Nov 19 2008

Tyra Highlights Teen Sexuality

Over the summer more than 10,000 teenage girls and young women took part in an anonymous survey through the website of the “The Tyra Banks Show.” Survey questions focused on sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy, amongst other things, and the results were shocking. 

Here are some findings from the survey:

* On average, girls are losing their virginity at 15 years of age.
* 14 percent of teens who are having sex say they’re doing it at school.
* 52 percent of survey respondents say they do not use protection when having sex.
* One in three says she fears having a sexually transmitted disease.
* 24 percent of teens with STDs say they still have unprotected sex.
* One in five girls says she wants to be a teen mom.

These statistics, however horrifying, are grounded in the reality that young people face: little to no sex education in schools (or rather federally funded misinformation) and little to no dialogue about sex at home. 

This is a reoccurring theme at GoLeft – we live in a society where we as a culture (and especially through pop culture) use sex and images of sex as a way to attract, engage and appeal to young people. Yet this same sex obsessed society places a taboo on real and earnest conversations about sex and deprives our youth of life saving information about the risks of unprotected sex, putting our youth at a real disadvantage and real danger. 

Luckily, there are a lot of really amazing organizations, programs and resources out there that are dedicated to arming young people with information and the ability to talk about sex and sexuality with their peers and even their parents.