As health scare stories putting teenagers off sex?

[ursula]

With so many scare stories and AIDS and STDs, are teenagers having less sex than they used to?

[andy hughes]

Probably not. It's a fact that, inbuilt with the raging hormones and urge to experiment that go with adolescence, is the unwavering feeling of imortality, and the belief that nightmares like Aids and unplanned pregnacies only happen to 'other people'. As a parent of three daughters, I accepted that all I could do was advise them of the risks and consequences, and hope that they listened. I do think that teenagers in the main are pretty responsible individuals - the much -hyped decimation by HIV prophesied ten years ago appears not to have happened in this country, which hopefully can be attributed to safe sex practices, which would mean safer, if not necessarily less, sexual action.

[incitatus]

Even the safer sex message has worn off. The rapid rise in VD infection and Aids transmission rates in the last two years shows that fewer people are being sensible about who they sleep with and how they protect themselves. People assume that Aids has gone away, but the current treatments are rapidly becoming useless due to drug resistance. Until a vaccine is found, safer sex is vital. And no, teenage sex is not on the decrease, and I doubt it ever will be. The main thing we should do which we do not do is to educate them thoroughly and impartially. Our rate of teen pregnancy shows how badly we fail to do this.

[SMILL48]

There is an article on Answerbank answering your question - just click article 2897