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Teenage Sex

What is your opinion on it?

  • Good thing

    Votes: 13 15.9%
  • Bad thing

    Votes: 21 25.6%
  • Unsure

    Votes: 2 2.4%
  • Neither good nor bad

    Votes: 46 56.1%

  • Total voters
    82

Antimony

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It is interesting you bring it up as a right. As far as I am seeing, from what you have discussed, is you look at the other people being affected (which is good! That is actually my main issue with it, as far as those who are responsible/mature enough to do it).

Anyways, yet another good point is that they should be able to obtain the birth control if they are articulate enough, etc, and if they can't, they shouldn't.

Assuming no one can possibly be affected by sleeping with someone, just looking at the act itself, do you see it as a bad thing? Immoral, whatever? (Sorry, not trying to brush off the morals, but I can't really put what I am saying into words).

Are you for or against abortion?
 

Fidelia

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There is evidence that at just a few weeks, foetuses in utero respond to pain. Therefore, simply from a humane point of view, I disagree with abortion.

While stem cells can be harvested from foetuses, the medical community has also found other ways of growing stem cells which would not take human life.

If you believe that there is no authority higher than us, then really it is up for everyone to do as they see fit. Our society has agreed that we may do that as long as their decisions do not negatively impact other people's rights and freedoms. No one has the authority to call one way better than another. Even our observation of the outcomes could be a completely subjective experience, based on our conditioning, culture, age and sex. However, there isn't really any moral basis or reason why we should care about other people's rights, other than it seeming like a good thing to do. From an evolutionary standpoint, it certainly doesn't seem like a good way to get ahead.

On the other hand, I believe that there is a higher authority. If humans were created by an intelligent being, rather than being a lucky accident of evolution, that has huge implications. It means that our lives (and other people's) are not ours to do with as we please. We are obligated to use them as the one who designed us intended and it is possible that we will be answerable to the one who made us for the choices we make. I believe in Christianity. In my opinion, the Bible is given not to replace people thinking for themselves, but to give some basic guidelines for understanding the world and for structuring society to work effectively. In other words, it gives us the premises to start from and a model for how to work well together but still leaves a lot of scope for new discoveries and ideas. God, being a creative and imaginative person, has created us with endless variety and abilities and functions, yet has made us for a purpose. From this point of view, I think it does matter how we live. It is not that He's just some kind of killjoy that wants to keep us from having a good time. Rather, He has created us to operate best from a certain kind of order and when that order is circumvented, we usually are affected negatively.

I don't think that there is anything remotely wrong with the act of sex itself. From my worldview, if God designed us, it's interesting that sex was designed to be an appealing and enjoyable activity, despite the potential emotional difficulties, responsibilities and pain (eek childbirth!) that it could potentially entail. The problem I see is that sex can't be separated from the way it impacts those who engage in it. (Even if it has no emotional effect, that in turn impacts one or both people!).
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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Just to chime in about teen pregnancy and parental (dis)approval of sex: I don't think they are necessarily related very strongly. I think there is a much more pertinent and causal relationship between simple communication between parents and their kids regarding sexuality and teen responsibility with sexual activity, including protecting against pregnancy and STIs, or abstaining entirely. The parents that can dialogue, and do, with their kids about sex, I'd guess, are more likely to not have children finding themselves with unwanted pregnancies, STIs, nor engaging in sex haphazardly 'just because' others do, regardless of whether the parents 'approve' of sexual activity or not. It shocks me the droves of parents out there who do not regularly talk with their children about sex. I don't just mean once, I mean on a relatively frequent basis. I think that might be one of the best deterrants, or protectors, out there.

Just my experience and what I've seen.



To add to Fidelia's post about abortion: You don't necessarily have to believe, or not believe, in a higher power to have a reverence for life.
 

Fidelia

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I agree with you Aphrodite. Although I find that without first hand experience of some kind (as you have extensively!), or a philosophical basis, many people are less likely to take a decided stance against abortion.
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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I agree with you Aphrodite. Although I find that without first hand experience of some kind (as you have extensively!), or a philosophical basis, many people are less likely to take a decided stance against abortion.


Well, I think it's because they are strongly divided on having a reverence for life, or having a reverence for the quality of life. Both are philosophically meaningful, just different perspectives, hence the contradictory nature of the two ideologies.
 

Antimony

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I don't want to turn this into an abortion topic thread, really, or at least don't really want to get into it, but I agree with both of you- life should be revered. However, some people cannot support children, and while it may be their dumb decision to not use protection, whatever, some children just should not be born into some environments.
 

Fidelia

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I know women who have had abortions, and it certainly wasn't an easy decision for them or one that they took lightly when they made. In most cases though, I don't think they had anticipated the extreme emotional impact it had on them even some quite some time later.

From my time teaching on a reserve, I have seen many examples of children born into unwelcoming and terrible environments. At the same time, there are many people who are looking for children to adopt. In these days, there is not the same stigma in being adopted and there are many more resources for children and parents. There are also a wide variety of kinds of adoptions. In many cases, this comes down to a decision that the person does not want to deal with the physical consequences, the relationship consequences or the embarrassment of it being widely known that they had a baby and gave it up compared to the privacy and (anticipated) speed in dealing with this that an abortion would afford.

I understand you wanting to keep this discussion within certain bounds and avoid having this thread become a debate for all who want to jump in. I thought I should give you the reasoning though behind my stance since you asked.
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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I don't want to turn this into an abortion topic thread, really, or at least don't really want to get into it, but I agree with both of you- life should be revered. However, some people cannot support children, and while it may be their dumb decision to not use protection, whatever, some children just should not be born into some environments.

And I just wanted to clarify what I said as well.

I see two sides to the abortion debate:

Those that have a reverence for life

and

Those that have a reverence for quality of life

I think that is pretty self-explanatory. I think you misconstrued what I said, and although it's a minor point, one that I feel I need to make.
 

freedom geek

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If there is enough protection and so forth that pregnancy does not result (and in case it does easy access to abortion) it's fine.
 

Loxias

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For myself : I disapprove. I am just out of my teens (21) and had very little sex. The fact that most people my age are more experienced than me makes me even less likely to have sex and so less confident, to the point that I haven't had sex since I was 18.

For others : I would recommend it so they don't face the situation I am in, which is a quite humiliating one, both in regards to self-approval and societies expectations.

On a more moral point of view : I think sex takes too much place in our society, it is a new opium of the people and turns them away from more constructive things to accomplish.
Teenage years would ideally be a time of self-discovery and learning during which sex with others doesn't intervene too much as it would distract the teenagers from building themselves into adults.
I might be wrong, and there might be a subjective layer of resent underlying my ideas, but I am relatively confident that in more traditional societies, those things were handled better than the status quo prevalent in nowadays western countries.
 

Illict91

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It's not bad per se

It's really like any question involving an entire demographic . . . . . the answer will vary based on the several thousands of individual personalities, communities, lifestyles, personal circumstances of teenagers engaging in sexual activity.

I voted neither good nor bad - simply because there is no immediate physical or emotional danger of engaging in sex unless the person hasn't thought the facts or implications through i.e does this person care about my welfare? are we using safe sex practices? am I confident enough to go ahead with it?

If unsure, don't have sex. :cheese:
 

Shimmy

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What's this obsession with 'good' and 'bad'. Why can't things 'just be'.
 

Antimony

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Because when you are dealing with other people, the terms 'good and bad' come into play.
 

poppy

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I couldn't put this anywhere else, unfortunately. I figure your morals and the like can go under a philosophy section.

Anyways, I wanted to know your opinions, fellow Type C members. I know my mother's, but what do you guys think? Good, bad, both, neither? I am not posting this for a lecture on pregnancy, so don't even think about it.

I just want some facts, and to compare beliefs. I have read that Western Europeans tend to think of it in a better light than many Americans do. Something that is just a natural part of life...even for a teenager.

Depends on the teenager, without a doubt. When I was 16 I absolutely would not have been mentally ready for it (and what few sexual experiences I did have were more damaging than anything). But I know people who don't regret having sex younger. There are teenagers who leap into it before they're ready (or before they're able to do it responsibly), and those are the cases where teenage sex is "bad".

For me, it took until pretty recently for all the elements to align (and I'm 19).

Sex, I think, can be a part of self discovery if you're ready for it. It's definitely not something that should be thought of as off-limits to young people.

Tbh I kind of like this article:
Ready or Not? The Scarleteen Sex Readiness Checklist | Scarleteen

The whole site is very sex positive and a pretty good resource.
 

Antimony

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Interesting. I scanned through it. Logical presentation. I like that.

(haha, your sig makes me laugh with its presence in this thread)

Well, thank you for this :) Yet another opinion to look at :yes:
It really seems to fit with a lot of people's opinions...and that really surprises me, I guess.
 

BlackCat

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I don't really recall when I "got ready." I read over the emotional checklist and I think I felt that way when I was around 16 or 17, just in general. Like, I'd be ready to be ready for those things :laugh: (except for the pregnancy part, I won't be ready for that for a long time... I don't really know what I'd do if I got someone pregnant. Pay for part of the abortion maybe?).

It was an interesting read and definitely highlighted some things for me.

I think that the physical checklist varies. I think that being comfortable with physical contact depends on who you're with and how you feel at the moment, it's not something that just *happens* in your mind suddenly. At least that's how it works with me. The things on that list would ease themselves in over time I'd say, like being comfortable with expressing pleasure in front of your partner, being able to be aroused, and being able to relax.

Edited out some of the info that I consider too private to put public... but if you want a private conversation about it then feel free.
 
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