Safe Sex Essay, Research Paper
Safe Sex
By Stephen Healy
The act of sex is a shared union between two people through passionate feelings, which is intended for procreation and enjoyment. Safe sex is something that should be practiced if the two people are not married and/or cannot handle the consequences of their actions. The consequences include the creation of a child and sexually transmitted diseases. The only prevention methods of prevention of these two consequences include the wearing of condoms, female contraceptives, celibacy and surgery to make either partner sterile.
There has been a lot of publication and media attention given to the subject of teen pregnancy because this rate has been dramatically been increasing over the past twenty years. This is because of experimentation and the increase of provocative dress and more acceptances of higher sexual limits in public. There is also the issue of those who do so as a rebellion against their parent?s rules but this is a more rare occurrence. Teens are more vulnerable to pregnancy because of a lack of education in school and at home and a lack of thought given toward the consequences of their actions. Teens also account for the largest portion of abortions in this country as well, which causes distress over their rate of sexual activities.
Sex is a powerful tool for human beings to possess the ability to act on. It has changed the way businesses are run and operated because of sexual harassment, and also have changed what students can and can?t wear to high schools and elementary schools. The increase in sexual activity has also led to a major increase in the number of abortions that are performed. This has led to an increase in court disputes over abortion and riots over abortion.
Safe sex is important because the physical dangers can be incredibly damaging and even life threatening. New sexually transmitted diseases come out everyday. Aids herpes, ghoneria, syphilis, crabs and many more affect millions of people everyday. Some are curable but many aren?t as of yet. This is a scary thought when someone decides to engage in sexual activities with another. The first thought in many cases nowadays isn?t whether or not you are sure about the partner you are with, but rather if you are sure about the act that you about to perform.
Everyone knows that alcohol decreases motor skills and it also decreases a persons inhibitions and abilities to say no to things. This major cause for people who are normally the most responsible people in the world engage in unprotected sex. There is a thought at the time that its just one time, what are the chances, and I?m sure the other person is tested and is on the pill. Well the statistics say otherwise. In the year 1999 alone over 5.5 million people were infected with the deadly HIV virus. Some of these people didn?t get full-blown aids yet, but many did. Teenagers who seem to be more at risk in all this are no exception to this rule. Statistics say that in 1999 from the age of 15 and up, 620,ooo children are infected with the aid virus. Now what are the odds that these children have even been properly introduced to sexual education and the reality of the seriousness of their decisions and actions?
Many people do not engage in safe sex because they say that the condom decreases the level of comfort and enjoyment during the act. This may be true, but these people should ask a person with herpes or aids if the choice to not wear a condom is a smart one or not. The comfort will still be there and these people need to put their future ahead of their present happiness. Some diseases can prevent the ability to have children and others can be contagious through sex or even kissing and oral sex.
For those who don?t know, I will explain what the AIDS virus does to the human body. The virus eats away at your immune system so that it has nothing to fight off bacteria and things like the flu with. The body cannot sustain a fight with other viruses and the person becomes sick and weaker. Also the disease lowers the body?s red blood cell count which makes bones weaker and also aids in helping with the fighting off of other infections and sicknesses. Many people who die from AIDS die because they cannot fight off other infections or illnesses like the flu or pneumonia. The body is worn away from the infections and the AIDS itself and then the body cannot sustain its fight against other bacteria and the body becomes more vulnerable to other diseases such as cancer.
AIDS killed 2.8 million people in 1999. Many people used to think that the aids virus would only kill men because of homosexuality becoming more prevalent at the time of the startup of the epidemic. The statistics though say otherwise because women are infected approximately 50% of the time that men
It is true that condom sales have gone up since the AIDS epidemic came out and was more publicized but this doesn?t mean that the people who bought the condoms used them. There needs to be more than just the fact that condoms are available. There needs to be more of a push to buy them for people. I conducted a little experiment with a local supermarket near my house. I let my fifteen-year-old sister go up to the counter to try to buy condoms. First of all the person at the counter wouldn?t sell them to her initially. Then after a bunch of dirty looks the person sold them to her because of the fuss she had to put up to get them. Now at the age of fifteen, my sister has the ability to have children and who knows whether or not she would have gone ahead and had sexual relations without a condom because she tried and got denied for the sale of a box of condoms.
Though parents are worried about talking to children about sex because they feel that it will promote the act more, there should be some education early on in the childhood. This is because there are obviously statistical proof that children are engaging in sex at an earlier age than ever. Schools should administer condoms in bathrooms and parents should be able to talk to their children about sex. There is a level of insecurity, embarrassment, and even fear for parents when this topic is brought up because they think that their child would never do that. Well statistics prove that they are and the odds I am willing to be would be increased if I looked could look up the statistics of whether or not parents had talked to these children beforehand. I went to a Catholic high school where it was taboo to mention the word sex let alone have a class that taught the responsible behavior that it should entail. Realistically this is an issue that should be spoken about to children and young adults so that they don?t make the mistakes that millions of Americans and other people do everyday.
Safe sex is important for both the woman and the man involved to be worried about. The statistics show that women are getting AIDS at a slightly faster rate than men are if you compare the numbers on the scale of number of people contracting it from year to year. For women the contraction of some diseases is more fatal because this will either increase the chances of her not having children at all or will increase the chances of her passing on the disease to the children she will be able to have. Men have a little more luxury in that they do not have to worry or carry the guilt of passing on the disease to children directly but rather only to other partners. This is why I believe that women need to be more cautious about being more responsible for being fully protected during sexual intercourse. I advise that women be on the pill and also make the man use a condom. The combination of the two will increase the chances that much more of not having children and also not contracting any diseases.
Safe sex is something that should be taught and preached to children by parents. It is like anything else that parents teach; things have to begin at home. They are like morals, sexual morals for children. The parents must be given the responsibility to start the process off but the schools must be smart enough to realize that they must play a role in this process also. Sexual education classes must be offered, condoms be available and students be comfortable to talk to the teacher that teaches the class about any issues that may be happening in their life. School councilors should also be a big help to the students in their sexual education. Safe sex is something to benefits all people who are involved in it. It helps save lives and prevent the destroying of millions more. IT is an important part of my life because I like many college students had a scare in the past with pregnancy and has never worn a condom since. Thank you.
Reference
1. HIV and AIDS statistics, www.avert.org/statindx.html; www.yahoo.com
2. HIV and AIDS statistics, www.avert.org/worldsstats.html ; www.yahoo.com
3. HIV and AIDS statistics, www.avert.org/usastata.html ; www.yahoo.com
4. HIV and AIDS statistics, www.avert.org/usastatrage.html ; www.yahoo.com
5. Safe sex and safer sex, www.geocites.com/elysianfacsimile/safe.html ; www.yahoo.com.