The Practice of Safe Sex
Today I have want to share with you my point of view and my perspective about the essential role practicing safe sex should play in our lives. Today, we have at our disposal quite the arsenal of prevention methods for practicing safer sex. But just like any tool in the toolbox, it is vital that we know how to use them. Protecting yourself and your sexual partner from STD’s or unwanted pregnancies is not something to be ashamed of but perceptive. I will be giving you some examples based on research and evidence on how practicing safer sex will not only feel just as good but will protect you from unwanted disease and provide a healthier sex life. Three simple and very effective ways of practicing safer sex are using
Condoms are still an excellent way to practice safe sex. When worn correctly, a condom is extremely effective in preventing the transmission of HIV and STD’s. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the percentage of American students using condoms hit its peak at around 60% a decade ago, and has stalled since then, and projected to start declining. This means that over 50% of sexually active teenagers are not using condoms. A recent study has shown that while its likely that a condom is used for the first time during sex, this behavior becomes inconsistent thereafter. Americans ages 15-24 contract chlamydia and gonorrhea at four times the rate of the general population, and those in their early 20s have the highest reported cases of syphilis and HIV. A survey done by the CDC has shown that not only are college student not using protection but are likely to have multiple partners, which increases the risk of STDs. Using condoms is effortless and with the variety of condoms sold on the market there is no reason why being safe is not being taking seriously. Which leads me to my folllowing
Health officials are frightened by the rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases, worried that kids aren’t getting the message. Sex education is increasingly better than it was for previous generations, but a 2012 Guttmacher Institute report revealed that while nearly 90% of high schools are teaching students about abstinence and STDs, fewer than 60% are providing lessons about contraception methods. “People don’t have the fear of death from sex like they had 15 years ago,” said senior health official Patrick Luedtke. “For the teenagers, that fear is gone, and people are not practicing safe sex as much as they used to.” He adds. It is critical for kids to know about their risk. Schools need to provide information for kids to know how to get tested. They need to know how to prevent infection. And the CDC can’t do it alone. “We’re going to need action not only by this agency but also by parents, by schools and communities.” says Laura Kann, an expert in youth risk behaviors at the CDC. Sex education is being ignored by teens in schools and being used as a social hour. Due to the ignorance of society the spread of STD’s at an all time high and reports say they will keep increasing if we don’t spread the word. Not only are teens getting STD’s but teen pregnancy has increased in over 15% in the last 5
Since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in the U.S. in the early 1980s the issue of sex education for American youth has had the attention of the nation. There are about 400,000 teen births every year in the U.S, with about 9 billion in associated public costs. STI contraction in general, as well as teen pregnancy, have put the subject even more so on the forefront of the nation’s leading issues. The approach and method for proper and effective sex education has been hotly debated. Some believe that teaching abstinence-only until marriage is the best method while others believe that a more comprehensive approach, which includes abstinence promotion as well as contraceptive information, is necessary. Abstinence-only program curriculums disregard medical ethics and scientific accuracy, and have been empirically proven to be ineffective; therefore, comprehensive sex education programs which are medically accurate, science-based and empirically proven should be the standard method of sex education for students/children in the U.S.
Today’s young Americans face strong peer pressure to be sexually active and engage themselves in risky behaviors (Merino 100-109). Anyone deciding to have sex must first think about all the risks involved. Kekla Magoon, author of Sex Education in Schools, says that “half of all teens aged 15 to 19 years old in the United States have had sex” (Magoon 64-65). It is currently not required by federal law for schools to teach Sex education and those few schools that do teach Sex education have the decision to determine how much information is allowed. Advocates from both sides of the Sex education debate agree that teens need positive influences in order to make practical decisions (Magoon 88-89). Opponents of Abstinence-only education believe it fails because it does not prepare teens for all the risks of sex (Magoon 64-65).
Young adolescents do not realize how much of a risk it is to engage in sexual intercourse even while wearing a condom. There are three ways you can get genital herpes: oral sex, anal sex, and vaginal sex. According to The Washington Post, if a condom is used 100 percent of the time during vaginal sex, condoms reduce the risk of getting genital herpes by only about 50 percent (Washington 2). It’s still safer to use a condom to reduce chances of getting other sexually transmitted diseases. But adolescents should know that your risk is only cut only half while being protected. Rob Stein mentions, that many adolescents and adults say they engage in oral sex as a less risky type of sex (Stein 2). Most of these adolescents look at oral sex as safer type of sex but
College campuses have seen a rise, in the epidemic of Sexually transmitted diseases. Sexually transmitted diseases have quickly become a household name amongst Americans. The dangers and health issues related to acquiring a STD has been the reason why more attention has been brought to the STD epidemic. The reason for this attention is to hopefully, slow down the rate of STD’S amongst students. There is a very astonishing fact stated by the Agape Pregnancy Resource Center, “Nearly 80% percent of people that are infected with STD’s do not know it. ("Agape Pregnancy Resource Center") The use of condoms, knowing your status, and the practice of abstinence are very effective ways of avoiding contracting STD’s. If we do not make students aware quickly, our whole population may become infected.
Research has demonstrated that consistent condom use is an effective way to prevent the transmission of HIV and other STDs and in the prevention of pregnancy.
By having classes that discusses HIV, AIDS, and teen pregnancy teens may feel that having condoms distributed in schools is great to coincide with the classes being taught at the school. Condoms are the first method of birth control for teens and are a great start for teens that are having sex if they are not sure their parents should be involved in their decision on having sex. Plan B is the most popular birth control on the market and is being offered at universities for students for $25. Mangu-Wa... ... middle of paper ... ....
There is no one fool proof method of preventing sexual activity in teenager or adolescents –the current strategies are now geared towards reducing the number of STD cases and encourage safe sex among teenagers. However, it is also important to remember that health resources have a limit and one simply cannot go on providing condoms ad lib, if they are not going to be used. One has to accept the fact there there will always be a certain population that will remain noncompliant with behavior strategies or use of condoms. The name of the game is not to have zero sexual activity or no STDs among teenagers, but just safe sex with the least number of infections.
The purpose of this paper is to give people information on the advantages, disadvantages and different forms of safe sex. This paper is done for the purpose of preventing STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), not for the purpose of birth control. This gives you different ways to still enjoy sex as you normally would, but with some different and somewhat unusual changes. Some may find this appealing and some may find it hideous. The options are up to you; I am just giving you other alternatives.
Many teenagers and adolescents have been given false information or hold fabricated beliefs concerning teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Because teenagers are misguided and hold false convictions about teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, they are more likely to make undesirable choices that may negatively influence their futures. If they are educated properly, teenagers could live a productive and healthy life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014), “teenagers between the ages of 15-24 represent almost half of the 20 million sexually transmitted diseases and cases that occur yearly“. Gillette (2012) asserts, “United States has the highest teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease cases” compared to other industrialized countries.
Despite high rates of sexual activity, attitudes regarding the use of condoms and protection are mostly negative and usage rates are low. Sexually active children that never use condoms range from 8.2% to 33.3%. Although this type of sexual violence appears to be common, they are not
Safe sex is the only sex you should be having these days Unless you have been married for 20 plus years and 100% completely trust your partner, safe sex is something you should be thinking about at all times. Easy Instructions € Contraceptives € Good choices € Responsibility 1. o 1 Being responsible is the first step to being safe when having sex. If you have no responsibility, then you have no business having sex with anyone but yourself.
“Contrary to some people of formal sex education, researchers couldn’t pull up any evidence that receipt of either type of sex education was combined with earlier signs of sex, greater risk taking a poor decision at sexual actions and healthy outcomes.” Further, what the teachers was consistently towards less healthy [sexual and reproductive health] actions, beliefs and outcomes among the younger youth who did not receive any of the directions or “sit down” on neither condoms for males or birth control for young ladies before their first experience with sexual thoughts or
The topic of condom distribution in public schools has caused many heated debates throughout our country in the last decade. Proponents of distribution state that free condom distribution will ensure that teenagers will practice safe sex and that the rate of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy will decline. Opponents of distribution state that free condom distribution will encourage sexual activity and foster the idea that premarital sex is acceptable. Judges in federal court have even considered whether or not condom distribution and sex education without prior parental notification violates parents' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The only viewpoint absent in a discussion of this very controversial topic is the one that holds the most value: the viewpoint of America's teenagers. Teenagers are the only ones who can fully explain why condom distribution fails to respond to the needs that foster sexual activity among young people.
“Forty-one percent of teens ages 18-19 said they know nothing about condoms, and seventy-five percent said they know nothing about the contraceptive pill” (Facts on American Teens). Even if schools taught just abstinence it still would not be enough. “In 2007, a study showed that abstinence only programs have no beneficial impact on the sexual behavior of young people” (Facts on American Teens). Sex education is not taken as seriously as it should be in schools, it is treated like it is not a big deal. Schools should require a sex education class that specifically teaches students about sex and goes into depth of all the possible consequences because of the high pregnancy, abortion, and virus rates.
“In 1986, then U. S. Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, published a report calling for sex education, including information on preventing the transmission of HIV virus through safe sex, to be instituted in public schools starting at elementary level. And, by 1988, 90 percent of all the schools in the nation offered some form of sex education program.” Although, sex education was introduced to children in school, it was not until the introduction of social media the rate of teen pregnancy has reduced. Today, the government agencies such as the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has introduced easy to use tools to communicate with the teens for this purpose via Facebook and Twitter as it believes in delivering the message through these