenage sex is still a significant problem. According to the AOL story, the Centers for Disease Control estimates up to half of teenagers in high school have had sex. In addition, another report from www.cdc.gov estimates 25 percent of sexually active teens may contract a sexually transmitted disease before graduating high school. These statistics paint a depressing picture of today’s teens. Despite these gloomy figures, the Kaiser/Seventeen survey offers some hope for the future.

According to the survey, more than nine out of 10 teens revere the idea of virginity. More than 90 percent of the surveyed teens cited self-respect, parental respect, relationship control and religious values as benefits for delaying sex. In addition, almost 80 percent cited fear of sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy, peer respect or “one less thing to worry about” as other reasons. Despite the overwhelming displays of sex in modern culture, American youth have decided virginity may be the better avenue for adolescence.

America should not expect boy and girl scouts from all of its youth, but the pleasure of sexual intercourse can have painful consequences. According to the study, nearly one in five teens surveyed were using drugs or alcohol when they first lost their virginity. Along with unplanned pregnancies or STDs, the emotional factor of teenage sex can also be painful. Almost half of surveyed teens wished they had waited until they were older for sex. Many traditional-minded people believe sexual intercourse to be an intimate romantic act with a loving partner. For sexually active teens, it turns into an act of trivial recreation.

Sex is a difficult decision for many teens. Support for pre-marital virginity is challenging the perception that rampant sex is the norm of teens today. This new survey indicates that American youth believe abstinence is not only a good choice out of pragmatism, but also out of principle. It should be remembered that while half of American teens have had sex, the other half have not. Many people fear for the sexual morality of today’s youth. However, there are still signs of adolescent acceptance of traditional values.

Eugene Chu is a senior political science major from Arlington.