Sexuality in Adolescence - Coursework Example

Sexuality in Adolescence Introduction Adolescence is the crucial stage of development, the last stage of a person during his/her journey to maturity. Adolescence is called the evolutionary journey in human life, which commences with the transformations at the structure of the pubis and ends physiologically with the eventual organization of sexuality. This period spans from puberty, during which the minor sex characteristics appear and the age of 17 to 21 years. The term teenager is not entirely correct since in most cases it is used to refer to young ones between the ages of 10 and 18 years old. It is therefore important to ensure that the adolescence passes through all the stages to avoid a scenario where they are classified as teenagers (Renker 109). According to Sigmund Freud, the erogenous zones are totally dependent on the sexual zone during adolescence. During this stage, various sexual targets develop in both men and women and those in this stage find sexual partners that are outside the sphere of their families. Adolescence involves a transitional phase spanning from child psychism organization, which transforms into a more mature personality. During this change period, the psychic balance is unstable and the personality is exemplified by variability. Due to the progression of retrogressive and progressive actions that come up in a bid to categorize the new experiences of prudence, the adolescent’s ego is always at a risk. All this progress triggers a chain of psychological changes (Renker 109). At the same time, the adolescent is often pressured to conform to his/her enhanced environmental demands for autonomy from his parents, to leave behind the ultimate picture that he/she initially had for them and admit to the confines of reality. With this steady and agonizing procedure of de-idealization of internal parental images, the mature ego is developed. In short, adolescents are constantly under formation and this formation is in every side of the adolescent life. Given that adolescents is in a constant state of development, the mental conflicts form a unique type of psychopathology in later stages of life if they are not resolved successfully (Thompson). Sexual Attraction and Orientation In reality, as people transit from childhood through the teen years, their bodies grow and transform. This change is usually replicated in the area of emotions and feelings as well. During the adolescence stage, the hormonal and bodily transformations lead to arousing of sexual feelings. It is common for adolescents to doubt and at other times become anxious about sexual feelings. It takes time for most adolescents to comprehend who they are and why they are turning into. Part of that involves having an enhanced comprehension of their individual sexual feelings and the people that they are attracted to (Waldner 313). Sexual orientation is the expressive, loving, or sexual attraction that a person has towards another person. There are various types of sexual orientation key among them being heterosexual and homosexual. Heterosexual relationships refer to any sort of romantic and physical attraction with people of the opposite sex. People within this group are often referred to as straight and they are only attracted to people of the opposite sex. On their part, homosexuals are romantically and physically attracted to individuals of their gender. Females who are attracted or have sexual desires for fellow females are referred to as lesbians, while men who desire the attention and sexual connection of fellow men are referred to as homosexuals. Although in a smaller fraction, there is another group of people that is attracted to both sexes and these are called bisexuals. On their part, asexual are individuals who are not interested with sex both with the members of their own gender and even with members of a different gender (Waldner 314). When an individual is transitioning to adolescence, they constantly find themselves harboring sexual thoughts and attractions. For some adolescents, the feelings are usually intense and might confuse them. This can be true especially for individuals who might be having sexual feelings with individuals with the same sex as them. This often leaves them wondering whether they are gay. Given that adolescence is a period of transformation, it is important to understand that having sexual feeling towards people of the same sex does not necessarily mean that someone is gay just in the same manner that being sexually attracted to people of the other gender does not mea that they are straight. In essence, it is usual for adolescents to be attracted to people of the same gender as well as the opposite sex. This is one of the ways through which they sift through the arising sexual feelings. Considering that the adolescence period is also a time of experimentation, some young people might actually go further and experiment sexually with people of the same sex or of the opposite sex. These experiences by themselves do not determine the sexual orientation of an adolescent (Waldner 316). Over the last few years, psychologists have been trying hard to determine the role of adolescence in defining their sexual orientation. In trying to determine why some people end up gay and others straight, the American Psychological Association (APA) points out that sexual orientation incorporates numerous factors touching on biology, psychology as well as physiological factors. Most medical experts point out that no individual is born either gay or straight but that various factors influence this critical decision. This is something important to factor in when discussing about sexuality in adolescents since it is only in creating such an understanding that the issues affecting them in as far as sexuality can be addressed (Jolley 245). Sexuality and Adolescence From all the stages of the adolescence growth, the most extreme is the rise of sexual urge and the new and often inexplicable emotions that come along with them. One critical issue for both boys and girls in this stage is to try to reunite their sexuality with the other sides of self-perception, which is coming out without differences and stress. This is not easy to achieve in the modern society where the duties of the sexes are constantly transforming and an unfamiliar mixture of autonomy and prudishness has broadened. Ideally, the challenge is more intense for boys than girls since the urge among them is more pronounced and it is hard to ignore their intense feelings. For most girls at the onset of adolescence, it is usually easier to repress their sexual urge. For the girls, the urge comes in the form of other needs and once they are met, most of them find it easier to repress their sexual needs. During this period, most girls find it hard to repress their sexual urges unlike boys who often go ahead and gratify this urges. Despite the fundamental differences between boys and girls in as far as sexuality is concerned, most of the issues surrounding them are usually identical. Both of them are keen on knowing common issues such as copulation, pregnancy, birth control methods as well as sexually transmitted diseases. Boys and girls also want to understand how they can categorize sex within their frame of values so that they can be able to form meaningful relationships with members of the opposite sex or even the same sex. However, most adolescents lack the answers to their questions from a hypocritical society that they live in (Blake 955). During the early stages of dating, sex usually means petting. On average, boys start having sexual relations earlier than girls do but by the age of 17, more than 50% of boys and more than 25 % of girls will have had sexual intercourse while at the age of 18, 75% of boys and 50% of girls will have had sex. According to researchers, most adolescents today have more knowledge on sex as compared to their parents when they were at their age but they are more likely to lack control in sexual matters. Most adolescents continue seeking for a sexual relationship with a partner who would be special to them. Unfortunately, it is apparent that most of the sexual encounters of adolescents are defined by circumstances. In most cases, sex takes place without any happening and this is followed by the numerous unwanted pregnancies among adolescents. It is therefore ideal for parents to educate their children about contraceptives before they need them and not to wait until the adolescents are ready to use them. The problem with the information that the youth have on sexuality is that while most of them have to much information, very few of that information is accurate. In addition to this, the adolescents in the city get information on sex promptly as compared to their counterparts in the rural places. While most young people believe that they cannot get pregnant, the problem is that such unwanted pregnancies happen in a large scale every single year. Actually, teenage pregnancies are a worrying trend the world over. In most countries, teenage pregnancies constitute close to 8% of all recorded births and this percentage keeps on increasing each passing year. This trend is common especially in countries that do not have a sexual education program in their schools (Brown 42). According to researchers, the ability to beget children starts at the onset of menstruation. Given that this can happen as early as when a girl is 9 years old, then there is need for sexual education earlier than most people project. Most pregnancies are noticed at the onset of adolescence and pregnancies that take place later on during adolescence mostly end up in abortions as compared to aged mothers. It is critical that adolescents be informed about sexual matters and this should transcend the issue of contraceptives to even how to recognize pregnancy so that they can seek advice at an early age. In today’s society, majority of the adolescent mothers usually come from poor backgrounds. The reason for this trend might be that mothers from this background have very poor understanding on reproduction physiology and the use of contraceptives. In addition to this, adolescents from such poor backgrounds are not discouraged to engage in unprotected sex (Dhoundiyal & Venkatesh 743). Once a mother becomes pregnant, the focus shifts to how to ensure that the mother delivers safely. In most cases, pregnancy is accompanied by shame, fear, guilt and family flurry and might bring about depression in adolescents. In most cases, anger directed to the adolescent from family members might force her to seek for an abortion or even to leave the homestead. This is also accompanied by social stigma on the family as well as the youngster. This calls for psychosocial support for both the adolescent and the family (Diamond 241). The above scenario denotes that even though adolescents might be aware about contraceptives, most of them do not use them when they start engaging in sex. For most young people, the first sexual experience is unplanned for and therefore takes place without any form of protection. In most cases, adolescents are more fertile compared to mature women and this means that they are capable of getting pregnant even with a single sexual intercourse. Unlike mature mothers, adolescents who get pregnant often have to make painful choices all of which come with dire consequences. There is also need for the boy-father to examine these options. This calls for effective sexual education in order to enhance the knowledge that young people have on sex as this will bring down the number of abortions and unwanted pregnancies in the society (Carpenter 345). Sexual Education Health care givers, parents and teachers can attain better sexual information and education either by being involved in programs of societal interference and sensitization or within the school setting. The basic aim of social education is passing along information and applying it in the society’s way of life. Social education effectively prepares young people for adolescence and makes it possible for them to embrace the changes happening within them without being judgmental. Such education also aids adolescents in realizing the association between sexual life, making love and well as human relationships something that frees them from the possibility of fears, shame and guilt. Sexual education also aids young people in the harmonization of their own personality together with the existing views on sexuality. In a society that is overly engrossed with being independent, sexual education is also important in that it helps adolescents to make their individual emotional and sexual choices. This education is also significant in that it enables adolescents to respect the choices of their colleagues who take a different sexual orientation path. In the current society where people are more than willing to step the responsibilities, sexual education is critical in that it reinforces the importance of being responsible and respecting sexual relationships both within and outside the marriage institution. The absence of sexual education is largely to blame for the high levels of adolescent pregnancy as well the increase of sexually transmitted infections among the young people. The lack of sexual education is also to blame for the rising case of date rape as well as sexual abuse in learning institutions. It is sad to note that the minds of most young people have been conformed to think that it is okay for dating people to be harassed sexually. In the lack of adequate sexual education, most people are also unaware of the challenges of having sexual encounters during adolescence. Ideally, sexual education is not a simple thing especially for parents. For it to attain the intended purposes there is need for ideal and coordinate effort for all the parties that are involved in its execution. It is definite that sexual education forms a vital need (Ponton 56). Conclusion Sexuality is a physical and innate constituent of human nature and constitutes of an indivisible element of each person’s behavior, whether they are adolescents or mature people. It is a primary need and a part of human existence that no one can remove from the existence of man. Sexuality is what drives us to form meaningful relationships with other members of the society. Sexuality drives the human thought, feelings as well as sensitivities. Although most adolescents have some sort of sexual education, majority of them do not put such information into good use. This can be explained by the high increase of unwanted teenage pregnancies despite the numerous available that is on the public domain regarding the use of contraceptives. Although most of the young people have an access to such information, the challenge is that most of their initial sexual encounter is often unplanned and therefore it becomes hard to use contraceptives during such encounters. Unlike older women, young girls are usually more fertile and as such, they are more prone to becoming pregnant even with a single sexual encounter. Considering that most adolescent pregnancies lead to abortions, it is significant for the community to come up with ideal sexual education in order to ensure that young people make the right choices in as far as their sexuality is concerned. Given that most sexual orientation happen during the adolescent stage, offering sexual education will be ideal since it will enable the adolescents to understand the numerous changes within their bodies as well as to appreciate the choices of those who might assume a different orientation from theirs. Works Cited Blake, Stephen, et al. Condom availability program in Massachusetts high schools: Relationship with condom use and sexual behavior. Am J Public Health 93 (6): 2010: 955-962. Print. Brown, John. Mass media influences on sexuality. The Journal of Sex Research 39 (1): 2011, 42–45. Print. Carpenter, Lionel. Gender and the meaning and experience of virginity loss in the contemporary United States. Gender and Society 16: 2002. 345–365. Dhoundiyal, Manju & Venkatesh, Renuka. Knowledge regarding human sexuality among adolescent girls. The Indian Journal of Pediatrics 73 (8): 2006. 743-750. Print. Diamond, Laura. Sexual identity, attractions, and behavior among young sexual-minority women over a two-year period". Developmental Psychology 36 (2): 2000. 241–250. Print. Jolley, Stephen. Promoting teenage sexual health: An investigation into the knowledge, activities and perceptions of gynecology nurses. J Adv Nurs 36 (2): 2001: 245-265. Print. Ponton, Lynn. The Sex Lives of Teenagers. New York: Dutton, 2000. 56-70. Print. Renker, Patrick. Keep a blank face: I need to tell you what has been happening to me. Am J Matern Child Nurs 27 (2): 2010. 109-116. Print. Thompson, Jonathan. New safe sex ads target teens on the pull". Web. November 12, 2012. The Independent. Waldner, Haugrud. Homosexual identity expression among lesbian and gay adolescents: An analysis of perceived structural associations. Youth Society 27: 2009. 313–333. Print. Read More