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Doomed to repeat - if not exceed - the failures of their previous generations, the youth of today are spreading sexually transmitted diseases at an alarming rate, the LA Times reported yesterday.
In fact the next time a college girl giggles when, in the heat of the moment, you pull her hair and call her a dirty dirty girl - the joke might be on you, holmes.
About 1 million Californians between the ages of 15 and 24 had an STD in 2005, LA county researchers said, summarizing what they have learned from a new study. Los Angeles county had the largest number of new infections with 361,876. San Diego County had 85,523, San Bernardino had 75,606 and Orange County had 53,566, the Times said. The cost of treating that many new infections is about $1 billion.
"We were expecting high numbers . . . even to us," said epidemiologist Petra Jerman of the Public Health Institute in Oakland, who led the new study reported in the California Journal of Health Promotion. "It is clear we are living in the dark about how common STDs are and how many kids acquire them in a given year."Here at LAist we know that some of our readers are between the ages of 15 and 24, if not younger.The report also highlights the large number of new cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea -- which are associated with HIV and are considered to be among the most serious STDs -- among people age 15 to 24, said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
"It's really disturbing that we have not been able to make more progress with that," he said. "We don't have young people using protection when they are having sex." - LA Times
So here are some tips from us to you, since we're much much older, and you don't want to make the mistakes that we, uh, have heard about.
By "we" I mean me, this is my advice for young people who participate in sex.
Use a condom every time you have sex. Even if you love the person. Even if they're hot or cute or claim to be a virgin.
If someone complains that the sex is no good with the condom, either you two are doing it wrong or you two aren't meant for each other.
Also realize that people have been known to lie about things, particularly when it comes to sexual practices and partners. And believe it or not but some people might be embarrassed by their sexual history and condition - likewise some might be ignorant to it. Get tested frequently and require your partners to do the same.
Yes you can trust your sweetie, but unless you've exchanged vows, learn how to rock the condom. Every time. Practice makes perfect and this should be something that's fun to practice.
Some may huff and puff but if you hold your ground they will respect you for being clean and safe and smart and want to bone you that much more. If not they're dumbshits and you should really reconsider why you want them on top of you.
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Yes you can trust your sweetie, but unless you've exchanged vows, learn how to rock the condom.
Uh, thanks for the advice, Grandma.
Seriously, though, this particular piece of advice is quite outdated as monogamy is not exactly the monopoly of the married. Exchanging vows is hardly proof of anything; it is simply a civil contract, and one that has nothing to do with extra-marital sex. STDs can happen with or without a vow.
This advice also reeks of (inadvertent) heteronormativity: remember, not everyone can "exchange vows" with their sexual partner in the legal sense!
just because some dont acknowledge some types of marriages doesnt mean that i dont.
Guess that abstainence only education is real effective, huh.
When I was a teenager, it was drilled into my head that AIDS = death, because at the time, it was true. So us kids of the 80s had a pretty decent understanding of these things. I don't think kids are getting the same amount of information about this stuff any more, particularly with the federal government being taken over by theocrats.
A condom won't keep you safe. Folks these days are getting pregnant, let alone an STD, even when using one.
Learn how to not give into your carnal desires so much.
Learn how to enjoy an orgasm by yourself.
Learn the benefits of monogamy and fidelity.
Learn how to keep your thoughts higher.
The most retarded thing is that whenever one talks about the value of abstinence and keeping one's dick in check, they get branded everything from "religious" or even "homophobic".
Meanwhile there are no cures in the works for these new forms of STDs, and with less and less young people have any form of medical insurance they have only themselves to blame.
you want people to stop having sex because there are a few out there who dont understand how to use condoms and somehow get pregnant?
yeah no thanks.
About 5 years ago this girl I was seeing, in the heat of the moment, told me not to wear protection because she wanted to feel me...well...let's say I caught something.
Thank god it was curable but sometimes I think about how that brief moment of thought could have affected the rest of my life. What if she had AIDS, what if she got pregnant ?
This is shit I rather not think about but hell, it can easily happen.