Teleteens and sex medicine
Teleteens and sex medicineAn increasing problem on high school campuses and one of the main
concerns of parents, school officials, and the government is teenage sex. It
is on the rise, and they are worried that it may get out of control. Teenage
sex can be a problem because of the pregnancies and many diseases it can
cause. One solution that has been proposed is to distribute condoms in
public high schools. This is a topic that is controversial and has been
hotly debated for years. There are people who think it would be a good idea
and those who think it may worsen the problem rather than solve it.
The reason that people want to distribute condoms in high school is to
try to prevent teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and (I
separate this from the category of STD's because it is so widespread, deadly,
important, frightening, etc.) H.I.V infection. The theory is that if condoms
were given out or made available at high schools, then the students would be
more inclined to use them. They would have them or be able to get them if
they need to use them. This would cut down on unprotected sexual intercourse
and prevent the pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and H.I.V.
infection. If a student was at a party and decided, on the spur of the
moment, to engage in sexual intercourse, then it is more likely that they
have a condom if schools distributed them. This sounds good in theory, but
will it really work? If schools distribute condoms, shouldn't they also
teach the students how to use them and teach them a little about sex (sex
education in schools, another controversial topic)?
The world certainly needs to try to decrease teenage pregnancies, STD's,
and H.I.V. infection. In an article from the New York Times, the United
Nations reports that women, especially sexually active teenage girls, have a
higher rate of H.I.V. infection than men in that age group. It cited the
slow development of mucous membranes as the reason for the lower protection
against infection and increased risk of getting H.I.V. It mentions that in
Rwanda, 25% of pregnant women are infected, and 17% of those who have teenage
sex will be infected. Those numbers are staggering. In the United States,
if even 5% of teenagers who have had sex become infected with H.I.V., then
that would translate to hundreds of thousands of teenagers. This shows that
H.I.V. could be a bigger problem than it already is if nothing is done about
it, and some people think that distributing condoms would help keep the
problem from getting worse.
Condom distribution might work, but what...
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