Elections Today
- Pennsylvania
Recent Projections
| State | Candidate | Delegates |
|---|---|---|
 Donald Trump | ||
Pennsylvania |  Joe Biden |
Are American Teens Having Safe Sex?
March 8 -- At 17, Yesenia Myasonee has seen five of her school friends get pregnant in the past two years — and that's not counting the six "acquaintances," as she calls them, who also had to take brief school breaks to have their babies.
An articulate, preternaturally bright senior at South High Community School, Worcester, Mass., Myasonee also volunteers at a local youth organization that attempts to raise awareness of safe sex issues.
And though she's conscious of the importance of safe sexual practices, she's also aware that many of her pals display alarming propensities to indulge in risky sexual behavior.
Recalling her failed attempts to get some of them to use contraception, Myasonee is characteristically blunt. "I call them dumb," she says, referring to her friends who use neither condoms nor birth control pills. "I can only push so far, but I can't hold their hands."
From school grades, college admissions and career choices to erratic dates, dwindling pocket money and stubborn acne, American teenagers have a lot to be anxious about. What they do not seem to be significantly concerned about though, is safe sex and the risks of sexually transmitted diseases.
According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teenagers and young adults account for nearly half the cases of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States, although they make up just a quarter of the sexually active population.
In the first extensive national estimate of STDs, including HIV, among young Americans, the study found that of the 18.9 million new STD cases that occurred in 2000, 9.1 million were among persons aged 15-24.
Invulnerable And in Denial
On the one hand, the alarmingly high number of STD cases can be attributed to recent improvements in screening and detection methods. On the other, the disproportionately high rate of sexual infections among young Americans is a result of a complex stew of social, cultural and political forces that has been simmering in recent years.
