Maintaining sexual health entails more than just the absence of sexual diseases or other problems. The first step to maintaining your sexual health and those of young adult children is to educate them at an early age in order to satisfy their curiosity.
This will facilitate their awareness of what is going on in their bodies during the adolescent years and prevent them from being led astray by their natural curiosity. As adults it is everyone’s responsibility to take precautions in their sexual encounters if one is sexually active. No one can assume or be held responsible for anyone else’s lifestyle choices.
The AIDS Problem
It is up to every individual to look after his own sexual health and in the case of the Indian man, due to our culture his family’s health too depends on his choices. Tragically in each and every case of the occurrence of AIDS among Indian women, other than those transmitted by blood transfusions, their husbands are the cause of their contracting HIV, with the exception of sex- workers.
India is a patriarchal society and is these circumstances the women are left carrying the burden of struggling to bring up the family, and later after they develop the disease too, literally going through hell in this way.
Unorganized sectors like construction and transport, where men travel for the better part of their working life, are currently at the highest risk for contracting AIDS in India. Such fields, with their illiterate and semi literate workers are primarily responsible for the spread of AIDS and other communicable diseases in India.
Men tend to think of the momentary pleasures rather than staying faithful to their wives or even their own health. This habit of indiscriminate sexual encounters results in STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) like Chlamydia and AIDS bringing heartache to themselves and their families. And the problem is confounded when one considers the abysmal levels of awareness of STDs and taking precautions against them amongst these people.
Sexual Health Information for Children
As parents it is your duty to talk to your children in their childhood in order to nurture the communication lines which are essential when they hit adolescence. This will encourage them to come to you with any problems they face as teenagers and young adults.
There is plenty of misinformation out there and predators waiting to prey on young and confused children. You should ensure that you know your adolescent’s friends lest they fall into wrong friendships and are led astray. In developing countries, the children become easy targets for predators like paedophiles (a person who is sexually attracted to children). So the parents should ensure that they answer their child’s questions regarding their budding sexuality and help the young adolescent to come to you to talk freely with confidence and ease. Check out Top 10 Myths About Sex That Teenagers Fall For.
Sexual Responsibility and Adulthood
In the case of those moving away from home and living alone when they start to earn, their new freedom encourages them to spread their wings in more ways than one. With freedom should come responsibility; otherwise very soon they will find themselves abusing that freedom and paying the price.
Sexually irresponsible behaviour can lead you to take too many chances with your life and in later years when you develop deadly diseases, it is not just you’ll who suffer but your poor kith and kin too.
You should never engage in sexual intercourse without using a condom; it is the nest best thing to protect yourself from STDs and unwanted pregnancies other than abstaining. Get to know your sexual partner and her sexual history before embarking on an affair. If you are honest, your partner too will be encouraged to be honest. In today’s world of diseases spreading like endemics, it is each individual for themselves. So think before you jump on the sexual wagon.
Pay attention to your body. Our bodies know themselves best, and if we don’t abuse them too much, they can still run diagnostics and tell us what is wrong with them. If you are self-aware you can enjoy very safe sexual experiences without a second though. According to the CDC, sexual awareness can address the problem of teenage pregnancy very effectively.
