Children between the age of 14 and 18 are faced with a great deal of pressure to grow up practically over night. They are still following a structure in their formal education that leaves them powerless to make the smallest decisions like where to sit, when to speak, and how to comport themselves. In their less structured, “free time,” they are struggling with transitional issues of jobs, careers, diet, exercise, home, family, drinking, drugging, philosophy, religion, etc. In the midst of all of this, and of the greatest impact is, the pressure surrounding sexual relationships. The cultural traditions we grew up with and encourage for today’s youth to go out and test the waters and find yourself through experimental dating are beyond risky, they are down right out-moded and dangerous.
I advocate for more group oriented activities and the return of chaperoning until people are grown up enough to understand and accept the responsibility of an adult sexual relationship. I hold the males responsible for their physical power and force in these circumstances, females responsible for provokee behavior in that regard, and I hold their lazy butt parents responsible for any neglect in supervision. Date rapes would not be occurring in these circumstances if everyone was owning up to their responsibility, or if we began to sanction everyone who should be held responsible in such situations. |
