(Do you want to avoid these?)
1. Worries about Pregnancy and AIDS
For many sexually active young people, the fear of becoming pregnant or getting AIDS is a major emotional stress. Russell Henke, health education coordinator in Montgomery County, Maryland says,
"I see kids going to the nurse's office in schools, crying a day after their first sexual experience, and wanting to be tested for AIDS. They have done it, and now they are terrified. For some of them, that's enough. They say, "I don't want to have to go through that experience anymore."
A high school girl told a nurse:
"I see some of my friends buying home pregnancy tests, and they are so worried and so distracted every month, afraid that they might be pregnant. It's a relief to me to be a virgin."
2. Deep Regrets
Girls, especially, need to know in advance the sharp regret that so many young women feel after becoming sexually involved.
Says one high school girl:
"I get upset when I see my friends losing their virginity to some guy they've just met. Later, after the guy's dumped them, they come to me and say, "I wish I hadn't done it." A ninth-grade girl who slept with eight boys in junior high says, "I'm young, but I feel old."
Girls are more vulnerable than boys because girls are more likely to think of sex as a way to "show you care." They're more likely to see sex as a sign of commitment in the relationship.
If a girl expects a sexual interlude to be loving, she may very well feel cheated and used when the boy doesn't show a greater romantic interest after the event. As one 15-year-old girl describes her experience: "I didn't expect the guy to marry me, but I never expected him to avoid me in school."
He dropped Sandy after sex . . .
Bob Bartlett, who teaches a freshman sexuality class in a Richfield, Minn., high school, shares the following story of regret on the part of one of his students whom we'll call "Sandy" . . .
Sandy, a bright and pretty