Safe Sex-related stories
Virginity pledges help some abstain
Talking with kids about the hard topics -- drinking, drugs, sex, and so forth -- is never easy for parents. I don't know what tact you take with your kids, but I try to just bring the subject up whenever it seems natural. For example, my son saw a commercial for margaritas made with a certain tequila the other day and he asked a question -- it made for a great intro into a discussion about drinking. Talking to kids about sex is just as important. And, according to a recent survey, having your teens voluntarily take a virginity pledge may help some abstain from having sex.While virginity pledges have been promoted by some churches, schools, and universities for several years, their effectiveness was questionable at best. According to the survey, however, taking the pledge may be helpful for some students. The study found that 34% of youths that took the pledge went on to have sex within three years. 42% of teens who didn't take the pledge become sexually active. It may not be earth-shattering, but 8% is a healthy improvement in this parent's opinion.
The fact of the matter is a lot of kids do have sex. While it's wise to teach our kids about the physical and emotional impacts of sex and the importance of safety, promoting abstinence is by far the healthiest path.
Life Fit Chat with Laura Lewis: One in 4 Teen Girls Has STD
Life Fit Chat with That's Fit Life Fit Expert Laura Lewis brings conversation provoking tidbits to your table, served up with a touch of spice! Byte-sized information that pack some punch, brought to you every Wednesday and Thursday!An astonishing one in four teenage girls nationwide has an STD. This equates to over three million teens in the United States that are suffering from a sexually transmitted disease. A virus known as human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted disease among teen girls between the ages of 14 to 19. This virus actually causes cervical cancer, which technically means that cervical cancer in of itself is a sexually transmitted disease. HPV, which can cause genital warts, can lie dormant in both men and women for up to ten year or more. Oftentimes, men and women both may show no signs of carrying the disease, which is one cause for its prevalence. A vaccine targeting several HPV strains recently became available, but has not been available long enough to have an impact on HPV prevalence rates in teen girls.
GARDASIL, the vaccine that can be administered to prevent certain types of HPV, is given as three injections over six months. Side affects include pain, swelling, itching, and redness at the injection site, fever, nausea, and dizziness. While this may seem like a wonder pill, it has been highly controversial. Many parents believe that by vaccinating their teenagers they are silently signing over their parental blessing for promiscuity, and therefore opt not to have their children vaccinated. What do you think? Is vaccination a silent permission for teen sex? And, well, what about the risks of the vaccination itself? What do you think?
Syphilis returning to Europe due to riskier sex
Europe is seeing a resurgence in syphilis, the sexually-transmitted disease. Why the increase all across Europe? Apparently, all the safe sex talk of the last 20 years is being pushed aside as Europeans are taking greater risks in their sex lives.The largest cause of the resurgence has been found to be in gay men, who are having unprotected sex at a larger rate than in previous years and are causing more syphilis cases.
Even so, more cases in heterosexual people are popping up as well. Just as in Europe, though, syphilis returned from the brink of extinction in 2000 to seeing over 9,800 cases last year in the U.S.
HIV lessons fun at Indian sex museum
Sheesh. Safe sex lectures are so boring. At least that's the verdict in Mumbai, where the city's sex museum is giving HIV education a kick in the pants. The exhibit is so informative, that it's attracting hundreds of prostitutes and their regular clients.
The museum, Antarang, is the only one of it's kind in India, and lacks the pizazz of similar institutions in New or Amsterdam. Nevertheless, "A sex museum is a better place to learn about sex and everything related to it," says M.G. Vallecha, the chief of Antarang.
India has more citizens infected with HIV than any other country -- a number currently estimated at 5.7 million, that experts fear could quadruple by 2010. Officials are hopeful that the sex museum will work to combat HIV and AIDS -- allowing people to get over their inhibitions, and discuss safe sex more openly.
