1. Looking at why young people engage in early sex

2. Why do young men and women do it?
Get a boyfriend, attention, to rebel, feel grown-up, they are ready, to keep up with friends, to ‘belong’, to prove they’re not gay/lesbian, to show they’re a ‘man’, excitement, to have a baby
DO these methods actually work? Does having sex with someone actually mean this will come true? Does it make them popular or stop a boyfriend/girlfriend from leaving?
Early first sex – under the age of 16 – is particularly associated with regret
(Hawes et al First Heterosexual Intercourse in the UK: A Review of the Literature Journal of Sex Research)

3. ‘A quarter of girls and nearly a third of boys
have sex under 16 but the average age for
both sexes is 16’
(Survey of 11,161 men and women aged Wellings et al. 2001
Sexual Behaviour in Britain: Early heterosexual experience (NATSAL)
Lancet)

4. Strong factors causing regret of first sex:
Having exerted pressure on partner (for boys)
Having been put under pressure (for boys and girls)
Not having planned or discussed sex with the partner
For young women, it seems to be especially related to lack of control
(Wight et al BMJ Extent of regretted intercourse among Young Teenagers in Scotland Hawes et al Journal of Sex Research)

5. Respondents reporting first sex at 13 years or younger were twice as likely to report partner pressure compared with their year old counterparts
Those whose first sex was with a casual partner were more likely to feel pressured than those whose first sex was with a boyfriend or girlfriend of more than one month
(Survey of 11, year olds in England and Scotland. Wight
et al The Quality of Young People’s Heterosexual
Relationships.)

6. Working with young Women
Girls and Pressure
There is a tension for young women between
the pressure not to be seen to want sex and a sense of obligation to have sex.
they may struggle to articulate what they actually want, for fear of being seen as a ‘slag’ or ‘frigid’
female sexuality is widely seen in terms of sex as pain rather than pleasure
(Limmer and Redgrave, Alcohol & Sexual Health Research with 14
15 year olds in Rochdale a survey of 2081 young people.)

7. Girls and sexual pleasure
Females had more than twice the odds of males of not enjoying their most recent intercourse
The most important characteristic associated with not enjoying most recent sex was pressure
Among deprived teenagers love, caring and affection were still major motivations for girls, but not for boys, where physical pleasure and fun were much more important.
Having sex in a committed relationship rather than with a casual partner was associated with greater enjoyment of most recent sex
(Survey of 11, year olds in England and Scotland. Wight et al.
2008 The Quality of Young People’s Heterosexual Relationships)

8. “There is a mismatch with the girls looking for
something that their partners were not wanting or able
to give. These girls were enacting their search for love
through sexual encounters, many unsatisfying and not
enhancing their sense of self-worth, leading to a cycle
of further neediness…”
(Moore, S. and Rosenthal, D. (1998) ‘Adolescent Sexual Behaviour’
Roker, D. & Coleman, J. Teenage Sexuality: Health, risks and education,
Reading: Harwood Academic)

9. Why does early sex happen?
Young people over-estimating how many of their peers are sexual
In the hope of it delivering other things
The impact of family life
Low self-esteem
Lack of aspirations
Cultural pressures and assumptions
Lack of good SRE from an early age

10. Impact of family life Serious family difficulties
Living with only one or neither parent to age 16
Living in foster or residential care
Receiving low levels of parental monitoring and high amounts of pocket money
Are all predictors of early sex (before 16)
Hawes et al First Heterosexual Intercourse in the UK: A Review of
the Literature Journal of Sex Research

11. Low Self-Esteem may result in:
Feeling we do not deserve sexual pleasure
Feeling self-hatred for our bodies and acting this out in self-destructive behaviour
Not having the confidence to say ‘No’ to sex we don’t want
Not being able to ask for what we want sexually
Not taking good enough care of ourselves - e.g. not using condoms/contraception
Being scared of approaching Sexual Health Services.