Sameria Ward

Mrs. Kenley

British Literature

22 March 2018

Should they make teenage sexual behavior a law?

With approximately half of the teenagers reported that they have engaged in sexual

intercourse, teenagers are becoming sexually active while not being educated about sex and the

consequences they have to face if the rules of sex are violated. Adults need to acknowledge that

the teenagers today are participating in the most autonomous acts of sexual experimentation.

Sexual behavior is another word for “sexual misconduct.” Sexual misconduct is an unwelcome

behavior of a sexual nature that is committed without consent or by force, intimidation, or

manipulation. For Example, sexual misconduct is someone engaging you in a sexual activity

when you’re intoxicated and unable to provide consent. It is also someone who is disrespecting

you by touching you in an intimate way without your permission.

Many states have laws that prohibit sexual conduct between people in certain

relationships on the theory that the victim cannot truly consent to such activity because he or she

is in some way under the defendant’s influence or authority. These relationships include doctors,

parents, counselors, teachers, children, employees and prohibition, or correctional officers and

people who are under their authorities. For instance, it’s a crime for a foster parent to have sex

with a foster child. A state’s laws against forcible rape or sexual battery may also cover sexual

misconduct because it is considered sex without the victim’s consent. To most, parents think that

they are just kids and don’t know any better until someone sexually assaults their child. The laws

will make people take this issue more seriously.

These laws will be protecting and keeping the teenagers in the community safe. These

laws are called: public indecency, rape, prostitution, keeping a place of prostitution, pimping,

solicitation of sodomy, masturbation for hire, giving messages in a place used for lewdness, and

disorderly conduct. These laws include --a person who exposes his or her genitals under

circumstances in a public place in the presence of a third or a person commits the crime of sexual

misconduct in the third degree if he or she solicits is likely to cause affront or alarm. Having

sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse in public places is highly inappropriate. Many

states criminalize sex between a mental care provider and a client or patient, on the grounds that

the nature of the relationship and the person’s vulnerable position makes the person incapable of

knowing, voluntary consent. The law will consider the victim incapacitated if he or she did not

have the mental ability to understand the nature of the sexual acts, or if the victim was physically

incapable of indicating their unwillingness to participate in the sexual conduct.

Sexual misconduct is real and many parents are normalizing this issue by not educating

their child about different sexual behaviors. Many parents always say that “My kid would

never,” because they aren’t fully teaching their kids. Teens in middle school and high school are

being taught about sex in school. For the protection of your child, the law should be legal.

Studies show that teenage students are increasingly creating, sending, and mailing off these

explicit pictures of themselves on their own mobile cell phone. According to a 2015 survey by

the Non-Profit Organization, nearly forty percent have posted and sent sexually suggestive

messages to their phones. It is humiliating for the young child even though it doesn’t make the

child fully innocent. Parents do not understand how their child’s life could be jeopardized.

Without educating them they will never understand the importance of this situation.

Parents use the terminology “They are just kids” all the time as if the issue is acceptable. Parents
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should not feel embarrassed about teaching their kids about sex. You don’t have to teach too

early, but don’t tell them when it’s too late. Teenagers will be prepared if they feel like they were

assaulted in a way. They never know who the person could or would be. The predator may be a

stranger, friend, family member, teacher, or intimate partner. Preparing your child for these types

of issues is the best way to keep your child safe. Although responsibility for an attack lies solely

with the person who is not the victim, there are ways you can reduce the risk of your child of

becoming a victim.

It is critically important for adults to address adolescent sexuality realistically and to

recognize that many factors like exposure can send their child to prison. This can lead to suicide.

Kids are being harassed and bullied at school for showing their private areas. We all know that

youth are most likely to think about and attempt suicide if they are if depressed. It is very

uncomfortable to walk around knowing that you have nudes and pictures of your private area on

the internet. Teens emotions are extremely sensitive. Teens who have been sexually assaulted

feel intensely ashamed and embarrassed. They often feel dirty and kind of ‘marked for life’. The

assault may prevent the victim from speaking on it. The experience of assault exposes the victim

to the stark reality that they can not always protect themselves no matter how hard they try. The

experience brings vulnerability issues to the victim. He or she may feel like the loss of

confidence or low self-esteem. After being assaulted many of a victim's previous assumptions

about themselves, their rights, and expectations lose their meaning leaving them to feel totally

undermined.

Teenagers will have a hard time understanding how the real world works. Parents have to

look at other parents point of view to understand why this law should be created. If parents agree

that their child doesn’t need to be punished then the parents should be. Parents keep defending
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their children for inappropriate behavior. Imagine how the person whom child got exposed feel.

Putting kids in these types of situations is dangerous, so to be fair the laws are needed. Sex

discrimination laws include sexual misconduct in the form of sexual harassment, hostile

environment, sexual violence (i.e., rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse), domestic violence,

dating violence, stalking and gender/sex-based harassment or discrimination, all of which

represent conduct/behavior that is prohibited. Prohibiting meaning that the action of forbidding

something, especially by law. Men are now raping, kidnapping, and molesting our young

women. It has been plenty of times on the when teachers are consenting to have sex with

students or kids being kidnapped and raped.

Sexual misconducts can happen to both boys and girls. The difference is that when boys

get sexually assaulted they questioned their sexuality. People think just because they are boys

they are supposed to be tough enough to say no. Sometimes perpetrators, especially grown-ups

who have sexually abuse young men, will use physiological responses to maintain secrecy by

using phrases such as, “You know you like it.” Young men who survived the sexual assault by

adults feel shame or self-doubt, believing that they should have been strong enough to fight off

the perpetrators. For all of these reasons, many boys who survive sexual abuse or sexual assault

endure their devasting experience silently. Our law enforcement and justice system are often ill-

equipped to deal with this type of crime when it’s committed against males. Males are usually

known and have a high percentage of physically touching a female without consent but males are

forgotten to be a victim.

Parents, who are concerned about their child usually questions, “ How can I prevent my

child from being a victim?” You have several of ways to prevent this issue from happening.

First, you can start by developing a positive and open home environment where the adolescents
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feel comfortable with discussing and asking questions about sex. Second, Parents should always

be all ears and honest with their child. Third, family members need to understand and adopt a set

of principles that will guide their decision-making. Last but not least, monitor in a considerate

manner of what the kids watch, what games they play, activities that they are involved in with

peers, jokes they tell sexuality to people, curfews, and signs of substance use or abuse. Parents

are encouraged to take their head out the sand and understand and accept the seriousness of

sexual behaviors. Seriousness can range from kiss tag, playing mom and dad, playing doctor and

manhunt, to acting out sexually in an inappropriate manner based on age or maturity. All of those

types of games leads to exhibitionism to manipulation to coercion. The age differences matter

because the behavior will not regard as exploratory. It is important that for parents and families

to discuss sexual development and behavior as children develop from childhood through

adolescence. Unfortunately, many parents neglect to discuss sexual behaviors and intercourse

with their child. Giving sexual information which includes not only anatomy and physiology, but

also addresses relationship skills and laws governing sexual behavior. At a certain age, kids need

to understand in order to be aware of their sexual development to master sexual impulses and to

be appropriate in their sexual expression. As a parent, you should be honest with your child both

mentally and emotionally.

Peer pressure is another cause of this issue. Teens usually care about making friends and

being liked, but during adolescence, these fears intensify. It brings three teen awkwardness as

they find themselves craving sex, interests, and priorities all at once. Belonging to a group of

friends affairs their self-worth and supports them as they negotiate the rough pathway to

adulthood. Kids who distance themselves from their parents, they use their friends as their

primary confidants and listen to their advice and support. Close friends are well suited to this
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role because those are the people most likely to rubber-stamp the individual’s feelings and

patiently listen to his or her say so on life. Not saying that you should make your child befriend

their friends, but at least try to be alert to your child surrounding. In a bad situation, teens adhere

to their friends’ advice instead of thinking for themselves or seeking more informed opinion.

Some teenagers fail to realize when they have become excessively dependent on their friends

causes them to lose themselves. In this case, your friend basically robbed your individuality and

independence. Parents need to keep their child very close to them to avoid them from listening

to friends. You should want your child to make their own decisions and develop their own

personality. It usually takes some time to convince your child that peer pressure can be

dangerous. Be aware of your childish behavior and listen to them nonjudgmentally. The reason

this is important because one of your child’s friend probably have got sexually assaulted and

influence your child to be apart of their risky activities. There are teenagers who don’t follow

the cool/uncool code when it comes down to their sexual life. Teens feel as if they have to act a

certain way to get acceptance from their friends. You can tell when your child is body language

or attitude is different. Teens begin to put on shows for their friend, going out to do things you

will never tolerate as a parent, and begin to do things they never do just to get cool points from

friends.

Alcohol and its connection to sex is one that needs to be addressed. According to recent

studies, alcohol drinking is linked to sexual risk, which commonly consists of the early age of

first intercourse, unprotected sexual intercourse exposing the adolescent to sexually transmitted

infections and HIV, teenage pregnancies and etc. Being drunk make most teens lack attention.

For example, a false sense of trust can occur when the victim knows the perpetrator but not well.

At parties or bars, victims are in a social context in which they are expected to be sociable and
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expect others to be. While they are socializing with other someone is watching them get drunk

and drunker making this easier for access to the victim. Moreover, according to victims’ reports,

their drinking was negatively related to the perpetrator’s aggression, supporting the notion that

alcohol-induced impairments on the part of the victim may reduce the need for physical force on

the part perpetrators. However, data based on perpetrators’ reports suggest that their alcohol

consumption is positively related to aggression during assaults. Other findings suggest that

perpetrators’ alcohol consumption interferes with the completion of rape and victims’ alcohol

consumption interferes with effectively escaping from rape. In both of these studies, the presence

of alcohol was just as common in adolescent cases of sexual assault as in these cases. The one

community-based study to report on the presence of alcohol during adolescent sexual assault

found the 15%-23% of assault cases involved the victim being drugged or drunk, with an

increase in percentage associated for older adolescents than for younger adolescents.

The rate of sexual harassment and assault was alarmingly high for females and males,

although significantly higher and therefore more disturbing for females. More than half of the

female participants reported having been stared at in a sexual way or having jokes about them.

Female respondents also reported having received sexual or obscene phone calls and having been

sent sexual or obscene messages through electronic mail. Half of the of females respondents

reported having been kissed, hugged, or sexually touched despite the fact they had made it clear

that they did not want to do it. Female respondents also reported more invasive forms of sexual

assault, including being made to do something sexual.The percentage of female students who

reported any form of sexual harassment was 13.16% and those who reported any form of sexual

assault was 15.79%. Sexual harassment and assault were also reported by male respondents;

however, these reports were at lower rates than for the female respondents. It was one-third of
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males who indicated that they had been stared at in a sexual way, and one-fourth of the male

respondents reported that they were the recipients of sexual jokes. Approximately one-fourth of

male respondents reported sexual assault in terms of being kissed, hugged, or sexually touched.

The percentage of male students reporting any forms any form of sexual harassment was 15.79%

and who reported any form of sexual assault was 21.05%.

Kids who survived sexual harassment and assaults usually want someone to defend them

in the process. They could be protected, but it takes two to make that happen. The law has

disabled children under 13 from giving their consent. If you are 14 and older then you should

know better. Judges do agree when there are some good policy reasons for a clear law which

conveys the message, not only to adults but also to their children, that sexual activity with a child

under 16 is an offense. This is to keep children safe from themselves as well as from each other

and from adults who may prey upon them. Through the process they acknowledge there will be

large variations in the blameworthiness of behavior which caught by one sex offenses in the

2003 act, and that the age of the perpetrator is a highly relevant factor in this. Baroness Hale

observed,” Both prosecutors and sentences will have to make careful judgments about who

should be prosecuted and what punishment, if any, is appropriate. In many cases, there will be no

reason to take any official action at all. In others, protective action by the children’s services,

whether in respect of the perpetrator or the victim or both, may be more appropriate.” In a case

involving two truly consenting children of the same age, it may still be possible to argue that a

decision to prosecute, particularly if it is a heavy sentence, amounts to a disproportionate

interference with their right to respect for private life. The law is indeed may be necessary in

order to comply with state’s positive obligations to protect children from harm.
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Schools must take the initiative to eliminate sexual harassment and assault, first by

acknowledging that these problems exist and then by tackling the problem curriculum, policy,

and the very fabric of school culture and community. The community needs to come out and

protest against these type of behaviors. Every effort or attempt of sexual misconduct should be

handled. This is made to protect the privacy and interests of the individuals involved in a manner

consistent. People need to understand that it can be committed by an individual or may be a

result of the collective actions of an organized group, it can be committed against an individual,

an organization or group. It can be a stranger or someone whom the complainant has a personal

relationship with. We need to develop new student educational programming for each of the four

years of the undergraduate experience.

According to my survey, we had many a few people were sexually assaulted and some

who were not. My survey was used to analyze how many people who have been through these

type of situations. There was a total of 38 people from Instagram who took the survey. There

were 30 females and 8 boys. Most of the tens were between ages 18 and older who have taken

the test. 81.58% of the students have talked to their parents about sex. We are trying to get the

parents and community to help change the world by making Teenage Sexual Behavior a law.

There were 24 students who voted that someone never made unwelcome sexual comments, there

were 6 people who said it happened once, there were 8 people who said that it happened more

than once. 23 people voted that no one ever flash them, 13 people voted that it happened once,

and 2 people said it happened more than once. A lot of kids did agree that they would tell the

parents if someone sexually assaulted them. 32 out of 38 people voted that sexual misconduct

should be a law. Only one person disagrees with the Teenage Sexual Misconduct law. 33 out of
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38 people voted that teenagers should face consequences after sexual misconduct. The main

reason for this research paper is to come to a conclusion.

Teenage Sexual Behavior can be understood from several points of views. Analysis of

Sexual Misconduct/Harassment is one of the biggest problems facing our schools and businesses

today. From the results, many students prefer to make Teenage Sexual Behavior a law than to be

a victim of it. It would help make the community and schools become a safe environment. Sex

misconduct plagues people of all shapes, ethnicity, background, and sizes. The Teenage Sexual

Behavior law would help protect everyone not only the teens. If the laws are being made now

while they are still maturing then they won’t have this problem later on in life. The consequences

would teach kids a lesson that they may not have been taught before. Many people would rather

keep it in the streets, but how is that benefiting the person who was assaulted. This is a problem

in modern society because people normalize it. Despite the severe consequences and the fact that

it is morally and ethically wrong, the number of the cases are growing. Teenagers are old enough

to be precautious of their actions.

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Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

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03 Aug, 2016, pp. 34, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.co

"New 'Revenge Porn' Law may Snag Kids." Des Moines Register, 11 Jul, 2017, pp. A.11, SIRS Issues

Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Sultan, Aisha. "Sexual Harassment Starts in School." St.Louis Post-Dispatch, 15 Oct, 2017, pp. H.1,

SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com