As a sexual health doctor the recent visit of the Pope made me angry for an obvious number of reasons. In rebellion I want to announce that the 26th September this year is World Contraception Day and we should all mark it. It’s not a day I expect many to have ever heard of, and it is perhaps considered a little too Hallmark for some, but given the statistic that approximately a third of the 205 million pregnancies that occur each year worldwide are unplanned, the need for such a day can be clearly seen. To mark the event a multi-national survey looking at attitudes towards contraception has been undertaken. The results are depressing although pretty unsurprising. They highlight a significant disconnect between what young people know they should be doing for contraception, and what they are actually doing in their day to day lives. It also shows that highly unreliable contraceptive methods, such as the ‘withdrawal method’ are still being viewed as effective by almost a third of young people. Perhaps most depressing of all is the news that that the highest reported rates of STIs are found among young people aged between 15 and 24. Nearly half report that they prioritize personal hygiene, including showering, waxing and applying perfume, above contraception, and teens in the UK reported that the reason why they failed to use condoms was because they were often too drunk to remember.
Straight from the school of the bleeding obvious, this apparently earth-shattering revelation that the appalling STI and pregnancy rates amongst UK teenagers maybe linked to the significant increase in binge drinking observed over the last few years has grabbed headlines but I find it truly hard to believe that no one has made this observation before. Experts quite rightly describe the findings as alarming, but disagree over whether the solution lies in providing more contraception or better efforts to rein in binge drinking. I think improving sex education would be a better starting place, by including more focus on relationships, feelings, emotions, confidence and respect. The British media could also do a lot to help, by stopping its prudish campaign of being deliberately and mischievously resolved to undermine any sexual health/education initiative aimed at helping young people and their parents. I can but dream. I personally find the results alarming because sadly I cannot now see a truly effective solution actually being implemented. The problem is that until the government addresses its ludicrously hypocritical drug and alcohol laws things are only likely to get worse. Making legal (and, let’s be honest, frankly encouraging the use of) the one drug that causes considerable self-destructive behaviour and affects judgement in the way that alcohol does is absurd. It gives such a confused message to our young people that I weep for the future. Yes, alcohol is responsible for many a condomless encounter because that is the one property of alcohol that we most embrace –its ability to make us relax and forget. Teens are no more going to stop drinking than the Catholic Church is going to repeal some of its insane views on sex and contraception.
Straight from the school of the bleeding obvious, this apparently earth-shattering revelation that the appalling STI and pregnancy rates amongst UK teenagers maybe linked to the significant increase in binge drinking observed over the last few years has grabbed headlines but I find it truly hard to believe that no one has made this observation before. Experts quite rightly describe the findings as alarming, but disagree over whether the solution lies in providing more contraception or better efforts to rein in binge drinking. I think improving sex education would be a better starting place, by including more focus on relationships, feelings, emotions, confidence and respect. The British media could also do a lot to help, by stopping its prudish campaign of being deliberately and mischievously resolved to undermine any sexual health/education initiative aimed at helping young people and their parents. I can but dream. I personally find the results alarming because sadly I cannot now see a truly effective solution actually being implemented. The problem is that until the government addresses its ludicrously hypocritical drug and alcohol laws things are only likely to get worse. Making legal (and, let’s be honest, frankly encouraging the use of) the one drug that causes considerable self-destructive behaviour and affects judgement in the way that alcohol does is absurd. It gives such a confused message to our young people that I weep for the future. Yes, alcohol is responsible for many a condomless encounter because that is the one property of alcohol that we most embrace –its ability to make us relax and forget. Teens are no more going to stop drinking than the Catholic Church is going to repeal some of its insane views on sex and contraception.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteSexual health is a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well being related to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity.
moridia