jazzguitarman:

What are you being pragmatic about? I don't disagree with anything you say here since it all is common sense in my view, but what practical good will having the parents say 'well, it is really better for you NOT to have sex until you are mature enough', really have? i.e. will it impact many outcomes (prevent many girls from having sex \ getting pregrant). It doesn't look like it since I assume most parents already do this (or are parent's really that shy?).

I advise parents to focus on DISEASE and NOT getting pregrant (and I see you listed getting pregrant before disease). A disease can be fatal. So focus on that. Use FEAR.

Pregnancy can be 'cured' really easy. Its called an abortion. Getting a disease like HIV, cannot be. So place MOST of the focus on disease prevention.

Pragmatic is the wrong word, unless I had been talking about an experience I had had myself (no, thank God). I meant "practical". Oops. Point: jazzguitarman.

For teens at least, I think greenlighting formerly taboo behavior just pushes boundaries further out. Sometimes that's okay, unless you think the sight of ladies' ankles are the first misstep on a slippery slope to Armageddon. But if, broadly speaking as SOCIETY, we say teens are rational enough to make sexual choices, they will be more likely in larger numbers to engage in risky sexual activity. I think a general undercurrent of disapproval will foster more caution overall. And sorry, I have nothing against kids, but they're fucking dumb sometimes. Lots of times. When they screw up, they need grown-ups to help them get out of it if they want to maintain the path they were on the best they can.

That leads to your next point, which is that a "cure" for pregnancy is abortion. Agreed. But as a father and hopefully an enlightened human being, you can't tell your daughter she MUST get an abortion if she can't do it morally or emotionally. Therefore you have to take into account the alternate scenarios.

You're right about the health thing, as aesthetic concerns are almost irrationally high on teen priority lists--hence one of the huge success factors of the Montana Meth Project. If you get disease, you're "dirty" (also sick or DEAD, but hey), so that's a pretty good scare tactic I suppose.