TRACK2MEDIA-Shukrawar teenage Sex Survey

11th May, 2010

For teenagers life revolves around sex, so it seems. Home, schools, colleges, public places- here, there, everywhere. Lack of privacy and opportunity may deter them but definitely not the morality or the much-hyped sex education programmes. Yet, sex and sexuality remains one of the most enduring topics on growing up that is shrouded in mystery, intrigue and fantasy. The advent of technology may have added fuel to the fire, but the teenagers from small towns with relatively less access to the modern tools are no different. While the parents and teachers seem to have failed to become friend, philosopher and guide, sharing and caring comes with the peer group on sexual fantasies. Still, sex, or discussing sex, continues to remain a social taboo with a generation that attains early adulthood with sky high aspirations. In a country with great tradition of storytelling where children listen with rapt attention tales of gods and kings who had several wives and sired many children, it sounds like an oxymoron.

A comprehensive survey on teenage sex by TRACK2MEDIA Consulting for weekly newsmagazine Shukrawar in ten cities-Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Patna, Kanpur, Allahabad and Indore—has thrown up interesting results. The survey results have important lessons for parents, educationists and social scientists as paradigms have changed. If earlier it was pre-marital sex, today it is about teenage and pre-teen sex as with early puberty comes the risk of early adultery. It is all about the rush to attain adulthood in an age of information explosion where pressures of keeping up with peers are immense.

Facts suggest more about the teenage sexuality than what collective consciousness is ready to believe. 36 per cent of the 2000 teenagers polled for survey claimed to be sexually active. Among the sexually active teenagers 69 per cent teenagers actually had it by the time they were 15 years of age. More boys than girls experienced any form of sexually activity. As against 46 per cent boys, it is 26 per cent girls admitted to be sexually active.

In many instances, it is often a case of ambition getting ahead of a child’s physical and emotional growth. It is a syndrome where the children’s world revolves only around fantasies of the glamour world. It is a growing and dangerous social phenomenon. The survey showed that among the sexually active teenagers 69 per cent teenagers actually had it by the time they were 15 years of age. The survey showed that nearly half of the teenagers who got into sex had no proper place for the act. Only 12 per cent teenagers feel sexual intimacy before marriage is immoral, 6 per cent withheld their opinion, while 82 per cent are comfortable with pre marital sex. A substantial 33 per cent of the teenagers believe sex is fun and it is ok even if the couple are not truly in love.

With both parents working, youngsters are given a lot of money to make up for the lost time. With money to spend, company to be sought, teenagers and easy access to free content in Internet has only led to a sharp rise in early teenage sex as fantasies run wild. These young adults are, however, not apologetic about such casual sex and seem to be much more practical than earlier generations. The teenagers are not just asking them to be allowed to have a choice, they are making the choices too; often behind the parents’ back when not being allowed to. There are obvious pitfalls of such early hormonal rushes too, and in some cases scars are forever.

Most of the teenagers seem to deplore obsessive love and 65 per cent don’t think one should be seriously involved to have sex. A substantial 68 per cent teenager is not at all possessive about their partners. The minority 10 per cent who are extremely possessive about the girl friend/boy friend and often hit the headlines for sex related crimes are fast learning the ways of the world.

The survey showed that friends are also the ones to share sexual fantasies and boasting sexual encounters. While 68 per cent share sexual fantasies with friends, 77 per cent even lie to boast of their sexual encounters. It reflects that sexual encounters are the parameters to judge ones standing in the peer group. But 52 per cent of the teenagers blame peer group for manipulating them into sex.

Boasting of fake sexual encounters has also become common, lest somebody feels left behind. 77 per cent teenagers across the cities admitted to boast of their sex lives. This is one result that parents, teachers and social scientists worth take note of. Among the sexually active teenagers 35 per cent are not sure about birth control, and 65 per cent had unsafe sex at least once; even though 79 per cent of them are aware about sexually transmitted diseases.

But how relevant are the schools’ sex education programmes? Prevention is better than cure. But this may not be the best formula for a country with a high incidence of child marriages and teenage pregnancies. One of the most acute problems that India is facing or rather struggling with is that India has as many as three million cases of patients suffering from AIDS or have tested positive for HIV and out of them a considerable number of cases are in the age group of 20 to 30 years.

This startling fact not only burdens us with the problem of redeeming them from the maladies of AIDS, but also entails us with the additional problem of preventing the spread of this dreaded disease to the other sections of the society.
Sex education has been introduced in many states, but success has not been anything to drive home about.

Given our relative ignorance of matters sexual, the benefits of a nationwide comprehensive sex education programme are immense. In the survey 91 per cent respondents said they are not comfortable discussing sex related matters with parents, and 88 per cent say they would not confide in parents if they have a sex related problem.

About three-fourth respondents felt that children should be warned about “Good Touch and Bad Touch” by the age of 12. While 82 per cent teenagers feel sex should be considered a normal part of life, 77 per cent advocated open discussion on the issue within the family. Importantly, 72 per cent think modern living any way lacks privacy and sex lives of family members are all too obvious. Only 12 per cent of the respondents felt sexual intimacy before marriage is immoral, while 82 per cent are comfortable with pre marital sex.

As much as 68 per cent treat of the survey’s respondents treat sex as important or very important part of their lives, and 55 per cent have no qualms about sex with an older partner. Early sex or no early sex, the fact is that 92 per cent are not ready to accept that these sexual encounters ruin their career prospects or future married life. And 79 per cent of the teenagers admit to have fallen in love with their teachers. Stories of students having a crush on a teacher are not uncommon. Remember Shah Rukh Khan in Main Hoon Na?

There are others who would not mind sleeping with an older partner as commercial transaction. If you thought teenage sex was limited to glitzy urban metropolises, think again. Among the sexually active teenagers 39 per cent of the respondents were from tier-II cities, 34 per cent from tier-I cities and 27 per cent from tier-III cities. According to the survey sexual activity is the highest in Ahmedabad (47 per cent) and lowest in Kanpur (19 per cent).

With children being no longer uncomfortable about sex, it is only natural that parents are getting nervous. As the survey shows, its time policy makers, educationists, medical practitioners and the larger society wakes up to the emerging realities. The reality, however, is that the educationists themselves lack quality education as far as dealing with the teenage sexuality is concerned.