Modern Day Monster – STD Health Essay

We thought Beowulf had some serious monsters in it, but that was just in a book. The real scary monsters are the ones that penetrate the pages and are involved in everyday life. Some contemporary monsters do not seem as dangerous as they are which in reality makes them more of a threat because we are much more vulnerable to what we are unaware of. Sex is a contemporary monster; it preys on ignorant young children, teens especially, and can affect the rest of their lives, adding babies and problematic relationships to the mix. The attack is the fact that people have rushed into and become stuck in a situation that they cannot control because they were not ready or prepared for the extremes that can come along with participating in sex. There are ways to prevent sex from being so dangerous but it includes education and open talking from an adult figure which, shown in many studies, is not available to every child everywhere. (Carr, Teen Sex Statistics) Not exactly sex, but the ignorance that many people enter sex with, is dangerous.

Since the beginning of time, people have felt pressure to take part in sexual activities, even Adam and Eve had to feel some pressure. Now sex is another way in which people discriminate against or harm each other. Every year, teen girls get overly and sexually involved with boys. Some of these relationships work out but sometimes the sex and seriousness of these relationships bond teenage girls to emotionally and physically abusive relationships, endangering the teen girls. (Carr, Teen Sex Statistics) Sex at an early age has also caused teens to be more open about having sex and demand it of their peers. In a perfect world there would be no sex before marriage and therefore, whether or not a teen “puts out” would not be important, but realistically, whether or not a person chooses to participate in sex can be the sole reason that people choose to talk to or date them, which is why sex can be socially endangering.

There are a great number of children having sex. In most cases, both sexual partners are unaware of how seriously they are involving themselves with the other person. In fact, they only know the facts that they have heard through friends and entertaining media. From such unchecked sources, it is easy to hear the most ridiculous rumors and believe them as fact if you have not heard otherwise. Personally, I have heard a range of talk about sex, as extreme as you cannot get pregnant your first time to having sex orally is harmless, and much more. Surprisingly, those myths do not inform the listeners that the outcome of unprotected sex can be pregnancy or of sexually transmitted diseases that can harm your body. There are a number of sexually transmitted diseases that can kill body functions or even the person they are transmitted to. Simply sex, especially when the parties are unprepared and unprotected, leads to much bigger things like herpes, AIDS, syphilis and other hurtful processes the body must go through as a result, for example, child birth or abortion.

Recently, the number of teens being sexually active has sky rocketed. Statistics show that at least fifty percent of teens are sexually active and more are getting involved in sexual actives everyday. (McCash, Message to My Daughters) Due to George Bush’s policies, sexual education in schools must preach abstinence, which is useless to children who are already sexually active which many children are by the time they enter high school. (Langer, Abstinence Only)

Furthermore, I know from experience, sexual education is not always taken seriously by the teens it is given to. Teens especially, need to learn how to protect themselves if they are having sex, because the sexual unawareness is what endangers the young minds that involve themselves in sexual deeds. Teens need to know, sex may be harmful to anyone who commits to it before they know all the facts about sex and are sure that they are ready with the right person for the right reason. They also need to know that there are laws about sex and performing any type of sexual activity before the state regulated age is a crime and can be punished to the furthest extent of the law. (Langer, Abstinence Only)

Sex is a contemporary monster. It is something people are forced to do or deal with everyday and it has serious and sometimes fatal consequences. Sex is not looked at as a monster, making it much easier for sex to attack because people are deceived into thinking it is safe and harmless. The ignorance is dangerous because it can add to the risks of sexually active people to conceive unplanned pregnancies, engage in abusive relationships, and contract sexually transmitted diseases. Do the monsters of Beowulf seem so scary now?