Premarital sex: Is abstinence the best policy?
By Cao Shangyao (Shanghai Star)
Updated: 2004-09-06 08:57

About two years ago, seven college girls in Chengdu of Southwest China's Sichuan Province signed a "purity pledge" and established an "alliance for flawless youth" for the purpose of opposing premarital sex.

They said they decided to do so after they witnessed the emotional pain and physical complications that afflicted some college girls as a result of premarital sex.

And during this summer vacation, several college girls in Beijing and Nanjing launched an online petition campaign urging college students to abstain from premarital sex. The petition has sparked a debate over premarital sex, making it a hot topic of discussion throughout the country.

In modern times no one would deny that sexual attraction between men and women is natural and that sex can be a very important part of a relationship. In fact, sex is the physiological basis of erotic love, and a natural expression of love to a certain degree. However, sex is also a violent force which may lead to dire consequences if it runs out of control.

Premarital sex is an issue closely related to social conventions, culture and spiritual life. It is not mere sexual impulse, as some have been saying, but a matter of social significance.

From a medical point of view, premarital intercourse is not good for youngsters, for they don't have the capacity to sustain its impact either physiologically or psychologically. Premarital intercourse can create many problems that have a negative effect on sexual feeling and marital sexual life.

However, the reality is inescapable: premarital sex is winning more and more consent. A few decades ago, a premaritally pregnant woman would be condemned by public opinion, she might even be forced to take her own life. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to see a bride well-advanced in pregnancy at a wedding. Is this progress or regress? No one knows for sure.

Available data indicate that there are 235 million young people aged 15-24 years in China, and 1 billion young people in the same age group around the world. Globally speaking, teenagers account for one half of the number of women who undergo induced abortions, and half of new AIDS cases occur in teenagers. The primary mode of AIDS transmission globally is heterosexual sexual contact, and teenagers are largely unaware of the perils of this form of AIDS transmission. Therefore, teenage premarital sex is a problem that cannot be overlooked.

The liberation of human sexuality from traditional moral constraints has caused many health and social problems - venereal diseases, AIDS, drug abuse, premarital or extramarital pregnancy, teenage mothers, psychological and interpersonal problems, and so on and so forth

We are witnessing a new trend toward virginity before marriage. More and more young people are saying that they won't have sex until they get married. In the US alone there are 500,000 youngsters who have sworn that oath.

They believe that sex is somewhere there waiting for you, then why rush for it? Even when you are already 20-years-old and you don't have any sexual experience, you have at least forty to fifty years ahead of you to enjoy sexual pleasure; and if you are willing to wait, you can always get a life partner who is committed to you and your marriage.

"It is easier said than done", so goes the proverb, and it is true. Some people understand the consequences of premarital sex very well but, when specific problems arise, they may get lost and not be able to figure out what is the best way to proceed.

The question is whether premarital sex is a manifestation of social progress or a price we have to pay for social progress. This question sounds like a problem for philosophers but it deserves careful consideration by all of us.

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