Teenage Sex and Pregnancy: Modern Myths, Unsexy Realities (Sex, Love, and Psychology)

265 Pages·2010·1.184 MB·English

by  Mike A. Males

Teenage Sex and Pregnancy
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TEENAGE SEX
AND PREGNANCY
Modern Myths, Unsexy Realities
Mike A. Males
Sex,Love,andPsychologySeries
JudyKuriansky,SeriesEditor
Copyright2010byMikeMales
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina
retrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,
photocopying,recording,orotherwise,exceptfortheinclusionofbriefquotationsina
review,withoutpriorpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Males,MikeA.
Teenagesexandpregnancy:modernmyths,unsexyrealities/MikeA.Males.
p.cm.— (Sex,love,andpsychologyseries)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978–0–313–38561–2(hardcopy:alk.paper)—ISBN978–0–313–38562–9(ebook)
1. Teenagers—Sexualbehavior—UnitedStates.2. Teenagepregnancy—UnitedStates.
I.Title.
HQ27.M345 2010
306.70835—dc22 2010009113
ISBN:978–0–313–38561–2
EISBN:978–0–313–38562–9
1413121110 12345
ThisbookisalsoavailableontheWorldWideWebasaneBook.
Visitwww.abc-clio.comfordetails.
Praeger
AnImprintofABC-CLIO,LLC
ABC-CLIO,LLC
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SantaBarbara,California93116-1911
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
CONTENTS
SeriesForeword
Dr.JudyKuriansky vii
Introduction 1
1. ThreeReasonsWhy“TeenPregnancy”DoesNotExist 21
2. 1915AllOverAgain 39
3. BabyPricingandtheNewEugenics 53
4. MarieAntoinetteWouldHaveLovedtheNationalCampaign 65
5. The“TeenSex”DebateUnhinges 77
6. GenerationMean 95
7. SameOldRacism 115
8. SameOldSexism 129
9. PanicsduJour 149
10. WillSex-EdSavetheDay? 179
11. TheCalamityofConsensus 197
12. KidsToday 213
vi CONTENTS
Notes 219
Index 245
AbouttheAuthorandEditor 255
SERIES FOREWORD
MikeMalesisangryandheisnotafraidtoexpressit.Heisangrythatsociety
seems to have bought into the relentless hype that teens are oversexed and
that they engage in irresponsible sex. In contesting this point of view, the
award-winningauthorpresentscompellingargumentsandbacksuphispoints
withsolidreferencesfromreliablesources.Hispassionforhissubjectfigura-
tivelyjumpsoffthepagesofhisbook.
In chapter after chapter, Males takes on the charge that teens are into
debauchery,promiscuity,sexualpathology,andearlypregnancy,amongother
accusations.As amedia psychologistandsexologistmyself whounderstands
thattelevisiontodayisdrivenbyagooddebate,Malesisperfectforthefight.
Afteryears of surveys published about the subject, it strikes me that profes-
sionalsandthepublicarenevertoosureabouttheexactstatisticsconcerning
teensexualityandalsothatresultsareconstantlyinterpretedwith contradic-
toryimplications—thatyouthsexualbehaviorandpregnancyratesaregetting
more outofcontrol, or thatthey have leveled off,or that they have,atbest,
shown trends toward improvement. Males takes on this rollercoaster with
conviction. As such, he makes a very important contribution to the field of
sexuality—andtoculturetoday!
I am no stranger to the controversy over whether youth are too wild and
sexual. As a radiocall-inadvice host for overtwodecades, Ihave had thou-
sands of young people call me with theirsexual questions, which I included
in chapters on “hooking up,” “giving it up,” and wondering “am I a freak?”
inmybook,GenerationSex:America’sHottestSexTherapistAnswerstheHottest
viii SERIESFOREWORD
Questions About Sex. While there are hundreds of examples that are indeed
shocking—including those about engaging in blood rituals, betrayals, and
bondage—there werealsothousandsofquestionsfromteenswhowantedto
actresponsibly.
Overso many years asa media sexologist,Iamfamiliar withmany of the
myths about sexuality, which makes me resonate with Males’s arguments.
Oneparticularlydistressingmyth—thattalkingtokidsaboutsexmakesthem
go out and do it—formed the basis of an attack that my radio broadcasts
would make kids more sexual. Fortunately, research showed the opposite:
talkingaboutsexdoesnotmakekidsgooutanddoit,andevenmoreimpres-
sive, those who were already active were more motivated to be safer about
theiractivities.AllthisoffersasolidfoundationforMales’seffortstoaddress
mythsaboutteenagesexualityandsettherecordstraight.
Males’sstrongpointofviewisrefreshing.Heisnotjustdefendingagener-
ation, he is educating all generations—about how to put teen sexuality into
perspective.Asaresult,hisbookneedstobereadbyalladvocatesandprofes-
sionals,byallmediaandthepublic,andevenbyyouththemselves.
Dr.JudyKuriansky
INTRODUCTION
CheckingtheeveningtelevisionofferingsinSanJose,CostaRica,onavisitto
LatinAmericaafewyearsago,IdiscoveredDosRombos.1Itstalkshowformat
featured Spanish psychologist-actress Lorena Berdu´n chirping about all
thingssex,prefacingtheevening’sregularlyscheduledexplicitsex-toyupdate.
Berdu´n’s gay co-host, assorted celebrities, and pop experts that delivered
commentary were backdropped by ubiquitous teenagers, some looking no
older than 14, indulging in inter-gender bantering in the studio audience,
participatingingraphicdiscussions onstage, andcontributingtwo-thirds of
thecall-ins.Theirexuberantpresencemadetheshow’s sardonictitle—“Two
Rhombuses,”parodyingthe television symbol for “unsuitable for minors”—
thepopulartalkshow’sunsubtlein-joke.
Furthersouth in a hotel in Medellin, Colombia, where Iwas researching
articles on the war on drugs, Iran across a local news channel’s reporter-at-
large feature, “El Sexo en Medellin.” Effervescent female videocammers
recordedon-the-streetcommentsfromlocalsontheirsexlivesandopinions.
From serious teens as young as 13 to giggling elders bereft of hair, the
on-camera revelations were appealingly candid, recounting the sizzling
rewardsandmiserablefailingsoftheopposite—andoccasionally,same—sex
fromeachside’swell-stockedammunitionstore.
Theseweremainstream, commercial channelsbroadcastinginprime-time
hours. In Latin America, a region North Americans may think of as
conservative and stilted, teenage sex is publicly accepted as a part of life.
In Quito and Riobamba, Ecuador, where the drinking age nominally is