I have yet to meet a teenage parent who had received comprehensive sex education, and had easy access to contraception and a sexual health clinic. But I have met plenty of young people who have fallen victim to a variety of myths - that first sex cannot cause pregnancy, that the pill can protect against sexually transmitted infections, that sex in a certain position will be less risky - and who were too confused or embarrassed to ask for help until it was too late.
But recent figures have been seized on to suggest that the government's teenage sexual health strategy is encouraging promiscuity. A review of the strategy found higher rates of pregnancy and STIs in areas where it was operating.
Let me paint an alternative picture. Young people who are comfortable with sexual health services are more likely to use them - and to discover STIs where previously they would have remained hidden. Young people who have access to the morning-after pill are likely to use it responsibly to prevent pregnancies that they are ill-equipped to deal with. And maybe some young people are having sex earlier - because they have been taught that they should respect themselves and their bodies and have realised that they are comfortable with beginning sex in a loving teenage relationship rather waiting until marriage. After all, it is often stated that children today are growing up faster than ever.
There is nothing inherently wrong with teenage sex - apart from risks shared by all sexually active adults - so surely we should be finding ways to minimise these risks and ensure that sex at any age is safe and consensual, rather than moralising about a perceived loss of innocence?
People try to shield young people from contraception on the basis that they will use it wrongly - miss a pill, split a condom - while forgetting that among adults about 40% of pregnancies are unplanned. There will always be young people too nervous to bring up the issue of contraception, or too naive to refuse sex when their peer group attaches such value to it. As with adults, there will always be accidents, mistakes and sexual liaisons that "seemed like a good idea at the time". But it is lazy and irresponsible to refuse to tackle these problems; and to blame the government for helping young people to assume responsibility for themselves and their actions.
As adolescents, we are acquiring the skills and accepting the responsibility required to survive in an adult role. Yes, adolescents engage in risk-taking behaviour, but they will only be able to come through these successfully if they are given the tools to keep themselves safe and allow them to move on.
When our children reach primary school they are taught the Green Cross code. Why, then, are we not advocating teaching these same children how to keep themselves safe in terms of sex and relationships? It would be ridiculous to ban young people from crossing the road because of a worry that they may be hit by a car. Yet recently there has again been an upsurge of professionals advocating something equally ridiculous - banning young people from understanding their own bodies because of societal fears over STIs and teenage pregnancy.
Based on the experiences of my peer group, it would seem that there are three easy steps towards a safer and more responsible attitude towards sex for young people. None of these involve keeping them in padded rooms, instructing them only in abstinence or refusing them information. First, it would seem obvious that a greater degree of education is needed. Not just in secondary schools, but in primary schools and youth groups.
This does not mean equipping eight-year-olds with a condom and a Kama Sutra, but can begin with exploring loving family relationships and the type of boyfriend/girlfriend they might want. Just as we teach pre-teens that they must say "no" to inappropriate touching by adults and authority figures, we must teach them how to respond when, at 11, they are uncomfortable as their boyfriend tries to kiss them, or at 12, their best friend begins to express new, deeper feelings towards them. Better sex education would prepare young people for a lifetime of healthy sexual relationships, not just postpone the age of first sex.
Second, contraception must be freely and easily available, in youth-focused surroundings. Young people should not be forced to attend overcrowded "adult" sexual health clinics.
Last, we must not be put off by scare stories that link sexual health initiatives to increased STI and pregnancy rates. We must continue to encourage young people to get tested for STIs and to seek professional help for unwanted pregnancies, and understand that it is far better for us to see rising statistics than for a whole generation of young people to remain ignorant or silent about their health problems.
· Kierra Box, 18, is co-founder of the youth movement, Hands Up For ...
