Analysis Of The Illusion Of Unique Invulnerability

1: Discuss an example from the video of a sport/event where changing concepts of race and social access have influenced who participates in a sport. Discuss another example (from your own knowledge or news) where economics, social conditions, tradition, or stereotypes have led to disparities in participation in particular sports?

In the 1960s and early 1970s, more unmarried women who became pregnant decided not to get married. As more teenage mothers remained single, public concern increased. Teen pregnancies were, often presented as a medical problem to be, treated with more access to clinics, birth control and abortion. There was a shift from viewing teen pregnancy as a moral problem to that of seeing it as a psychological or health problem (Adams, 1997).

During 1920s, U.S. schools began to incorporate sex education to their courses. A 2002 study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that “58% of secondary school principals describe their sex education curriculum as comprehensive programs provide factual information about birth control, sexual transmitted disease, and continue the message to children about waiting to have sex.” (Johannah)

In Quindlen’s essay she talks about when she was sitting in a clinic in the poorest neighborhood in New York City. She sat with a group of young teenagers who amazed her with their knowledge of sexuality. Quindlen talks about someone mentioning the thought that sex education in school would lower or prevent teen pregnancy, but students will do whatever they want to do. Even though it is good to teach young teenagers about sex and possible risk of the act, it could create confusion in students, wondering the class is teaching them about contraceptives or abstinence. The essay explains how half dozen young teenage girls show off that they are having sex, getting pregnant, and having babies.

Chapter eight of The Way We Never Were by Stephanie Coontz focuses on sexual reproduction in the United States. In this chapter, Coontz claims that the root cause of higher sexual reproduction rates in teenagers in the past rather than now is a result of cultural changes and advances in technology such as birth control and other mechanisms that prevent unwanted pregnancy.

Women no longer wanted to have unwanted babies, or be “tied down”. They no longer felt that their only calling in life was to be a mother, and if it was they wanted to choose when they were going to be mothers. “Margaret Sanger, a New York nurse, led a movement to enable women to control their pregnancies with her American Birth Control League. This let women explore their sexuality without having to concern themselves with unwanted babies” (Bowles, 2011).

Sex education for American youth has been a topic of discussion across the nation since the early 1980s. Teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease are two major problems throughout the U.S.. Sexually transmitted infections have been an ongoing problem for American people since World War I. To combat the growing teen pregnancy and STI rates, the U.S. established organized sex education. Since sex education has been integrated in schools across the nation, it has been heavily influenced by religion. The federal government has funded abstinence-only education programs for over a quarter century. Abstinence-only

This study must be considered with hesitation due to the small sample size, as well as the reality that certain generations and age groups may be more inclined to lie about having had sex or not than others. Around the same period, sex with prostitutes declined over 50 percent between 1900 and 1910. Due to the first sexual revolution of the twentieth century, young men were more likely to have their first sexual encounter with a girlfriend rather than a prostitute. This increased the need for the general population to have knowledge of and access to birth control methods. Margaret Sanger claimed in 1914 that upper-middle-class women, promiscuous girls, and prostitutes rarely become pregnant because they know how to prevent conception. However, lower middle-class women lack knowledge of birth control methods and it was cheaper to give birth than have an abortion even if they knew that they would be financially unable to care for the new child. During this time, sex manuals expanded couples’ knowledge of sexual techniques and greater access to birth control allowed couples to explore their sexuality further.

This led to a sexual revolution. The was because of the greater freedom of the pill. The women;s movement and Supreme Court decision to make explicit books more availible. Movies also became more explicit. By the 1970’s the spreqda of benereal diseases and AIDs caused many young people to avoid casual relations. By the 80’s there an emphasis on virginity and celibacy. The dominant trends of independence, freedom, the consumer markey and wealth in youth culture remained. Pop music, fashion, smoking and drugs continued to be the expressions of youth cutlure. By now, the collaps of consensus was in full swing; the next development would be that of a counter-culture.

A topic in American society that has proved to be an ongoing, and growing issue is that none other than teen pregnancy. In recent years, teen pregnancy rates have been increasing, which ultimately led to the topics increase of public and media attention. In American society teen pregnancy is often associated with negligence, as well as being irresponsible. In American society sex education for children is underdeveloped and instead society tends to use fear and shame to highlight/combat the dangers of unsafe or underage sex. American society uses fear to instill the idea that if you become pregnant as a teenager you are a burden to society. Along with fear society loves to shame its young women who have unfortunately stumbled upon the

In the early 90’s, studies have shown that teen pregnancies occur on a regularly basis and has been severely increasing (Newsweek: Birth rates in U.S, 1991-96). As a result, this brings out a wrong impression of women to society.

"Contraception could, simultaneously, unleash female sexuality from repression, uplift sexual experience into mystical communion, and rid humanity of poverty and deformity." (Woloch 363)

Positive illusions are unrealistic, biased attitudes that individuals have about themselves and towards other individuals, normally close friends or family members. Positive illusions is “a perception that represents what is perceived in a way different from the way it is in reality. An illusion is a false mental image or conception which may be a misinterpretation of a real appearance or may be something imagined. It may be pleasing, harmless or even useful (Stein, 1982, p 662). The more positive illusions the higher self-esteem an individual has. It should be noted that positive illusions are more common in western countries than other parts of the world. Research has found that positive illusions promote a better mental health.

Many teenagers are now becoming parents these days. In fact, from the ages of 15-19, there were 249,078 babies born in the United States. (1) Many of these unwanted pregnancies can be prevented with the help sexual education. Yes, in some schools there is sexual education. But, if it was in every school many of these could have possibly been prevented. At the school I attend, sexual education is not offered. We are faced with several unwanted pregnancies, and with sexual education, I think these could be prevented.

One viewpoint that has surfaced is that testing is a preventive measure for young pregnancies. Virginity testing can be seen as a preventive stage for young girls from having intercourse early and becoming pregnant. Those who condone testing of virginity may believe it is laying down the law and showing how discouraging sex before marriage is. It’s the idea of bringing fear to the young individuals and burning the ideas of what may come if they have intercourse at such an early age. The usage of this strong-arm tactic may be useful because without instilling fear the amount of single teen