Sunday, September 5, 2010

Premarital sex

Premarital Sex: sex before marriage


By: Karl Demy C. De los Santos

           Most young people are willing to engage in premarital sex. Even though the Bible greatly condemns sex before marriage and it brings a lot of problems. But why do many people engage in premarital sex? Do they know that it brings a lot of problems? In the Philippines, according to surveys, about 80 percent of unmarried women and about 90 percent unmarried men have experience sexual intercourse. And with this, a lot of problems occur in the community. Premarital sex is becoming a problem in the Philippines.


Premarital sex is one of the problems not only our country is facing today but all through the world. Most who engage in it are young people. Young people are adventurous and would like to experience something new. One of the reasons why they engage in premarital sex is due to CURIOSITY. Like what Miriam S. Tumangday said in his article “What about premarital sex?” that it mostly happens to young people who wonder about sex. Wondering about sex would be related in experiencing it. It is a little wonder that parents are often reluctant to discuss sex with their teenage children. Most people who engage in premarital sex are hesitant to talk about love and sex to their parents. Another reason is PEER INFLUENCE. People today especially the youths are easily influence by friends. But eventually, rates of premarital sex are somewhat lower in college students, involving about 77 percent of male students and 64 percent of female students (Zelnick et al., 1979). In United States, research shows that teenage girls who are influenced by peer groups than parents are likely become premaritally pregnant while those who have remained virgins tend to see themselves unattractive but are more successful academically and occupationally (Bily and Udry, 1985). On the contrary, in the Health Action Information Network’s research, it shows that most common reason for engaging in premarital sex is not curiosity, peer pressure, or adventurism. It is quite simply, LOVE. But love is not about sex as what Amy Bemboom said in her article “Pregnant at 16”. It seems that when a couple is in love, sex is one way of expressing their love to each other and the sex that occurs is not equated with condoms or other forms of protection. This enters the risks of engaging on premarital sex.

Engaging in premarital sex brings a lot of trouble. Just as what Nancy Van Pelt’s book “The Compleat Courtship” discusses. In the book, Nancy points out 10 facts about the disadvantages of sex before marriage. That it tends to break up couples. It may result to light-to-severe guilt feelings. It destroys virginity of a person. It gives risk of pregnancy. It can result in sexually transmitted diseases. It may harm or destroy a reputation. It may cause one of the partners to lose respect for the other. It destroys the true meaning of honeymoon. It tends to be habit-forming. And lastly, it erodes a relationship to God. With this, we can see that truly premarital sex will not bring any good to us. Therefore, we should abstain from it and I hope we realize those disadvantages. We’re not just keeping ourselves safe but also we’re helping to solve one of the problems that our country is facing today.

No comments:

Post a Comment