Adolescents gather information about sexuality from friends and through the print and electronic media. Often this information is wrong and unscientific. They have a great curiocity and concern about the sexuality of their own and of the opposite sex. Adolescents often have neither access to accurate information on the issues related to sexuality and sexual health, nor solutions for their...

Puberty is the beginning of the adolescence. The height increases and the long bones grow more rapidly giving “leggy” appearance. They are clumsy. Parents pay much attention to whether or not their child is pretty. Parents feel that the child is weak and therefore they feed costly tonics. But these don’t work. A high protein and vitamin containing diet should be given at this age. The boys and...

Love is an intense affection and deep feelings for some one. It intends the welfare of the other. Love has different colours. Love for parents, love for a friend, love for elders, love for the country, etc. Each type of love has a different shade and hence the requirements, the duties, the expectations and the behaviour differ accordingly. Love between a boy and a girl or the love between a...

Sex organs are the organs that are involved in the process of reproduction. It is nature's way to produce progeny of its own kind, so as to maintain the propagation of life. The sex organs are also called as “genitals”.

Virgin is a person who has not had sexual intercourse. The term refers mostly to a woman, but should apply to both the sexes. On the first wedding night when the husband inserts his penis in his wife’s vagina, she is supposed to bleed due to the tear of the hymen situated at the entrance of vagina. The myth is that if she does not bleed, she is not supposed to be a virgin. T

ex Education (Here and elsewhere in this book the term “Sex Education” is loosly used and it means “Sexuality Education.”) Sex education is defined as an educational programme aimed at promoting the individual’s fulfillment, both in personal living and in his family and social relationships, by integrating sexuality in total personality. Sex education is a lifelong process of acquiring information...

‘Adolescence’ is the French word derived, from ‘adolescere’, which means growing up. It is the age group of 10 to 19 years. Since every individual is different and develops in his/her unique way, it is difficult to fix a particular age group. The bridge between the childhood and the adulthood is adolescence. The beginning of adolescence is known as ‘puberty.’ It is marked by menarche (first...

A cyclical bleeding through the vagina in a woman is called “menstruation.” This occurs between of the age 13 and 45 years. The beginning of the first menstruation is called “menarche” and the stopping of it is called “menopause.” Menarche could be little earlier or little later than 13 years. If it occurs between the age of 10 to 16 years, it is taken as normal.

“Males would be better prepared to understand females, and females to males, if they realized that they are alike in their basic anatomy and physiology.” Alfred Kinsey The deveopment of the sex organs in the human embryo begins from the 5th week of pregnancy. The basic sex organs both in the male and in the female look the same. There is no differentiation till three months of pregnancy.

It is not uncommon for a boy to lure a girl, make her feel that he loves her, have sex with her, and abandon her when he knows that she is pregnant. It is a very difficult situation for the girl of that age. She feels cheated, dejected, rejected and depressed. There is a sense of guilt, shame and violation. This is horrifying for her and becomes a nightmare. One thing she should not think of is to...

When the male receives sexual stimulation, the penis becomes long, erect and rigid. A colourless, sticky secretion from the pea-sized Cowper’s glands comes out of urethral opening. This serves as a lubricant. If the stimulation continues, it culminates into an “Orgasm”, the summit of the sexual pleasure. Ogasm is explosive and is associated with expulsion of “semen” through the urethra. This...

Masculine or feminine attitudes and preferences for certain sexual partners or certain form of sexual activity are not established at one particular moment, but are acquired gradually over a period of time. This outcome depends on child’s inherited abilities and on social influences from parents, teachers, friends etc. These influences can be positive or negative. If a girl is treated as a boy,...

Men having sex with men are called “Homosexuals.” Woman having sex with women are called “Lesbians.” By the norms of the society, homosexuality is abnormal. However, scientists have found that 3 percent of population is homosexual and this is accepted as a normal variation (like left handedness). A homosexual is a normal person in every respect except for his sexual preference. It is not possible...

Once known as “Sexual Deviations” or “Sexual Perversions” are now called as “Sexual Variations.” The exact cause is not known. Freud thought it to be due to fixation at certain developmental stages, different complexes, immature personality, too much love or hatred for father, broken homes, etc. His views were discarded by the later scientists.

Adolescence is a time of rapid changes and difficult challenges. They face a wide variety of psychosocial demands: becoming independent, developing skills in interacting well with their parents, devising ethical principles, becoming intellectually competent, acquiring a sense of responsibility etc. At the same time the adolescents have to cope with their sexuality by learning how to deal with...