new internationalist
issue 158 - April 1986
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Is it normal? Illustrations: KORKY PAUL |
.for children to be interested in sex?
6 WAYS SEX IN CHILDREN IS SUPPRESSED
1. SEPARATION
2. SHAME Advert
3. SILENCE
4. FEAR
5. MUTILATION
6. SECRECY |
.for women to love women and men to love men? When people are young their closest friends are usually children of the same sex: girls play with girls and boys with boys. They share secrets, hug one another, fight and tease and tickle each other. So it is not surprising that some girls want to have sex with girls and some boys want to have sex with boys. · One in ten women have had sex with another woman, according to surveys of women in the UK and the US. · Two out of five men have had sex with another man, according to surveys in the US. Advert |
.for people to have sex by themselves? 'Masturbation' is a very long word for a very simple thing: touching your genitals for pleasure. Sometimes the pleasure is just mild and comforting. But sometimes your caresses will lead to a whoosh of strong pleasure that is called an 'orgasm'. When a boy reaches puberty a teaspoonful of whitish liquid called semen usually comes out of his penis when he has an orgasm. But young boys have orgasms without semen coming out. A lot of people have their first orgasms by touching themselves. It is a good way of learning what kinds of caress you like best.
WHEN DO WE START?
HOW DO WE DO IT?
WHAT DOES AN ORGASM FEEL LIKE? arousal - tingling, tense, delicious, hot, intense, swelling. peak - explosion, release, sudden, overflow. contractions - throbbing, waves, spasms, shudders, vibrations, in men this is when the semen comes out in little spurts. |
WARNING! If you are planning to have sex with someone for the first time do stop and think about it carefully first Is it really what you want? Lots of young people - especially girls - are pressurised into having sex before they feel they are ready. If you're not sure whether you're being pressurised, try this test: imagine what would happen if you said 'no'. If saying 'no' means you'll be laughed at, or rejected, or threatened, or hurt in some way, then you may be having sex forced on you against your will. If you've tried the 'no' test and you're still not sure it you want to have sex, do try to find an understanding adult to talk to about it. |
.for adults to have sex with children?
One family in four contains a girl who has been sexually abused - i.e. raped or caressed sexually as though she were a grown woman - by an adult man, often her father. This estimate comes from research in Australia, the UK, the US, Egypt, India and Israel. Often the experience is so frightening and upsetting that the girl finds it difficult to enjoy sex afterwards and finds it hard to trust any man in the future. Having sex with a child against his or her will is rape or sexual assault. But adults often touch young people without their permission. This is a kind of assault too. You have the right...
1. ...to say 'NO!'
2.... to privacy
3.... to protection
4.... to knowledge
5.... to contraception
6.... to say 'YES' |