Rochford Community Church

Christians always seem negative about sexual freedom. Doesn't the trend of the last thirty years show that we are now a sexually free society with no problem?

THE average age at which teenagers first have sex has dropped to 16, its lowest recorded level, according to a comprehensive government-funded study of sexual habits in Britain . Final analysis of the data is expected to indicate that at least a third of teenagers are having sex before their 16th birthday - the legal age of consent.

School nurses addressing the Royal College of Nursing's annual congress gave a warning this week that there was evidence of growing hedonism among teenagers, including alarming new trends such as “daisy chaining” — where groups meet outside school to engage in sexual activities.

The National Health Service has acknowledged that girls as young as 13 were being given contraceptive injections and implants that make them infertile for three years.

If what is conveyed in the media is anything like reality, then we have a sexually free society. The above quotes suggest that in reality, more teenagers start a sexually active life earlier and once started there is every reason from the figures below, to suggest they continue.

The answer in a frightening measure is definitely not! We can view the ‘problems' as

In London, for instance, where statisticians gauge the nation's sexual health, cases of gonorrhoea have increased by 74 per cent in men and 75 per cent in women since 1995. Syphilis in men has risen by 211 per cent in the past three year; two thirds of those infections were in heterosexual men.

But it is chlamydia — an insidious bacterial infection that has few symptoms but can cause infertility and ectopic pregnancies in women if left untreated — that has seen the most frightening upsurge. Since 1995, the condition has been diagnosed in 87 per cent more women and 120 per cent more men, and it is thought that one person in ten is now infected, often without knowing it.

And here is the really scary bit: the rise is most virulent among girls aged 16 to 19, who recorded a 141 per cent rise and who face a possible future without children. One of the most tragic consequences of chlamydia is that it causes pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which can scar the Fallopian tubes for life.

A GROUP of Britons identified as the “promiscuous 10 per cent” for their multiple partners, precocious sexual behaviour and use of prostitutes are pushing the country into a sexual health crisis.

…STIs among teenagers have doubled in the past decade, with new cases among those under 20 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland up from 669,291 in 1991 to 1,332,910 in 2001. Chlamydia infection in teenage girls more than doubled in the same period.

One in 10 sexually active young women are now thought to be infected with chlamydia. New cases of syphilis increased by 37 per cent in 2003-04. About 7,000 people in Britain each year have HIV diagnosed.

Screening for chlamydia has found that, in the 16-24 age group, one in eight people is infected. There were 104,155 new cases in 2004.

HIV and syphilis are also showing increases, but remain relatively uncommon. Gonorrhoea and genital herpes registered small declines last year. Overall, 700,000 genital infections caused by sexual activity were recorded in 2004.

Despite Government education, teenage sex is equated with teenage pregnancy. In fact one article proclaimed, “Areas of the UL where the government has tried to reduce unwanted pregnancies are precisely the areas that have seen the fastest rises in unwanted teenage pregnancies"

England has the worst record for teenage pregnancies in Europe - the teenage birth rates are twice as high as Germany, three times as high as France and six times as high as the Netherlands.

About 8,000 girls aged 15 or younger become pregnant in England and Wales every year, one of the highest rates in Europe .

Britain 's teenage pregnancy rate is the highest in Europe. In 2002 there were 39,286 teen pregnancies recorded.

What all of these quotes are saying is that despite family planning education, teenage sexual activity in the UK results in far higher pregnancy rates that any other country in Europe .

about 40+% of under 18 pregnancies end in abortion we noted above.
with abortion there often come other health complications

the teenage life that should have been free to travel, work or gain education is now strictly limited.
the teenager with a child has more difficulty getting boyfriends.

So yes, we are a sexually free nation but no we are not problem free. In fact, to the contrary we have a major health problem which is concerning the government and health authorities generally. Some of the sexually transmitted diseases being passed on, may mean that the women/girls in question will be unable to have children in the years to come.

While the media portray free sex, largely as being problem-free, the truth is often otherwise.

The findings (of new research), show that while women did not condemn others who had casual sex, 90 per cent believed them to be wrong. Many believed that women couldn't have sex for their own pleasure outside of a committed relationship. They argued that women who have casual sex or one-night stands do it not because they are sexually liberalised, but because they have ‘lost control' on alcohol or drugs or because there is ‘something lacking' in their lives. They pitied these women and they saw it as deviant behaviour.

Note various interesting features of these findings of the beliefs of women generally in our society:

They don't condemn but believe them to be wrong – sounds like splitting hairs. 9 out of 10 women still believe casual sex is wrong.
Many believed that sexual pleasure should only be within a committed relationship
They see casual sex as deviant behaviour by those who have

either lost control of themselves or
have something lacking in their lives.

Can it be that people are waking up to the truth that God's design of one man with one woman, within a committed relationship, (we call marriage) is actually the best deal?

If you're not sure about it, scroll back up the page and read the quotes again. Let the facts hit you and then think some more.

Difficult Questions?