When reading the "distressed" letter I came upon this: "And, most of all, have you talked to her about the fact that while her boyfriend may say he loves her, you remember what it was like to be a pimply, horny 16-year-old boy praying a girl would take off her clothes for you."

And it made me think back. The fact is, as a male at 16 (or 18, or 20) my heart was as pure as the driven snow. All I thought about was falling in love with a sweet girl. Of course that seemed to CHANGE over the years, and by the time I was, oh, 23-24, I was more or less strictly after the booty.

But...it was always my idea that young people of both genders tend to START OUT thinking more about love than about conquests, etc. IOW, they start out with the RIGHT attitude, and get jaded, twisted, bent, hurt, etc., as time goes by (I know I did).

Am I crazy?

It's not you - it's that they took "Davey and Goliath" off the air. Between the awesome theme song and the talking dog, it was easy to stay pure of heart, at least for a little while...

Many of us were idealistic at one point,Stevie, but after experiencing the vicissitudes of romance, you eventually lose your illusions about the opposite sex and accept that relationships are mostly messy and unsatisfying and that women are just as heartless as men but in a different way. The consolation, of course, is the hot booty and you should grab it while it is warm and on special offer.

Once you hit the "all [men/women] are alike phase," your goals change somewhat.

No, I don't think you are crazy at all. I think it is 1) insulting and 2) a sweeping generalization to characterize all teenage boys as sex-crazed lunatics as people so often do. Actually, I was just thinking recently how much I hate it when fathers I know say things like "I'm not going to let any boys near my daughter because I know what they're thinking." I think these fathers either have a really skewed memory of the past or they were really big jerks/idiots in high school.

I'm a girl but I had a lot of very close male friends in high school. These boys were so adorable when it came to their girlfriends. Sure, they wanted to have sex, but mostly they were just head-over-heels in crush and would never do anything to hurt the girls the were dating or even their female friends. I don't think any men I've ever met since has respected me as much as some of the teenage boys I knew! I think as adults we could probably learn something from that!

And as a girl...really it is insulting that so many adults think teenage girls are so stupid and easily persuaded by a cute boy. Girls know they have to watch out, and they're just as likely to lack any scruples as the boys are.

When I was 16 I would basically beg, borrow, or steal any piece of ass I could get. BUT...there were girls that gave me butterflies in my stomach, that I couldn't help but smile when they were near, that I could be happy taking a walk with, that made me laugh, that time would just slip by when I was with them.

So the primary goal wasn't sex for the girls I've been in love with. The primary goal was to just fucking be around her somehow!

I've always been irritated at the, "Boys are little uncaring horn-dogs that take advantage of the girls, who don't really want sex only romance." sort of attitude. I think that the boys want romance as well as sex and that the girls want sex as well as romance.

I know I was horny as heck at 16. When I had sex it wasn't because some boy had talked me into it. It was because I wanted to (and talked my boyfriend into it.....)

haha the girl talking the boy into it seems to happen A LOT.

I married the 16-year-old boy who said he loved me. Admittedly we waited until we were in our early 20s, but, if he was just telling me that he loved me to get into my pants, he got way more than he bargained for. Or maybe I got way more than I bargained for because at 16 I was the one who just wanted to get into his pants.

The horny male pursuing the sentimental female who really wants love and commitment is a stereotype that harmful and degrading to both sexes.

I think I was hanging out with the wrong crowd in highschool - it was all about the sex. Though to be be fair...a lot girls were the instigators.

I was just reminded of the episode of Freaks and Geeks where Lindsay starts dating Nick and she's concerned because she thinks he wants to have sex. So she goes to his house and she's like "so do you want to make out" and he goes "no, I just want to hold you" and she's just BORED. hahahaha I think that hits the nail on the head!