1. Sexual Feelings + Relationships
Chapter 24

2. Sexual Feelings
During your teen years, hormones can cause teens to experience a variety of new feelings.
Sexual feelings are related to this release of hormones.
Your body reacts in a variety of ways.
Hot, flushed face.
Heart beats faster
Fluttery feeling in stomach
You have no control over these feelings.
You do have complete control over what you do about them.
Being physically attracted to someone and being in love are not the same thing.
Infatuation can feel like love.
Love develops over time and results from shared values and goals.

3. Teens and High-Risk Behavior
The choice to become sexually active during your teen years carries enormous consequences.
Unplanned pregnancy can interfere with your future goals and dreams.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases have lifelong consequences.
Peer pressure is one of the biggest influences to becoming sexually active.
For females, becoming sexually active may make them feel grown up.
For males, it makes them feel macho, or important.
Are you ready to handle the consequences of early sexual activity?

4. Consequences of Teen Sex
Pregnancy and STDs are some of the risks, but not all of the risks.
In some states it is illegal for adult males and females to engage in sexual activity with anyone under the age of 18, if the two aren’t married.
Possible consequences: jail time and branded as a sex offender.
Potential complications during childbirth due to the fact that the female’s body may not be mature enough for a healthy pregnancy.
The cervix of a younger teen is thin and underdeveloped.
This can threaten the life of the mother and baby.
Other problems include conflicts with family and friends, a feeling of commitment to your partner (spending an inordinate amount of time with your partner and neglecting friends and family, other relationships, and interests).

6. Making the Healthy Choice
Abstinence is the only 100% effective guarantee against unintended pregnancy and STDs.
A contraceptive is a birth control device. It acts as a barrier to prevent sperm cells from fertilizing eggs.
A condom is a thin sheath that is placed on an erect penis to catch semen when the male ejaculates.
It must be used according to instructions on the package.
A spermicide is a chemical that kills sperm.
Most effective when used with another form of contraception.

7. Making the Healthy Choice
Prescription Contraceptives
Oral contraceptives, birth control pills, prevent ovulation or affect the lining of the uterus so that it cannot support and nourish a fertilized egg.
Contain female hormones and must be taken everyday.
A Diaphragm is a dome-shaped rubber cup placed within the vagina that covers the cervix, blocking sperm from entering the uterus.
Used with a spermicide for added protection.

8. Making the Healthy Choice
Injections of female hormones, similar to the pill, and are effective for three months.
This helps eliminate the “forgetfulness” of pills.
Implants consist of six match-stick-like capsules inserted under the skin in the female’s upper arm.
The capsules are effective for five years.

9. Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment is unwanted an unwelcome sexual attention.
Can take place anywhere, occur to anyone, both males and females can be harassed or either can be the harasser.
Sexual harassment includes any of the following actions:
Making sexual comments, gestures, or looks.
Touching, pinching, or grabbing.
Leaning over or cornering.
Sending obscene letters, sexual notes, pictures, or graffiti.
Pressuring another person to do something sexual.
Refusing to accept a “no” when asking for a date.
Consequences of sexual harassment include:
Fear, poor self-image, depression, and skipping school to avoid the harassment.
File a complaint, the school must investigate the harassment.

11. Teen Pregnancy Each year nearly one million teens become pregnant.
85% are unintentional.
Teens who are pregnant need to take action.
Find someone to talk to. This could be difficult.
Tell your partner. He should tell his parents.
Seek a health professional and begin prenatal care. This increases the likelihood of a healthy baby.

12. Diversity in Relationships
Sexuality is part of your personality.
Your sexuality is influenced by the way you feel about yourself.
Adolescence is a time when your sexual feelings emerge.
These feelings are normal and healthy.
Sexual feelings are also important for the reproductive process.
You need to learn to recognize them and respond in a healthful way.
Hormones are chemical substances produced in certain glands in the body.
Hormones cause the body to respond to sexual feelings.
These changes are normal and outside of your control.
It can be difficult to make a responsible decision when you have strong feelings.
For that reason alone, it is a good idea to set limits on expressing affection.

13. Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation is part of a person’s personality and defines the way he or she is attracted to others.
A few of the most common labels people use to describe sexual orientation and gender identity are as follows:
Homosexual describes an individual who is sexually attracted to people of the same gender.
Bisexual describes an individual who is sexually attracted to people of both genders.
Heterosexual describes an individual who is attracted to people of the opposite gender.
Intersexual describes an individual who was born with both male and female characteristics.
Transgender describes individuals whose gender identity differs from others of their gender.
Questioning describes an individual who questions their own identity and orientation.
LGBTQ is a common acronym meaning lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning.

14. Gender and Gender Identity
Gender identification describes the biological traits of a person.
Sexual orientation describes the gender to whom a person is attracted.
Sexual activity will not help a teen discover his or her orientation.
Your orientation is part of you and how you feel. Behavior is what you do.
Gender and gender identification common terms:
Sex describes the biological sex traits of the human body.
Transgender is a general term describing an individual whose gender identity differs from that of his or her biological traits.
Intersex is a term that describes a variety of conditions in which a person’s reproductive or sexual anatomy seems to be different.

15. Questioning Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity
Teen years are especially difficult because of the number of changes every teenager experiences.
A teen who is also questioning his or her sexual identity faces a tremendous amount of pressure and stress.
They feel concerned whether friends and family will accept them.
Teens who have questions about their sexual orientation should consider speaking to a counselor.

16. Coming Out
Coming out refers to recognizing yourself or telling others that you are LGBTQ.
Some LGBTQ people report that they began feeling different at an early age.
A person who experiences these feelings is the only person who to tell and when to tell others.
No one should pressure someone to come out before he or she is ready.
Coming out is a personal decision.
Carefully consider who to tell.
Define the reasons why you want to come out.
Avoid coming out when you or another person is angry.
Avoid coming out to a person who may physically hurt you.
Avoid telling someone who may tease you or tell others without your permission.
Be prepared for the possibility that the other person may be surprised and say things that he or she later regrets.
The Trevor Project operates a free, 24-hour, 7-day-a-week hotline for LGBTQ youth
All calls are confidential and taken by trained professionals

17. Dating
Many dating relationships end because one or both people develop new interests.
This is normal, still rejection is painful.
It is a good idea to wait until you feel comfortable to begin dating.
No one should feel pressured to date, it is OK to say no.
Be kind when saying “no”. Avoid hurting the person’s feelings.
Your parents or guardians can help you decide at what age dating is best.

18. Making Decisions about Sexual Activity
It is important to set limits regarding sexual activity.
Engaging in sexual activity raises the risk for getting STDs and becoming pregnant.
Physical attraction is not the same thing as being in love.
You do not have to engage in sexual activity to show affection.
Show attraction and affection by holding hands, hugging, kissing, enjoying activities together, and getting to know and understand each other while practicing abstinence.
Most teens practice abstinence.
Group dating can reduce the pressure to become sexually active.

19. Risks of Sexual Activity
Factors that contribute to teen sexual activity include:
A lack of medical information;
Drug and alcohol use;
Negative peer pressure;
Images of sex in the media.
The Physical Risks:
Pregnancy;
Quit school, have to work/find a job, risks due to the teen body still growing and maturing, and babies tend to have a low birth weight.
STDs
Including some that can cause sterility or even kill you.

20. Marriage Vows
Marriage is one of the biggest commitments two people can make.
A commitment is a promise or a pledge.
The major responsibilities of marriage include:
Caring for another person;
Respecting the other person’s needs and desires;
Acting in a trustworthy way;
Working at all times to make the relationship stronger.
A good marriage needs good communication skills, emotional maturity, and shared values and interests.

21. Why Some People Marry/Divorce
“In Love”, the reason why most people marry.
This is a key ingredient, but it is not enough on it’s own.
Scientists have studied relationships and find that emotional maturity is a key factor to a lasting marriage.
Emotionally mature people are generally able to deal with their emotional needs in healthy ways.
Divorce is a legal action that dissolves a marriage.
More than half of all marriages today end in divorce.
Divorce is not easy on the people involved.
It brings many changes.
Breaking up a family and splitting up a household.
For a child, one parent leaves.
At some point a divorced parent may decide to remarry.
Becoming part of a new family.
Stepparent
Stepbrothers/Stepsisters.
Financial difficulties are not uncommon.
Children sometimes blames themselves.
Divorce happens because adults are not able to resolve their differences.
Good communication is a key to happy lives after divorce.

22. Teen Marriage Teens marry for many reasons.
Pregnancy is the most common.
Married teens give up other interests for marriage.
School activities, sports, hanging out with friends.
This creates unhappiness.
Many wish they weren’t married.
Often drop out of school.
Well paying jobs are harder to find.
Financial problems make teen marriages more difficult.
Marrying because of an unplanned pregnancy.
Multiple stresses as a couple.
Caring for the baby is expensive.
One or both parents will have to work to earn enough income to care for a family.

23. Parenthood
Parenting is 24/7, it pays no salary, and requires many skills.
Both parents must become teacher, counselor, supervisor, nurse, cook, and role models.
Parents are responsible for:
Food;
Shelter;
Rest;
Protection from harm;
Clothing;
Medical care.
Parents must meet children’s emotional needs.
Love, attention, support, and encouragement.
Good nurturing can help a child develop their own identity, self-respect, and a healthy sense of independence.

24. The Strain of Teen Parenthood
Teen parents have many responsibilities:
Attend school;
Homework;
Care for the baby;
Work a job.
All of this puts strain on relationships with other family members and usually will cost you your friendships.
Most teens lack the knowledge, skills, emotional maturity, and financial resources required of parenting.
Guys, you are financially responsible for your child until they are age 20.
Safe Surrender, or Safe Haven laws make it possible for a parent to leave an infant in a safe place without the risk of being charged with abandonment.
Teen parents should seek help from a trusted adult or trained counselor to learn to manage emotions that result from surrendering a child.

25. Conception
The difference between conception and pregnancy: Conception is what happens when one sperm penetrates the egg in the outer edge of the fallopian tube.; When the fertilized egg implants in the uterine lining, that’s pregnancy.

26. Pregnancy

27. Pregnancy
During pregnancy, a female should see a doctor regularly to check the health of the developing baby as well as ensure the health of the mother.
An embryo is the developing organism from fertilization to about the eighth week of its development.

28. Pregnancy
A fetus is the developing organism from the end of the eighth week until birth (about 9 months).

29. Pregnancy and Giving Birth
The body of the mother-to-be provides the unborn baby with food and oxygen from the placenta, a thick, rich lining that builds up along the wall of the uterus.
The umbilical cord is a cord arising from the navel that connects the fetus with the placenta.

30. Birth Birth occurs in three stages:
Stage One: the mother begins to feel contractions, or when the muscles in the uterus begin to squeeze and release gently.
Stage Two: the cervix continues to dilate, preparing for the baby to pass through.
Stage Three: Once the baby is born, the placenta is no longer needed. The uterus continues to contract until the placenta is pushed out.

31. Care for the Pregnant Woman
Prenatal care consists of steps taken to provide for the health of a pregnant woman and her unborn baby.
Prenatal means before birth.
The mother needs this care due to the rapidly changing pregnant body.
Prenatal care includes the following:
Making regular visits to the doctor;
Eating nutritious food;
Getting enough rest;
Avoiding the use of tobacco, alcohol, and all drugs not prescribed by the doctor.
Often a doctor will prescribe vitamins or supplements.
Folic acid has been shown to reduce the likelihood of birth defects in infants.

32. Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are communicable health problems passed from one person to anther through sexual contact.
Anyone who is sexually active runs the risk of becoming infected..
13 million people become infected with STDs each year.
66% of these people are teens and young adults.
Many people, especially teens, do not seek help when they think they have an STD. They hope the disease will just go away.
STDs left untreated can do serious harm.
Sterility, blindness, deafness, heart disease, cancer, brain damage, and even death.
Sometimes STDs may have no obvious signs or symptoms.
This means it can be passed on without knowing of the infection.
Some symptoms go away to only come back later.
The only treatment for an STD, is to see a doctor.

33. Types of STDs Chlamydia is the most common of all bacterial STDs.
It is not uncommon to have no symptoms present.
Signs are burning during urination and unusual fluid discharge from the penis or vagina.
If left untreated, chlamydia can cause serious damage to the reproductive organ.
In females chlamydia may also lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), the most common cause of sterility in women.
It can also be passed to an unborn baby.
Genital Warts are small growths or bumps that form on the genitals.
One million new infections each year.
If left untreated, it grows in clusters that look like cauliflower.
More than 100 strains of human papillomavirus (HPV).
Several of these have been linked to cervical and genital cancers.
In 2009 two vaccines that prevent many of the cancers caused by HPV were introduced.

34. Types of STDs
Genital herpes is an incurable STD caused by the herpes simplex virus.
Signs are painful, itchy sores and blisters in the genital area.
Sores usually vanish in 2-3 weeks.
Symptoms may return again and again.
There is no cure.
There is medicine to reduce the frequency of outbreaks.
The virus can be transmitted without having sexual intercourse and even when the sores are not present.
Trichomoniasis is an STD caused by the protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis.
Symptoms include vaginal discharge, discomfort during urination, and irritation or itching in the genital area. Some people have no symptoms.
It can be treated and cured with medications.

35. Types of STDs
Pubic lice are insects that infect a person’s genital area.
Also known as “crabs”.
Symptoms are itching in the genital area and crawling insects that are visible to the naked eye. They are highly contagious.
Treated with medicated shampoo and prescription lotion.
Gonorrhea is an STD caused by bacteria that live mostly in the male’s urethra and the female’s vagina.
Symptoms include a yellowish discharge and burning during urination.
Males also get swollen lymph glands in the groin.
Females experience abnormal menstrual cycles and abdominal pain. PID is also a possibility and problems during pregnancy.
If left untreated it can affect other parts of the body to include the joints and heart.
Fertility problems are also a concern.
Treatment used to be penicillin, now other antibiotics may be needed.

36. Types of STDs
Syphilis used to be a serious health concern among sexually active people.
Incidences have been declining in recent years.
One of the most damaging of all STDs.
Symptoms include first stage painless sores at the place of infection and swollen lymph glands. Second stage the bacteria can cause a severe rash.
Damage can occur in many organs and the brain.
Causes mental disorders, heart problems, blindness, and death.
If discovered in the first or second stage, syphilis can be cured with antibiotics.
Hepatitis B is caused by a virus that affects the liver.
Symptoms include fatigue, abdominal pain, vomiting, joint pain, and loss of appetite.
Transmitted sexually, by sharing contaminated needles, and by an infected mother to her baby during delivery.
Incurable, yet in some cases, adults who acquire the disease can fully recover. It can also cause lifelong problems.
There is a vaccine that can prevent the transmission of Hepatitis B.
It is routinely given to children from birth to age 18.

37. Types of STDs
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is the virus that causes AIDS. AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a disease that interferes with the body’s ability to fight infection.
Once in the blood, HIV breaks down the immune system.
In the final stage of infection, the body cannot fight of diseases.
HIV is spread through specific bodily fluids such as semen, vaginal fluid, blood, and breast milk.
The following activities can spread HIV:
Engaging in sexual activity with skin-to-skin contact with an infected person.
Using a contaminated needle while getting a tattoo, body piercing, or when using illegal drugs through an injection.
A female can transmit HIV to her baby during childbirth or through her breast milk.
You cannot spread HIV by: shaking hands, using personal items, being in the same area as an infected person, donating blood, or being bitten by a mosquito that has bitten an infected person.

38. HIV Diagnosis and treatment:
Your body produces antibodies to fight HIV when it enters the body. HIV can be diagnosed with a test that looks for those antibodies.
In most people, it takes 25 days for the antibodies to develop. For others, it takes 6 months or longer.
Due to advances in science today, infected people live longer healthier lives.
Many of these drugs are expensive and have side effects.
Scientists are working on a vaccine.
Progress is slow due to the several forms of HIV.
No one dies of AIDS, they die from opportunistic diseases.
AIDS defining opportunistic illnesses are diseases that would not harm a person with a healthy immune system.
A blood test is the only way to determine if a person is infected with HIV and it has progressed to AIDS.

39. Avoiding STDS and HIV/AIDS
Becoming infected with an STD or HIV can lead to serious health problems.
Abstinence is the only sure way of avoiding infection.
Using a condom can lessen the risk, but will not eliminate the risk.
Injection drugs are drugs injected directly into the muscle or blood stream with a needle.
Sharing a needle is a high risk behavior for potential infection of a variety of deadly blood borne pathogens to include HIV.
Be responsible. Being sexually active requires accepting adult responsibilities.
Talk openly to your partner and ask about past relationships. Some people may not be honest about their past experiences.
Avoid multiple sex partners. Studies show that people who have more than one sex partner are at a greater risk of infection. Seek a relationship with one person and then remain faithful.
Avoid high-risk sex, anal sex. Delicate blood vessels in the rectum rupture easily, thus increase the chances of a blood borne pathogen.
Use a latex condom to lessen the risk of getting an STD or becoming infected with a blood borne pathogen. Condoms do not eliminate the risk.