Preventing Teen Pregnancy

    • Preventing Teen Pregnancy

      What do we say to girls who are making the decision about becoming sexually active? Here are some messages that might get through:

      1) You don't have to sex if you don't want to, and you don't have to justify your decision to your boyfriend, your girlfriends, or anyone else. "No" is a complete sentence, and it doesn't require explanation. You are in charge of this choice.
      2) You don't have to "prove your love" for anyone by indulging in risky behaviors, which include sex. Anyone who asks you to demonstrate your loyalty by putting yourself in a dangerous situation doesn't love you, no matter what he says. A boy who truly loves you puts your welfare before his own immediate desires.
      3) You don't have to buy into the argument that everyone's doing it. Everyone isn't. Studies show that, overall, less than 50 percent of high school students have had sex, although the percentage rises above 50 percent by the junior and senior years. But that means that about 40 percent still aren't sexually active, and that's a lot of teens.
      4) You do have to remember that the only foolproof birth control method is abstinence. You won't get pregnant, you won't expose yourself to sexually transmitted infections that may prevent you from having a baby when you want one, and you won't damage your reputation or lose your friends.
    • Everything of this is true.
      I would like to add some options if teens do decide to have intercourse:
      The guy could use a condom.
      The girl could take a birth control pill.
      Those are the most known. I found a site where you can find information about many more options:

      plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control ( I don't want you to buy anything there, just to learn about birth control :) )

      But the best thing to do is either talk to your parents first or see a gynecologist (doctor for women and girls). They can give you a proper consultation and give you access to reliable birth control.
      Before you have sex, think about the consequences, if you are a girl or boy.
      curious open-minded short but not so short guy from Germany. open for conversations/PMs, all topics, all ages, all genders
    • GoodFuture wrote:

      What do we say to girls who are making the decision about becoming sexually active? Here are some messages that might get through:

      1) You don't have to sex if you don't want to, and you don't have to justify your decision to your boyfriend, your girlfriends, or anyone else. "No" is a complete sentence, and it doesn't require explanation. You are in charge of this choice.
      2) You don't have to "prove your love" for anyone by indulging in risky behaviors, which include sex. Anyone who asks you to demonstrate your loyalty by putting yourself in a dangerous situation doesn't love you, no matter what he says. A boy who truly loves you puts your welfare before his own immediate desires.
      3) You don't have to buy into the argument that everyone's doing it. Everyone isn't. Studies show that, overall, less than 50 percent of high school students have had sex, although the percentage rises above 50 percent by the junior and senior years. But that means that about 40 percent still aren't sexually active, and that's a lot of teens.
      4) You do have to remember that the only foolproof birth control method is abstinence. You won't get pregnant, you won't expose yourself to sexually transmitted infections that may prevent you from having a baby when you want one, and you won't damage your reputation or lose your friends.
      This is such an important, important message especially in the time that the Alabama Anti-Abortion law is being signed in. Bodily autonomy is so so important and i hope that we teach all girls that. I am so proud of my mother for teaching me all this.
      thassalll folks
    • GoodFuture wrote:

      What do we say to girls who are making the decision about becoming sexually active? Here are some messages that might get through:

      1) You don't have to sex if you don't want to, and you don't have to justify your decision to your boyfriend, your girlfriends, or anyone else. "No" is a complete sentence, and it doesn't require explanation. You are in charge of this choice.
      2) You don't have to "prove your love" for anyone by indulging in risky behaviors, which include sex. Anyone who asks you to demonstrate your loyalty by putting yourself in a dangerous situation doesn't love you, no matter what he says. A boy who truly loves you puts your welfare before his own immediate desires.
      3) You don't have to buy into the argument that everyone's doing it. Everyone isn't. Studies show that, overall, less than 50 percent of high school students have had sex, although the percentage rises above 50 percent by the junior and senior years. But that means that about 40 percent still aren't sexually active, and that's a lot of teens.
      4) You do have to remember that the only foolproof birth control method is abstinence. You won't get pregnant, you won't expose yourself to sexually transmitted infections that may prevent you from having a baby when you want one, and you won't damage your reputation or lose your friends.
      That's a bit sex-negative, especially "damage your reputation or lose your friends." We shouldn't be shaming people for having sex. The most important thing to reduce teen pregnancy is to teach teens about birth control and safe sex, provide them with birth control and medical services and give teens resources for accurate information about sex. It's not good enough to only try to teach teens abstinence. Abstinence-only education has been a failure where it's been taught. Some people want to have sex and they need to know about how to do it safely. Encouraging abstinence until they're older is fine if it's non-judgemental and isn't about shaming people (too often it's religious people trying to control women's sexuality) but frank sex education and birth control is needed.

      L Rae wrote:

      when he pulls out or on your period I dont think you can get pregnant,
      Don't trust this. Pulling out is not 100% effective at all (sometimes a few sperm can remain in precum, sperm can be sometimes released before full ejaculation and it's difficult for some guys to have enough self-control to realise when they're going to ejaculate and bring themselves to stop) and there's a chance you can get pregnant when on your period. Wear a condom or, if you have both been checked for STDs and haven't been having sex with other people since then, you should go on the pill or get a birth control implant.
      What's up, my dudes?