Home | Content Tags

Sexual Development Markers

site maintenance: This is going to take a while. Excuse the mess while we update the website.

You are here: /announcements/sexual-development-markers

Girls are often proded almost as soon as they go through puberty about whether they are ready to start going on dates yet. Realistically, most teenagers are not ready for sexual intercourse until about 20 years old without pressure from family, teachers, role models to be more permiscous and liberal with their sexuality.

Few teenagers are sexually active at 12-14 years old. This is normally because their food contained hormones meant for late blooming adults, or because they have older siblings or cousins that don't realize how young they are and are peer pressuring them to grow up a little faster so they can hang out more.

About half of teenagers make it to 17 to 19 years old without any sex and that number is expected to increase to 60%-75% within the next few years. In the 1990s 1/2 of teenagers made it to 15/16 and a very small percentage made it to 18 years old without any intimacy due to chemicals in the U.S. food supply.

Recent human developments, increased life spans, more financial stability, and improved mobility have changed the context of human relationships. People are waiting longer to have their first boyfriend or girlfriend, waiting longer in between partners, staying together with a long term partner for longer periods of time, and having their first baby in their 30s on average. These are averages so some people have kids in their mid twenties or even past forty.

Every person is unique when it comes to relationships, sexuality, and their own development. The averages are helpful so people know what to expect when exploring their own self expression and trying to find friends or loved ones.

A lot of parents have limited their kids dating to holding hands, kissing with their eyes closed, or sitting next to each other on the couch until age twenty.

Because the kids might end up grounded until they get their own place, they mostly comply with their parents wishes and must have a talk with them about being more permissive. However, this might ultimately result in a trip to the doctors before the parents decide if they will be more permissive or the same restrictions will remain in place after visiting the doctor.

Overall people that are at least a few years older than the other people in the group, call the others kids. Most kids like being referred to as young adults, and the preferred word is teenager or children for those under 10 if a reference to parents and legal guardianship must be made. It can sometimes be playful to indicate there is too much fooling around going on.