Teach Your Children Well

Arm them with knowledge that prevents sexually transmitted disease
When I grew up, pregnancy and diseases that were easily cured by a hot in the arm were the main consequences of casual sex. My sons, however, are growing up in an entirely different world—one where the consequences of casual sex can be an incurable disease or even death.

Just as the times have changed, so should we alter what we teach our children about sex. By all means, we should tell them the ultimate truth: The only safe sex is no sex. But that alone isn't enough.

Abstinence, although admirable, is far from universal. Two-thirds of the 12 million new cases of sexually transmitted disease each year occur in people under 25, and a quarter of them are in teenagers.

There are a variety of reasons for this epidemic among young people. Some are biological: Teenage women, for example, are more likely than older women to become infected because their immune systems are immature.

But most of the causes boil down to lack of knowledge. Few adults, let alone teenagers, fully understand the risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease.

When Ohio State researchers surveyed people about the effect of having multiple sexual partners on exposure to HIV, only a quarter of the respondents accurately calculated exposure. They failed to recognize that having additional partners increases risk exponentially, because those partners likely also have had a similar number of partners. Therefore, having six partners is not twice as risky as having three; it's actually close to 10 times more risky. In fact, having sex with nine different people leads to exposure to 511 possible HIV carriers.

Young people also show their ignorance by the birth-control methods they choose. Among sexually active teenagers, 45 percent use birth control pills, which offer no protection against disease. Only 27 percent use condoms, the most effective protection. And 22 percent use nothing at all!

Is it any wonder that as many as 29 percent of sexually active teenage girls have chlamydia, a disease with few initial symptoms that can lead to chronic pain, pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility?

As fathers, we need to convey to our children the real risks involved in sex, teach them how to eliminate (or at least minimize) that risk, and encourage them to get help if they think they may have been exposed.

Don't put it off. What we used to call a one-night stand can now last a lifetime.