Yeah, plenty. There are tons of myths and rumors, like "You can't get pregnant the first time", or "Two condoms are better than one", or "I can just pull out" (well, always worked for me :D)

In my junior high school year we took home this fake baby that would wake you up crying every 30 minutes or so for 2 nights. It was hell, and it made pregnancy one of the first thoughts in my mind when I slept with a girl, instead of an afterthought

...wha? Japan will be poverty stricken in 50 years if there isn't a massive population boost? Japan is already crowded as it is, and it is one of the world's largest economic powers, especially for being as small as it is. I believe their GDP per capita isn't too far off from the U.S. either, even though the real GDP difference between the U.S. and Japan is around 3 times greater. Sorry, I doubt that's true. Should I be taking this seriously... -.-;

No, you really shouldn't. It's AlphaDuck. Japan has the 2nd largest economy in the world (second only to you know who ;)), and a pretty high-speed military. True, Japan has too few young people compared to their elderly, but more quantity =/= quality. China has a huge military and a huge population, but their military sucks and I believe I read that 90% of Chinese are working poor.

Yup, a large military doesn't do you much good if you don't have enough modern equipment to back it up (only the Russians could pull that off, but always with heavy casualities). This is no medieval warfare ;] And yes, that is what you get with that type of communist country with such a large population.

Off-topic a bit there...

In regards to the OP...it's all about how the society views such things as sex and pregnancy. Japanese people happen to have a "better view" than us on that particular topic. They care and actually understand the consequences dealing which teen pregnancies and how such a thing can potentially make your life miserable.

Throughout time there are going to be baby booms. Japan is clearly not going through a baby boom, and it's hard to raise kids with the price of living. I think teens are smart enough to keep their pants on or using safer sex practices knowing how hard it is to raise a baby.

Seriously, I cannot express the amount of times condoms and contraception and pregnancy and STD's have been drilled into our heads. It's everywhere, at school, even in town they always give out leaflets and free condoms everywhere. There is really no excuse nowadays - education is everywhere when you are a teenager, whether you like it or not.

I really think people know what they are doing, yet everyone blames it on education. If you are a teenager right now, particularly one at my age, we have so much education about sex all the time to the point you've heard it all 204757667 times.

I do think it's because people are not particularly bothered about the consequences of having unprotected sex, and maybe a lot of teen pregnancies are fueled by teenage drinking too. If you have a baby now it's nowhere near as tough as previous years, you get free money and housing which would have been the first hurdle you'd have to deal with yourself if it was years ago. People who tend to have the children normally come from broken homes or those whose mothers have also had children young - they tend to have no direction to be going in so they think a kid will give them something to do or something to care about.

Some teenage mothers go to college after having a kid, because they not only have to provide for themselves but for a kid too. But most just sit at home and do nothing in particular, and a lot of the time the male partner f**ks off, so it's not like they can do that without getting some form of income. And it's well known that the longer you are out of employment, the harder it is to get back in.

Anyway, my friend told me how much she got in benefits and it basically pissed me off. I'm not entitled to anything, and I will be in 20,000 debt by the end of uni, because I'm trying to make a better life for myself. Having a kid used to be the hardest thing for someone to do, nowadays it just feels like the easy way out.

Right, teenage pregnancy doesn't have just one factor. I also believe that underage drinking contributes to the problem. Kids get drunk, make bad decisions, and bam, they've got a future son or daughter.

MissMisa, most of the things you've said are true, but there are hundreds of different situations. I don't believe that most teenage girls get pregnant because of all the benefits. Maybe the benefits persuade them to not get an abortion or to not give up the child after birth, but I'm pretty sure, most girls don't go out one evening planning to get pregnant so that they can get free housing and money!

It's true that Contraception is everywhere. Heck, the NHS walk in centres give you free condoms. But you know, these don't always work. This of course, is only a small percentage of teenage pregnancies, but none the less, it's still an important factor. Another thing, A LOT of girls can't take the pill, so the second barrier doesn't even exist.

There is also the spur of the moment thing or peer pressure which equats to stupidity, which I believe is the most common reason for teenage pregnancies. Information might be everywhere, but it doesn't mean people take it in or believe it. I know a few school friends that had kids. None of them done it because of the benefits.

Unfortunately however, I do believe there are some out there that wanna take advantage of the system. And the worst thing is, England has a system where it's in your best interest to be Rich or poor. If you're rich, you're rich, if you're poor, the government gives you everything, ff you're middle class, you get nothing! Hence why you feel the injustice in your friend getting all those benefits!

Yeah I know that, I actually don't think people usually become pregnant BECAUSE of the benefits, they just care less because they have that back up.

People make mistakes and I'd never look down my nose at someone who does, like I said, my best friend was 17 and it's just really weird to think because our lives ran on such a parallel until that happened and now I'm a godmother at 18...

Condoms aren't 100% effective of course, and there are a LOT of different types of pill out there, so if you can't take one you could take another brand usually [that's what the doctor told me anyway] and even if you can't, it's only a small percentage of people, and even smaller than that for a condom breaking. So I don't think it's really down to that.

Yeah exactly my point about the middle class thing, I think we get the worst deal. Rich people can afford everything anyway and poor get free money, and I'm penalised because of my parents jobs, arggh [ends rant here :p]