Published: June 26, 2008 06:25 pm      

America’s sexual illiteracy problem needs immediate attention

When a 15-year-old girl at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts discovered she was pregnant earlier this year, she apparently displayed no trace of fear or concern.

Shown the results of her pregnancy test, she allegedly responded: “Sweet!” She then rushed off to tell her friends, some of whom were either already with child or hoping to get that way.

Whether this is the actual case, or not, is beside the point.

The notion that girls — as young as 15 — might deliberately try to become pregnant has not only embarrassed school and health officials, but also has ignited a storm of controversy around the country.

And it proves one thing: When it comes to sex in America, we are a nation of illiterates.

Why is the recent Massachusetts teen pregnancy revelation so frightening to the average citizen — let alone average parent?

Is it because the so-called sexual revolution that started in the 1960s (and ushered in an age of recreational sex) has changed sexual attitudes, practices and knowledge more than anything since Adam and Eve?

Is it because the apparent sexual upheaval affects everyone?

You can blame it on bad morals, bad movies, bad music, bad friends, bad parents or just plain bad kids — the results are still the same: The era of permissiveness in which we now live is probably the most profound period of sexual exploitation that has occurred in human history.

And though sex is recognized as a vital function — as important to the body as eating, sleeping and elimination — it was only about 200 years ago that scientists first learned how babies are made.

They discovered that sperm penetrated an egg to fertilize it.

Later, Alfred Kinsey’s monumental surveys of male and female sexual practices in the 1940s and ’50s brought sex out of the closet. His reports provided relief for millions who found that they were not perverted; other people were doing the things they were doing.

But the sexual revolution has a dark side, which some clinical observers fear could lead to some backlash against the gains made in recent decades to free people from their neurotic phobias and sexual anxieties.

The downside of sexual promiscuity includes:

- An epidemic of teenage pregnancy with more than 1 million teenagers getting pregnant every single year. Nearly half end in abortion, but more than a third result in illegitimate births, with a majority of single mothers launching a life of dependency.

- Sexually transmitted diseases, formerly called venereal diseases, afflict more than 15 million Americans annually.

And there’s more: Nearly 15 million unmarried teenagers are sexually active in this country, including girls age 15 through 19, and most of their parents don’t know it or don’t want to know.

The disparity between widespread adolescent sexual activity and the blinders worn by most parents and adults has created a generation gap of unprecedented proportions, not to mention a phenomenon that has made sex and its consequences the No. 1 health problem of teenage girls in America.

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The U.S., meanwhile, has entered an era where premarital sex, once condemned by society, has become the norm. One recent poll showed that half of all 17-year-olds are sexually active and that only one in three sexually active adolescents practice effective contraception.

Adolescent sexual activity is more prevalent now than at any other time in American history. We have the highest rates of teen pregnancy, abortion and deliveries among industrialized nations of the world.

The U.S., in fact, is the only industrialized nation where adolescent pregnancy is increasing. So what can be done about it?

Perhaps it’s time for parents and teachers and community leaders to step in and say enough is enough. We have the information at our fingertips; why not use it in a productive educational manner?

People who have been sticking their heads in the sand over the issue of sex education just got a jolt from the Massachusetts teen pregnancy incident.

Perhaps it’s time for realistic sex education to become part of our new “meaningful and relevant 21st century curriculum.”

After all, it isn’t like teenagers haven’t already heard of it.

If teens are going to make it in the real world, they need to have sufficient mental apparatus to navigate a minefield of sexual misinformation and half truths. A first step is to take on the predatory sexual illiteracy that is plundering the lives of our young people.

If we can do that quickly: “Sweet!”

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Top o’ the morning!

— Blankenship is a columnist for The Register-Herald.

E-mail: jabbb@suddenlink.net