Sex. It is natural. Although it may seem like everyone is doing it, that may not be the case. More than half, 54.4 percent, of all students in high school have reported that they are not having sex. Even among teenagers who have been labeled “sexually active” only two out of five actually are having sex. The 54.4 percent of students who are not having sex represents only a little more than half, so even though not EVERYONE is doing it, a lot of teenagers are.
Why are so many people so eager to get rid of what should be held so dear; their virginity? Some people hold their virginity so close because of religious reasons and others just cherish it because of personal preferences. Jacqueline Sadberry, a junior English major, states, “Before I really knew God it was a personal preference, because in my family having sex was not really tolerated. My mom said, ‘you get married and then have kids’ not the other way around,’ and when I started to get to know God I said it’s just the right thing to do, that’s what God would want. So at the beginning it was a personal thing, now it’s a spiritual thing.” Sadberry is a part of the handful of young adults who are still holding on to their “gift”.
Other young adults have chosen not to wait at all having their own personal reasons as well. “Sometimes I wish I could go back,” confessesd sophomore Ernest Cain. “I used to want to wait but my hormones were running and I couldn’t hold back.” Croshanda, a freshman, who reveals that she lost her virginity as a high school freshman at the young age of only 15, said, “I did want to wait when I was younger, but I got older and grew up and got curious.” This is the case for many teenagers and young adults today. Lust quite often overpowers their willpower to hold out and wait for that perfect person to share with for the rest of our lives what is supposed to be one of their most sacred gifts.
“I lost my virginity when I was 16…I started kind of late,” said Caine, comparing himself with most of the young men he grew up with. Not many are able to withstand the peer pressure and survive the temptation but some are. Johnie Jones, Student Government Association president is one of a few who are still winning the battle with his flesh to hold on to his purity.
“Now having sex is like the norm, it’s such a cliché everybody is doing it. For me it’s not a good look to go around having sex with any girl that’s pretty or because she is curvacious…it’s not cool to do that.”
Having Sex wasn’t a disappointment but I still think I should have stuck to my religious beliefs” claims Creshonda, reminiscent to her parents’ childhood teachings.
Although many young adults fall short of keeping their virginity past their teenage years some manage to make it beyond their teens up until their marriage. At the age of twenty, 24 percent of women and 20 percent of men are still virgins. Among that small few are some of Prarie View’s brightest young men and women who have chosen to make not only a commitment to God, but also to themselves, by refraining from sex. Jones expresses that “it’s both a religious and personal preference. Sex is more than just two people having intercourse or just a physical pleasure, but more so a spiritual aspect where two people become one. I don’t want to walk around with two and three people attached to me and that’s the place were I communicate with God.” His beliefs are quite similar to those in 1 Corinthians 6:16-18 which states, “Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, ‘The two will become one flesh.’ But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.”
It takes a lot of courage to withstand your beliefs in an environment where you are greatly outnumbered. It is hard and treacherous at times to stand tall among so many who are begging you to blend and confirm. It is challenging to carry confidence and command respect from your peers when you are the minority against a vast majority. Some cannot endure the heat. Some will crack under the pressure. Others will rise to the challenge and be successful in holding on to what can be deemed their most prized possession. “If I can do it anyone can,” encourages Jones, one of few, like Sadberry who will make it to the finish line, with their virginity in hand like a first place trophy.