1 in 4 Teenage Girls Has An STD

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Pearl

Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Joined
Dec 1, 2003
Messages
5,736
Location
NYC
CHICAGO (AP) - At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, or more than 3 million teens, according to the first study of its kind in this age group.

A virus that causes cervical cancer is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection in teen girls aged 14 to 19, while the highest overall prevalence is among black girls—nearly half the blacks studied had at least one STD. That rate compared with 20 percent among both whites and Mexican-American teens, the study from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

About half of the girls acknowledged ever having sex; among them, the rate was 40 percent. While some teens define sex as only intercourse, other types of intimate behavior including oral sex can spread some infections.

For many, the numbers likely seem "overwhelming because you're talking about nearly half of the sexually experienced teens at any one time having evidence of an STD," said Dr. Margaret Blythe, an adolescent medicine specialist at Indiana University School of Medicine and head of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on adolescence.


http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8VBB9D00&show_article=1

This is really sad.

I wonder if we should point the finger at the "abstinence only" programs that are not in touch with the reality that teens will experiment with sex - and the programs should focus on that, not deny it.
Also, where are the parents? Aren't they the ones who should be talking about safe sex with their children?
 
That is so depressing- my feeling is that it is due to many factors including parental involvement and sex ed (or lack thereof) and denial that some of these girls and boys live in.
 
A virus that causes cervical cancer is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection in teen girls aged 14 to 19

I'd like to know more about this, and when I have time I've been meaning to look it up, but if anyone has any summary let me know.

This seems to be a fairly new phenomenon. I grew up in what I would think is the height of the safe sex movement and I never remember any mention of this virus. Is this something that fairly recently has been linked to sex or is just something we know more about today?

I have a friend who got HPV that developed into cervical cancer. The scary thing is so far, there is no test for men(from my understanding). They both got tested before they got engaged and she thought she was in the clear.
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
Is this something that fairly recently has been linked to sex or is just something we know more about today?

No. This has been known for a very long time. In fact, there are HPV-infected cervical cancer cells from 1951 that are effectively immortal.

The reason why people are making mention of it now has everything to do with the arrival of the HPV vaccine (marketed as "cervical cancer vaccine" to placate religious fanatics). Prior to that, it wasn't mentioned, because it was just presumed that you'd get HPV sooner or later, having become sexually active. It is estimated that 80% of all people have HPV, with only a small fraction ever developing symptoms (i.e., warts), and an even smaller percentage of women from there getting cervical cancer from it. It was basically seen as "common" as Herpes Simplex I ("cold sores"), and just an unavoidable part of life.
 
melon said:


No. This has been known for a very long time. In fact, there are HPV-infected cervical cancer cells from 1951 that are effectively immortal.

The reason why people are making mention of it now has everything to do with the arrival of the HPV vaccine (marketed as "cervical cancer vaccine" to placate religious fanatics). Prior to that, it wasn't mentioned, because it was just presumed that you'd get HPV sooner or later, having become sexually active. It is estimated that 80% of all people have HPV, with only a small fraction ever developing symptoms (i.e., warts), and an even smaller percentage of women from there getting cervical cancer from it. It was basically seen as "common" as Herpes Simplex I ("cold sores"), and just an unavoidable part of life.

Thanks for the info... So has it always been included in STD studies such as this? Seems like it would really skew the numbers.
 
Damn looks as if i need to buy condoms now, how selfish of them.

But in all seriousness, these girls and anyone who has unprotected sex is playing russian roulette.
 
Pearl said:

This is really sad.

I wonder if we should point the finger at the "abstinence only" programs that are not in touch with the reality that teens will experiment with sex - and the programs should focus on that, not deny it.
Also, where are the parents? Aren't they the ones who should be talking about safe sex with their children?

Guess what the STD and pregnancy rates are among those "out-of-touch with reality" teenage girls that DO practice abstinence is?
 
Guess what percentage of overall teenage population is actually practicing abstinence?
That wasn't the point. The point is, that you cannot live that much disconnected from reality as to think that if you don't teach anything but abstinence mysteriously all those teenagers will follow you there. So it's your responsibility to make sure that they are staying healthy and know how to protect themselves, for you will not be able to prevent teenage sex from happening. No matter how much you pray.
 
Re: Re: 1 in 4 Teenage Girls Has An STD

INDY500 said:


Guess what the STD and pregnancy rates are among those "out-of-touch with reality" teenage girls that DO practice abstinence is?

You can't possibly think this response actually address the issues with abstinence only programs?
 
Re: Re: 1 in 4 Teenage Girls Has An STD

INDY500 said:


Guess what the STD and pregnancy rates are among those "out-of-touch with reality" teenage girls that DO practice abstinence is?



how was holding out until marriage? did you practice what you preach?

but, to answer your question, i bet it's 0% ... until they finally do have sex, and then get pregnant, and then get married, and then have another kid, and then get divorced at 27, and then the cycle continues ...
 
Re: Re: 1 in 4 Teenage Girls Has An STD

INDY500 said:
Guess what the STD and pregnancy rates are among those "out-of-touch with reality" teenage girls that DO practice abstinence is?

teenagers should not be having sex

but, abstinence is not all it is cracked up:huh:
to be

people that deny and repress their sexuality are "out of touch" with reality


and lead less than full lives
 
Re: Re: Re: 1 in 4 Teenage Girls Has An STD

deep said:


teenagers should not be having sex

but, abstinence is not all it is cracked up:huh:
to be

people that deny and repress their sexuality are "out of touch" with reality


and lead less than full lives

Yet, one would hope that humans have slightly more control over their urges than a leg-humping Scottish Terrier.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: 1 in 4 Teenage Girls Has An STD

INDY500 said:


Yet, one would hope that humans have slightly more control over their urges than a leg-humping Scottish Terrier.

Wow, you just go from one extreme to another don't you? I guess that way you never have to really address the issue.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: 1 in 4 Teenage Girls Has An STD

INDY500 said:


Yet, one would hope that humans have slightly more control over their urges than a leg-humping Scottish Terrier.


use a condom. every time. you'll be fine if you use it properly.

:shrug:

i do think it's a bad idea to have sex too early. i do think it's a bad idea to have sex in high school. i think irresponsible sex is a bad thing with occasionally enormous repercussions.

i think sex is a good thing. i think sex is part of a healthy romantic relationship between adults. but i don't think that there is only one place for sex, nor one purpose for sex. i think it's a part of the human experience, and it's repression -- which is different from control -- is a bad thing.
 
Last edited:
Beware of these kind of "statistics" - alot of the time they are released to shock and make news. It reminds me of the days that the press would say there was no difference in Aids transmission between Heterosexuals and Homosexuals (in North America) - this was simply false and no one ever got called on it.
 
Harry Vest said:
It reminds me of the days that the press would say there was no difference in Aids transmission between Heterosexuals and Homosexuals (in North America) - this was simply false and no one ever got called on it.



while i agree that the information seemed presented in a manner designed to shock -- your teenage daughters are sluts!!! -- what are you talking about here?

if you're talking about the transmission rates between heterosexuals and homosexuals -- which is to say, the likelihood that you will become infected with HIV should you have unprotected sex with a positive person -- then they are similar, in that vaginal sex and anal sex present a similar (though not equal) transmission risk.

and the risk of anal sex between two heteros or two homos is exactly the same. so it's not as if HIV is magically created when two men have sex, it's that HIV is sometimes passed between partners, and due to a variety of circumstance, gay men are at a greater risk for the disease.

but, anyway ...
 
DaveC said:
I call bullshit on this study.

I would be inclined to side with you. This number does seem to be very high. A pediatrician I once worked with calculated that, based on all the numbers that come out in various studies such a std rates, autism rates, etc, every American would have about 25 diseases each. It does seem like studies like these are designed to scare more than anything.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 1 in 4 Teenage Girls Has An STD

Irvine511 said:

i do think it's a bad idea to have sex too early. i do think it's a bad idea to have sex in high school. i think irresponsible sex is a bad thing with occasionally enormous repercussions.

i think sex is a good thing. i think sex is part of a healthy romantic relationship between adults. but i don't think that there is only one place for sex, nor one purpose for sex. i think it's a part of the human experience, and it's repression -- which is different from control -- is a bad thing.

100% agreement.

If only that was the message our culture was sending our children.

Beyond the physical consequences of pregnancy and STDs, there are the very real emotional and pressure related problems of sexualizing children at a younger and younger age.
 
Until the beginning of the 20th century at the age of 14, 15 you were practically an adult and in former times married not much later. The 20th century was an exception, not the rule, to the development of the youth.

That said, I agree that there is quite some amount of sexualisation in the media and the marketing, but entering puberty it is also normal for teenagers to develop a kind of natural interest in relationships and sex.
 
Romeo and Juliet

What does that have to do with the thread, Indy?
 
Back
Top Bottom