Safe Sex Methods Part 1

Introduction

Sexual exploration and sexual activity are starting to become more prevalent in younger ages in the current generation. With the oversexed society that we live in today, the simple truth of the matter is that teenagers are going to be exposed to sex at younger ages and for that reason plans need to be made for when teenagers inevitably decide to have sex one way or the other and whether to use condoms or not. There are many plans that can be put in place either for prevention or for dealing with sex and one of those plans is known as the safe sex approach. The safe sex approach is built around a number of different potential methods that can be used and for that reason it has really become the most popular method for sex education in the world today. With multiple methods to choose from, each person can pick the one that they feel would be best for them in their current life situation.

Method #1: Abstinence
One of the most controversial methods of safe sex that is utilized today is simply the method of abstinence. This is not really a safe sex method when you consider that the basic premise of this method is to avoid sex until a point in time where the consequences or potential consequences can be dealt with appropriately, but at the same time it needs to be discussed in any safe sex discussion for the simple reason that abstinence remains the most taught method around as far as sex education is concerned. The argument made by proponents of this method is that abstinence is the only sure fire method for birth control and to avoid sexually transmitted diseases. This is technically true since sex is avoided entirely and with other methods a 100% success rate is a theoretical impossibility, but studies have shown repeatedly that for practical terms, there are many other safe sex methods that are just as good as abstinence that allow teenagers to explore their natural sexual impulses.

Method #2: Monogamy
When teenagers are engaging in sexual relations, there is the impulse on the part of many teenagers to attempt to do this with more than one partner at the same time. Why this impulse exists is a question for sociologists to tackle, but scientists can already show with startling clarity that multiple sexual relationships at once increases the chance for a negative side effect such as a sexually transmitted disease. AIDS in particular is a disease that has been shown to have logarithmic increases in the transmission as the number of sexual partners gets larger. For this reason, one reasonably smart alternative to abstinence is monogamy. Monogamy means having just one sexual partner at a time and it is the foundation for the deeper and more meaningful relationships that tend to develop around sex as well. While it too is not really a safe sex method in the modern sense of the word, it is nonetheless taught as such in most of the sex education classes that do not deal with abstinence.