Essay Rough Draft

Adolescent Sexuality

Although parents and other adults often seek to shelter adolescents from sexuality, this approach typically backfires and causes adolescents to explore sexuality without knowing important information about the dangers of what they are doing. It also leads the adolescent into rebellion against their parents, usually in a sexual nature. An example of this situation can be seen in the American book Charlotte Temple. However, parents who are open about sexuality seem to have children who grow up well rounded and without any major sexual or emotional issues. An example of this can be seen in the Judy Blume book, Forever. Furthermore, the typical American teenager is a blending between the old school way of thinking and parenting and the more progressive way of parenting. With high school health class being of litter to no help what-so-ever. As for my own personal experience, I believe that it more closely resembles Katherine’s experience from Forever more so then it does Charlotte from Charlotte Temple. My experience is an example of how literature has changed to reflect more current times.

The story Charlotte Temple, written by Susanna Rowson in 1791, is an example of societies past views on teenage sexuality. Charlotte is a total innocent, a picture of perfection. I doubt that she even knew exactly what sex was before LaRue pushed her into a relationship with Montraville. She trusts Mademoiselle LaRue implicitly, since she is an authority figure and Charlotte has never been placed in a position to mistrust or question an adult. The story goes on to have Charlotte leave England and her family due to her relationship with Montraville, explore sex, become pregnant, get betrayed by Montraville, and eventually die. The story, however tragic, is an example of the societal views of Rowson’s time. People were more proper and terrible things happened to women who disobeyed their parents. The only socially acceptable way to have an intimate relationship was through marriage. I don’t believe that Charlotte intends to be rebellious, nor does Rowson portray her in that way. She is simply a victim of circumstance, and that is way readers embraced the story. People felt bad for Charlotte, and hopefully learned from her mistakes to prevent their own misfortune.

The novel Forever, is the polar opposite of Charlotte Temple. It provides the teen reader with an often criticized liberal view of teen sexuality. The moral of the story being, it’s ok to have sex as long as you’re responsible about it. The main character Katherine, has family and friends who all discuss teenage sexuality regularly. Her grandmother encourages her to obtain extra information by attending a session at Planned Parenthood, and her boyfriend Michael, is supportive of her decision to wait awhile before having sex. The characters in the story do experience misfortune, but not directly. They observe the situation of other teens, particularly one who becomes pregnant, and a boy who is exploring his sexual orientation. Judy Blume’s Forever is an example of an extremely liberal viewpoint, and although Katherine is highly responsible, some parents of teens refuse to acknowledge that sexuality is going to happen, and that they can actually help their teen do the responsible thing. In my opinion it is close-minded parents like these that have children who experience “tragedy”. Maybe not to the extent of Charlotte Temple, which resulted in death, but in other ways like pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases. Sarah Palin is a prime example of this conservative type of parent.

The novels Charlotte Temple, and Forever represent the two polar opposite ends of teenage sexuality. Today those polar opposites still exist, and schools have been pushed to take the place of parents in informing teens about the dangers of sexuality. Unfortunately, this system is biased due to politics. Schools can educate students about sexually transmitted diseases, and can scare them with videos of pregnancy and birth, but that is as far as teachers can go. Students aren’t given pertinent information like how to protect themselves from these monster STD’s, they are only taught abstinence, which is extremely unrealistic. There are multiple problems with the current system. One is that students take health class as a joke. Nobody pays attention because the information doesn’t relate to them. Another problem with our current system is that teens tend to “teach” each other the random and often inaccurate information about sex that they have learned from other teens. It’s like a gigantic game of telephone with everyone losing because they are misinformed.
The family is rarely as perfect as the Danzingers in Forever. Most parents either won’t talk about safe sex and healthy relationships, or simply forbid relationships altogether. One of two outcomes happen to these teens. They either rebel and sexual relationships move to quickly, sometimes ending in STD’s, sexual abuse, or pregnancy. Or they make it through their teen years safely and nothing bad happens.
My own experience is more like Forever then it is Charlotte Temple. I didn’t end up a teen mom, or with an STD, or abused and scarred for life, but I also had a parent who didn’t really talk to me so much about sex. The absence of discussion was ok because I was one of those rare kids who actually paid attention to the minimal information presented in health class. Also my mother didn’t forbid relationships or make me feel guilty for having completely natural feelings. She allowed me to date, and was tolerant when the guys I dated were sometime kind of alternative. My rebellion was minimal, although I’m sure I came close to pushing her limits with the guy who had blue spiky hair and a few piercings. Despite all of this I came out alright. I had a few relationships in high school, and none of them ended so terribly. I’m sure if I had wanted to talk to her about it my mother would have listened and helped as best she could, but I was pretty responsible. I’ve seen my fair share of irresponsible teens, who end up in bad situations. During my time at John Carroll I experienced the stereotypical catholic girl gone wild. The girls there had generally been oppressed during their early teen years and went hog wild as soon as they left their parents homes. Binge drinking to the point of alcohol poisoning, sexual promiscuity, and extremely provocative dress was a typical friday night there. It’s due to this observation that I think its important to present more then just abstinence as an option in high school health. Knowing how to take care of yourself and that you have options is a huge factor in teenage sexual responsibility.
In conclusion I think the parents and their parenting style is the biggest factor in the outcome of a persons teen years in regards to sexuality. After parental input the schools have to update and modernize their teachings in regards to sexual health. I doubt this will happen because of religious views on the subject. It’s a shame because religion shouldn’t be a factor in public education. Schools may not have prayers or teach creationism, but religion has reached out and totally influenced what can be taught in health. Parents and education are important, but in the end its up to the actual teen how they will manage their own sexual experiences.