Exactly, I've heard those very words come out of my students' mouths before. The 11 year old boy in UK didn't know, and neither did one of the 11 year old kids at a local school. It's usually covered up.

1) Yes.
2) No, maybe more frequent use of conception.
3) Most people don't get teen pregnant to make money, but indirectly without it they might spend more money on education and some parents would change their attitude.
4) Has little to do with crime.
5) Has little to do with religion, the only factor there is in the shame.

The two key differences in teen pregnancy rates:
1) Abortion, abortion, abortion. Teen pregnancy is not going to be reported in these cases, thus statistically they never happened.
2) Segregation. Teenagers in the UK are in fact having more sex than teenagers in Japan, due to a lot more opportunity to comingle.

The second point, you've got to see the difference between both societies. The kid father in UK got the girl pregnant at a co-ed sleepover. Tell me, who let's their son sleep over with girls??? Most parents in the UK would never, so this is more an issue with the fact the UK has some very permissive parents who are exceptions in society. Sarah Palin's daughter got pregnant on one of her dates with her boyfriend. Again, most parents would murder their daughter before letting her go unchaperoned with a post-pubescent boy. Japan has the same common sense, it's just enforced more consistently and shame on the parents who don't enforce it.

Furthermore, girls and boys are segregated at the prime ages, especially after school. There's not much free time to hang around with the opposite sex, because of cram school. And many schools, particularly private ones, have strict policies that extend outside the school and are enforced in public.

Another possible explaination is that there is much less inequality in Japan than in the UK. (observe the relevant Gini co-efficients)

By having less economic inequality means a greater economic mobility within a country.

Hence it is relatively easier for a Japanese girl to pursue a reasonably wealthy lifestyle than a similar economic background girl in US or the UK - assuming equal in relevant skills in job market.

So by getting pregnant, a Japanese girl has much more to lose than a similar counterpart in UK or the US. This is a highly likely explaination since it is based on empirics.

When I was in Japan for a brief student-exchange, we (the American students) and the Japanese students were all asked to raise our hand if we know a teenager who was/is pregnant.

Several of the Americans raised their hand, and NONE of the Japanese kids did.

We were also asked if we knew a teenager who had had an abortion; several of us raised our hands but once again NONE of the Japanese students did.


I don't think it was dishonesty... I just don't think they're having sex. :eek:

Having gone to a Japanese high school - and an all girls one at that... I don`t quite think you`re right on that one. There is just a lot more at stake and a lot more education about it.

The circumstances are simply different. Most girls I knew had their first time at a hotel - bathed, clean, with ample condoms at hand that were put to use. There was a "myth" going around that the first time was easier than normal to get pregnant, so people were CAREFUL. The sheer cost of abortion also makes it very hard to get one easily (around $1000 if you`re lucky and catch it in the first few weeks). A stronger family life also makes a difference as parents seems to be more likely to care and pay attention to their children, so it would be harder to hide.

Unless, of course, there is family participation. If mom and dad decide that their little girl isn`t going to have a baby at 16... No one has to know.

Lol.

That's why I joined the group called. "C.O.D. (Call of Duty), Stopping teen pregnacy since 2003." :)

I think that there is a serious lack of morals in England and the family unit is breaking down and not as strong as it used to be.
Living in England I see more and more young parents, some of which do not deserve to be parents!!!

I think this whole stopping teen pregnancy deal is bullshit
It is natural .. it is biological .. it is the time when our sexual organs are developing and need to be exercised. it is only because of this system that we do not encourage it.. it is only because teens do not have stable jobs which can support a family.. it is because of school.
no other animal on this planet attempts to halt their offspring from reproducing when their offspring develops sexual organs...
do you know why some animals develop sexual desires earlier than the time when they could viably reproduce offspring? it's so that they gain practice with a failed child.. some of this lack of failure in parenting might go to explain a lack of parenting in the long run (i.e. parents have no experiences in which their offspring die or develop with issues and such don't learn from wrong choices.. their parenting has not been developed with a policy of "learn by doing".. only by "learn by observing" and that is never a good system in and of itself)

Teen pregnancy.. Huh. Interesting subject. In the US we have a problem also. I think that many countries have that issue the question is though is it an issue in a country where women are born and raised to become wives?

In countries like the US and UK women have the ability to become as prosperous as men because of this reason those who have children young, or get married young are looked at as if they've just ruined their whole lives but I don't think that's true. If all you want from life is to raise a family then so be it. Having a child sometimes even teaches young girls who are going down the wrong path to straighten up.

Now back on topic, I think Japan is a more career focused country and because of this reason teenagers have less time to mess around, I could be wrong though. It's just an assumption.

Wow, very scary that someone actually thinks like this. Are you actually suggesting that teen pregnancy should be encouraged/not discouraged? While some teens do have the emotional maturity to be parents and the ability to support a child financially, most absolutely do not. It is not only because of school or that teens "do not have stable jobs". Can I ask how old you are? Because I can't imagine anyone over the age of about 22 coming out with such a ludicrous idea.

Just because we can physically have children does not mean we should. Do you know that recently a Chinese girl gave birth at the age of 9? Obviously she is quite capable physically, it's all very natural as you suggested, but do you think she has the emotional tools to care for a baby? Most girls have started their periods by the age of 13, and you honestly think that also means they should start having sex then too, because their sex organs "need to be exercised"? Good grief, words fail me.

we've become too soft if "we need emotional tools to deal with sex".. it's just the insertion and reinsertion of the penis into the vagina until sperm is injected into the vagina.. i wonder what's so traumatizing about that

and my point was that people should have to learn how to be parents through failed experiences. yes, i think once you start developing an urge for sex you should have sex.. all this abstinence crap only breeds repression.. and class, anyone know what repression breeds?.. anyone? oh yes, johnny- "Repression breeds ..uhmm breeds perversion." good answer.
i just love how whenever someone is sexually implicit, everyone uses the same phrase "Pervert!" or "you're so perverted" etc. in fact it is the other way around

kira, you are essentially advovating for sex between preteens, and there is no way I can get behind that. Just because a body is physically capable to have intercourse at 11 or 12 doesn't mean that mentally the person is there.

Abstinence does not mean repression. There are other ways to satisfy biological desires without involving another person.

my point was that by putting so much emphasis on sex and how it's bad and evil and by protecting teens from it and shooing them away from it, we only make to give sex a big deal.. if we decentralize the notion of sex and it's importance, it won't be such a major emotional issue for people.. it will simply be the process of reproducing.
and why should we have to satisfy our desires without another person?... that is the reason why we have those desires.. is so that we'll have sex with eachother.

a person should have sex when they start having the desire for it.

I agree with this part. Sex is blown out of proportion for what it is. It has become some big secret with myths and mystique, when really it`s a very simple thing - and natural at that.

I don`t agree with this.

Masturbation is also natural. You say yourself that sex should be thought of as "the process of reproducing". If we think of it as such, you are saying that people far too young and immature to properly care for a child should be reproducing.
I don`t really think that is what you mean, but it definitely sounds like that.

In the distant distant past, I`m sure that if a couple at 10 or 12 had a baby and were unable to care for it... the baby would simply die. A way of reducing the "stupid enough to have a baby at that age" gene. But the modern world doesn`t really work that way, and you end up with children in bad situations with just enough support to live - but not necessarily enough to grow into mature participants in society.

The sense of mystique and taboo about sex needs to go - I agree. But in it`s place there needs to be proper education, support, and acceptance of other ways to take care of those urges before you`re old enough to properly take care of the potential result.

ETA; I had my period at 8, and had interest in sexual stuff at 9 or 10. But that most definitely doesn`t mean I would have been mature enough to handle the realities and results of such.

No successful teen sex program is going to get anywhere by calling sex "bad" or "evil". Abstinence only programs have shown that.

Sex will always be a mojor emotional issue for people just by the nature of what it is. Sex has always been a big deal, and that isn't going to change anytime soon.

Kira, you aren't addressing my point. Girls are able to get pregnant at the age of 11 or 12. Does that mean they are mentally ready to enter into sexual relationships? Of course not. Thousands of years ago when we only lived to the age of 20 that made sense, but now that we live well into our 70s there is no reason to enter adulthood prematurely. Socially and mentally people are children for longer than our ancestors. However, our bodies are ready for adulthood before our brains are.

Children are not ready for the responsibilities, heartache and emotions that come with sexual relationships. Therefore self-gratification is the best outlet until maturity is achieved.

I'm not so sure about that... in many Muslim countries, and other very religious countries, it's taught that sex before marriage is "bad and evil". Teenage pregnancies are a rarity and it's not because the kids are religious, it's because they actually fear the idea and believe it is BAD and EVIL to do anything with a girl until you're married!

well, i believe you are mistaken when you talk about it being a emotional ordeal,.. to help prove my point i am going to ask a general question

what if you grew up in a society where there were only kids your age... there is abundant food supply etc. but everyone has to figure stuff out via experience. there are no adults telling everyone how the world works... you still get sexual desires at the same general age that you did in your own life... but, there has never been anyone to tell you why you get them, if there is something wrong with them, or that you shouldn't act on them. would you feel bad about having sex at the age of thirteen?... i can tell you the answer to that now.. no,.. the answer comes because you wouldn't be able to tell how old you were at any given time.
you would be left to natures clock. so, basically, would you feel emotional turbulence over sex if you had been raised by wolves

you would act on natural impulses ... and i would find it disturbing if someone were to try to convince me that nature does not cut it; that we need religious or governmental institutions to tell us our behavioral traits
you know what happens when humans think they can do better than nature?... we get drugs that make diseases stronger... pesticides that make pests more tolerant.. in the end we get Jurassic park

you know what... i have just decided that i am going to sit down with my son or daughter when she/ he is about the age of 13 and make sure they know it is ok for them to mate. in fact, i will encourage them to find someone and seduce them early on

why? ......

Point well taken, noodle. I thought about talking about people seriously dedicated to their religions as the general exception to that rule. That is a situation where the power of the religion can be a greater influence than the power of biological urges. Certainly religions that require a high degree of dedication, like Catholic and Muslim beleifs have a better score card than the secular world in that respect.



What a bizarre question to raise.

You say "13" like that is the age when people sexually mature. We know it is younger than that...for girls 10 or 11, genrally, and for boys about 12. For some even earlier. If you think nature rules...then let's use nature's numbers.

But yes, if raised like wolves people would act like wolves. Not only would they probably be having sexual relations of some kind or another at pre-teen times, but they are also going to attack rivals, fight over food and mates, and males will probably ignore thier offspring. If that is good enough for you, fine, but I prefer modern society.

There is a name for that. It is called child abuse.

That is a sick and perveted idea, and to do so would not only be crime but also great traversty of natural law.

They are rare as the women get stoned to death or beaten if they get raped let alone are found guilty of instigating the act of sex.

--------

I think the kids and teens over here (Japan) grow up with a whole different set of values then in the UK/USA. You don't see 6-10 year olds roaming the streets after 5PM; you don't see them breaking things, harassing people, getting drunk, smoking weed and the list could go on to be a very long one.
The point is that their disposition to doing something that westerners would not think twice about is based in a society that has a strong and balanced spirit. (plz, I am generalising).

For kids in the west it is a kudos thing among their cliques to do certain things. This is why in the UK you "is a bad man" if you stab some passer-by with your knife while your buddies laugh and joke. And for girls to do the same thing.
Kids in their 10's and up are smoking the weed and getting drunk; mostly on mum n' dad's weed n' booze.

The Japanese don't have that type of culture, thank god! And while to some degree some people do do bad shit here it is a very small amount of people a small amount of the time.

Yes the pension system will get very bad but at least the Japanese kids are studying and will be productive people. Not like the bunch of stoned, alcoholic, violent under educated layabouts you will end up with in the UK. (and USA but not so bad).

For most Japanese boy and girl teens sex is something to talk and snigger about. Kind of like in the UK 30 years ago.

haaahahaa!

first off, it wouldn't be a crime if my offspring had sex at the age of 13.. the only law regarding sex and age is the 18 over under rule. so if he/ she had sex @ 12 with another 12 year old it would be fine.
secondly, oooohhhh it's illegal .... the law is simply other humans enforcing their moral code onto me.. i do not respect, and often do not follow the law. i make my own laws. i make my own rules, and then, sometimes i'll break those.

I think you are confused there. There are "age of consent" laws which vary state by state. However, in no state in the US is the age of consent 12 years old.

Each state established their age of consent law on their own, and yet none of them agree with you notion that sex is a healthy thing for 12 year olds.

Wonder why that is...

it's because america's laws are based off a populous who blindly follow christian dogma. that "christian" attitude has trickled into the laws of the country.
the problem there is that christians are hypocrites - which is why we allow for abortion ... it's not christian, but it's convenient for them.

Then why are the age of consent laws in non-Christian countries about the same?

I think we both know it is in order to protect children.

Like it or not, even when our bodies are "ready" for procreation, our minds are not. That is the social issue you don't seem to want to address.

Actually, the established concept of 'age of consent' was to prevent excessive prostitution in the 19th century United Kingdom. The other problem with age of consent is that there will always be people who can't consent after the 'age of consent' of a given country or state.

Laws dealing with personal issues are never meant to be perfect.

As for the American legal traditions itself, which came from the British legal traditions, I'll just put this here. I'll leave the rest up to you.

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Is English law related to Muslim law?

子育てはおろか自分の稼ぎだけで生活出来ないガキの癖 に、コンドーム無しのセックスなぞ生意気じゃ！と俺は 思うけどね。万が一赤ん坊が出来たら、今通ってる学校 を卒業すると同時に、家から追い出して働かせたら良い んよ。 親は友人知人に何回も頭を下げて、職を探してやるぐら いの手助けはした方が良いかもしれん。 それとこのイギリスの現状は、真面目に働いて納税して いる人が馬鹿を見てると思うよ。でもこんな事言うと、 左派の人権団体がうるさかったりするのかな？

Because schools in England supply condoms so people think having sex young is okay

Or just not have sex to begin with :)

I reject the idea that it's impossible to stop teenagers having sex. I was not sexually active as a teenager because I was raised by grandparents who were very clear that if I got pregnant or they found out I'd had sex underage, they would throw me out of the house with no financial support. They also allowed no dating, no makeup until I was 16, no mobile phone until I was 17 and leaving home etc. If I stayed with a friend they would call the friend's parents to make sure that boys hadn't been invited over. At the time I didn't like any of this, but they believed that teenagers were not to be treated as adults and that while I was living with them I was to obey their rules. And it did stop me from having sex or drinking too much/taking drugs, so now I'm grateful for it

My family is from a working-class area where teenage pregnancy is very common, but when I was at school (I'm 24 now) most girls who got pregnant were 16-17. My younger sister is still at school and most of her pregnant classmates are 13-14, in the next generation it will be 11-12 ...

Teen Pregnancy Know the Facts
 

Did you know that 3 in 10 teen girls in the US will get pregnant at least once before age 20? That's about 745,000 teen pregnancies each year. Babies are great—they’re cute and cuddly and they love you. But they’re also needy and selfish—they want all your time and attention and they want it NOW. Be honest—there are a million things you'd rather be doing than changing a diaper, right? So if you decide to have sex, have you considered the consequences of getting pregnant/ causing a pregnancy? Weirdly enough, almost 50% of teens have never thought about how a pregnancy would affect their lives even though having a baby could be one of the most life-changing things to happen to them.
School comes second: Parenthood is the leading reason why teen girls drop out of school; after all, it’s really difficult to juggle homework and a baby. Less than half of teen mothers ever graduate from high school and fewer than 2% earn a college degree by age 30.Children of teen mothers do worse in school than those born to older parents—they are 50% more likely to repeat a grade, are less likely to complete high school than the children of older mothers, and have lower performance on standardized tests. About one-fourth of teen moms have a second child within 24 months of the first birth—which can further delay their ability to finish school or keep a job.
It’s hardest on the kids: More than half of all mothers on welfare had their first child as a teenager. In fact, two-thirds of families begun by a young, unmarried mother are poor. Children who live apart from their fathers are 5 times more likely to be poor than children with both parents at home. The daughters of young teen mothers are 3 times more likely to become teen mothers themselves. The sons of teen mothers are twice as likely to end up in prison.
A baby won’t make him stay: You may think having a baby will make your relationship even stronger, but the fact is 8 out of 10 fathers don't marry the mother of their child. It's also true that these absent fathers pay less than $800 annually for child support, often because they are poor themselves and can’t afford legitimate support payments.

What is it with people bringing up old topics?

Teen Pregnancy
 

Despite the fact that the teen birth rate is climbing after slowly falling for years, there are still an estimated one million teen pregnancies in the United States alone. About 85% of these pregnancies are unplanned, which in any population can increase the risk for problems. The biggest risk for teen mothers is delaying prenatal care or worse, 7.2% received no care at all.
The reason for lack of prenatal care is usually delayed pregnancy testing, denial or even fear of telling others about the pregnancy. Most states have a health department or university clinic where prenatal care is free or low cost and patient confidentiality is very important, meaning no one can tell the teen mother's family.
Because the body of a teen is still growing she will need more nutritional support to meet both her needs and that of her baby. Nutritional counseling can be a large portion of prenatal care, usually done by a doctor or a midwife, sometimes a nutritionist. This counseling will usually include information about prenatal vitamins, folic acid, and the dos and don'ts of eating and drinking. Lack of proper nutrition can lead to problems like anemia (low iron), low weight gain, etc.
While facing the grim realities of teen pregnancy is not pleasant, this is not the picture that has to be painted. Teen mothers are perfectly capable of having a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. With the proper nutrition, early prenatal care and good screening for potential problems the majority of these potential problems will not come to light. While some tend to think that you can't teach a teen mother anything about her body or baby, it's really a ridiculous notion. Many of the teen mothers who take active roles in their care do go on to have healthy babies, despite the other hardships that they will face in their lives. Support from the families and communities is a must for the young, new family to be successful.

Teenage pregnancy has higher rates of mortality for both mother and an infant. Overall, teenage pregnancies increase health complications. Most teenage girls get pregnant without an intention to conceive. No contraceptive is foolproof. Teenagers do not stop drinking, smoking or consuming drugs during pregnancy, thus harming their fetus.

Good combination in between USA and JAPAN in the Topic of ‘Teeage Pregnancy’.:mad:
More teenage girls in the United States and United Kingdom become pregnant than anywhere else in the developed world, because they are poorly prepared for life in a modern and sexualised society, this statement comes everyday in a newspaper.
The United States has topped a table of teenage pregnancy rates put together by Unicef's Innocenti Research Centre in Italy, which looked at births among teenagers in 28 of the world's wealthiest nations.
Altogether, 52 out of every 1000 girls aged between 15 and 19 in the United States gave birth, while the United Kingdom topped the list in Europe—and came second overall—with just over 30 births in 1000 teenagers. At the other end of the scale Korea, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Sweden had a rate of less than seven births per 1000 teenagers.
Some countries, such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, and France, have “travelled far down the road from traditional values”, but they have also made “successful efforts to prepare their young people to cope with a more sexualised society.”
By comparison the United States and the United Kingdom are secretive and embarrassed about contraceptive services. After interviewing young people about sexual services, the UK government's Social Exclusion Unit concluded: “The universal message received from young people is that the sex and relationship education they receive falls far short of what they would like to equip them for managing relations as they grow into adulthood.”
By tackling teenage births governments have the chance to reduce poverty and its “perpetuation from one generation to the next”, says the report.
And next the japan get mile distance in this topic.:ywave: japan.:vsign: