Sexual Decisions

A guide to female and male anatomy, reproduction and pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, safer sex, and family planning options.

When it comes to sex and relationships, it is often difficult to find reliable information. Yet everyone has questions and needs information on these important topics. Young people should have access to facts in order to make their own decisions about their sexuality and sexual health. In this significantly revised edition of Sexual Decisions: The Ultimate Teen Guide, L. Kris Gowen discusses the choices teens can make regarding sexual activity—from practicing safe sex to abstaining—and how to decide what is right for each individual. Many factors are at work in the decision-making process, but this book helps readers make a decision based on both logic and practicality. Updated topics covered in this book include an overview of human anatomy abstinence vs. safe sex STDs contraceptives communicating with one’s partner intimate partner violence sexual orientation and gender identity social media and sex For teens seeking answers for themselves, this book is a vital resource that includes an additional section for further research. Written without judgment, Sexual Decisions empowers teens to take charge of their bodies, their identities, and their lives.

For teens too shy to talk to mom and dad about sex, this book offers good, sound advice on a highly personal level _ filling in some of the blanks in their knowledge about sex and relationships. Designed to help teens aged 16-19 make their own decisions about sexuality, Making Sexual Decisions talks not only about the facts of sexual health but also provides them with some things to think about when it comes to the feelings and emotions that surround sex.

Focusing on six major Supreme Court cases during the 1960s and 1970s, Marc Stein examines the generally liberal rulings on birth control, abortion, interracial marriage, and obscenity in Griswold, Eisenstadt, Roe, Loving, and Fanny Hill alongside a profoundly conservative ruling on homosexuality in Boutilier. In the same era in which the Court recognized special marital, reproductive, and heterosexual rights and privileges, it also upheld an immigration statute that classified homosexuals as "psychopathic personalities." Stein shows how a diverse set of influential journalists, judges, and scholars translated the Court's language about marital and reproductive rights into bold statements about sexual freedom and equality.

Gender and Sexual Agency considers how heterosexual Latin American, Asian American, and Caucasian American youth negotiate sexual encounters. In particular, this book examines sexual agency, exploring the question of why some young people assertively pursue what they want in a sexual encounter, while others go along with sexual activity they do not want. By comparing both young men and young women, Heather Powers Albanesi offers a unique perspective on how an individual's emotional experience of gender informs his or her willingness to exercise sexual agency. Using interviews to support her theoretical argument, Albanesi offers profiles of eleven different types of sexual agency, ranging from having strong convictions about their sexual decisions to abdicating responsibility to their partner. As the expressers of sexual agency, the voices of these youth from primarily working-class backgrounds come through to take us into their sexual decisions as they understand and experience them within the context of their lives. Ultimately, regardless of the decision, the book shows that it is young people's experience of gender that both shapes and allows them to make sense of these sexual choices. Book jacket.

Establishing one’s identity is a huge part of being a teen. During the process of self-discovery, most teens are regularly faced with difficult decisions regarding dating, sexual activity, and abstinence. Too often in such cases, they are unprepared to make informed, responsible decisions. Objective and engaging, this title offers practical, realistic advice to help teens understand the consequences of the choices they make regarding their sexuality.