Assignment 1: Personal Reflection

Khadijah Abdallah
May 26, 2010
Pubh209.19: Adolescent Health Promotion

Assignment 1: Personal Reflection:
In your opinion; What Barriers do Teens Face to Healthy Sexuality?

The answer to this question can be broad-based or very narrow. Furthermore, it differs from region to region, country to country, and different teens face different issues all over the world. More specifically though, I think one of the issues faced by teens in the use is the need for a more mature outlook on the issue. This means that teens are constantly bombarded with ‘adult’ topics at a very young age without necessarily being taught the deeper nature of sexuality and the importance of not viewing it in a light-hearted manner. In other words, sex is glamorized, and that is a phenomenon that can be attributed to the pop culture that teens are exposed to, despite the censoring that goes on in the media these days. This is a concern in the sense that teens might not be aware of how important it is to approach the issue with seriousness before embarking on any decision; whether it be getting pregnant, becoming intimate with someone, becoming sexually active at a young age, etc. As someone mentioned the other day in class, these TV shows that idealize teen pregnancy may be a fundamental contributor to the problem. Personally, I have met high-school teenagers; smart, straight-A students who willingly became pregnant, and for various reasons such as seeing how happy their friends were, or believing that they were ready for it without understanding the physical, mental, and financial challenges that accompany such a decision. That then suggests a lack of strong role modeling for these teens in their lives, and raises the concern that one blameworthy party is the educational system, which may not be approaching the issue correctly. Otherwise, had school education on this topic been a success story, then clearly teens would not be facing any problems. Unfortunately, though, that is not the case. Thus, a balance must be reached such that students/teens become more interested in absorbing and applying what is being taught to them at schools. The manner to resolving this issue, though, is another discussion, and not one that can easily be answered.