http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1175926,00.html

Almost a quarter of 14-year-old girls have already had sex with at least one
partner, according to a survey by a teen magazine.
The Bliss magazine study found that most of them did not use protection and
that 60% of them had sex after drinking alcohol.


The survey of 2,000 teenage girls across Britain with an average age of 14.5
years is the most comprehensive of its kind.

Are you shocked by the findings? Are teenagers having sex younger these days
or has it always happened?

Do magazines such as Bliss have to take some responsibility for making young
girls more aware of sex?

Does the media put pressure on children to have sex?

What can be done to persuade them to wait, and to use protection when if
they do have sex?

We asked for you views. Here are some of your emails:

Maybe we should stop handing out council accommodation and tax-payers' money
to these teens. I am a nurse and know of several teen girls who have merely
got pregnant just as a means of leaving home and having all provided for
them. They all shout about their 'rights' but with rights comes
responsibility. Moreover, it should be mandatory for the father's name to be
on the birth certificate, even if genetic testing is needed to ascertain it.
Kay Van-Winkel, Darlington

I agree with Kay from Darlington. It's about time we stopped giving people
such an easy time. I'm not suggesting that we remove help for those who need
it, but there's a great difference between a teenager who's pregnant, scared
and doesn't know where to turn and one who is happy as Larry to think she'll
be given a house and won't have to get a job for the next few years. I'm
sure my comments will upset some people but I've actually heard one teenage
mum say to a friend when asked 'What will you do when she's (the baby) old
enough to go to school - get a job? The reply - 'No, I'll just have another
one'. Disgusting.
Donna, Leeds

I feel the media is responsible for these outrageous findings. Sex is
portrayed as a necessity and has become part of some kind of a race for
young people. It is also seen as an act of pleasure for a moment, not an act
of love between a couple. This is bad news because it eliminates one of the
major aspects of love, between a couple. Sex should be good, but with the
right person.
Niaz Hussain

I am now 26 but was 14 when I had sex for the first time. I didn't do it
because I was in love because despite what I thought at the time I didn't
know what it meant to love someone, even if I thought I did then... kids
today don't know either. They think they are in love, relating how they feel
to all these stories in teenage magazines about young mums and how they
survived. I simply did it because I wanted to and because it felt right...
and that is the difference between then and now - even though it's only 10
years ago.
Twenty-six-year-old female, Cheshire

Whilst I am sure the editors of such magazines would disagree, but these
"Teen" magazines are little more than "Porn Mags" for
the young. Whilst it
is necessary for the young to be educated in sex it is totally unnecessary
for them to be educated in sexual acts. It disturbs me that producers of
such magazines print such articles with impunity and it disturbs me more
that they may obtain some personal gratification from doing so. This is
nothing short of paedophilia by proxy.
Andy Myers

I was brought up in the Netherlands and live now in Britain with my husband
and 3 children. My eldest is nearly 19 and has only in the last year become
sexually active with her boyfriend of 2 years. She is by no means the
exception but I believe that some kids do not feel that they can talk to
their parents about sex. We have always brought up our kids that no question
is silly and that they will always get an honest answer. Believe me it will
make you squirm now and again. The moment my daughter started this
relationship in which the boy was a few years older we send her to the
doctor to be put on the pill AND made sure that there were condoms in the
house. We did not tell her that she should not do it but they all grow up
with the message that they should never feel pressurised but only start
having sex when they feel ready for it and preferably while they are in a
loving relationship.
Desiree

These girls are too young to understand emotions and to be in love at that
age. They think by having sex with someone that they will love them. I never
had sex until it was legal and can really only say that I never really found
love until the age of 35. Sex education should be taught to girls and boys,
but more in depth than they are doing in schools. As a parent I would be
outraged if my daughter or son were having sex, they are just not mature
enough on the inside to fully understand the implications. Even when I was
old enough, it still felt wrong, going behind my parents back. Most of the
girls I went to school with started having kids at about 17 or 18, meanwhile
I was having a great time being single and travelling without the latest
accessory (a baby). They need to be better educated at school or by their
parents, they suddenly cannot make the transformation from being a child, to
having a child and becoming a parent they have no idea.
DB, Surrey

May be it is high time we start considering the Gospel according to
ABSTINENCE. The evidence is glaring at us in the face but we choose to
ignore it. Look at Uganda that has less resources to fight AIDS but has
accomplished great feat in curbing it. It is a known that that young people
like to explore. It would have been better to promote abstinence rather than
making sex safe that gave the recents results.
Tutu Olutayo, Gothenburg, Sweden


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