He recognized masturbation as an outlet and did not treat it as a morally good or bad act. During the tenth grade, I attended classes on sex education, which were sponsored by our church youth group. Perhaps the most beneficial that I learned through sex education classes was the fact that I knew my parents knew I was aware of sex. This helped establish a closer relationship between my parents and myself.
Our sub-culture would probably be classified as "sissy" or "goody
goody" by the typical high school male student, in that its members
stressed the importance of a living relationship with God and the
pursuit of moral excellence. The main topic of discussion among the
members was that of God's relationship to man. The conversation
often centered around the interpretations of such Bible passages
as, "he who looks on a woman lustfully has committed adultery
with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:20). The conversation, of course,
often drifted to youth-group social events and other things we
would like to do.
Religiously-oriented sex education often is normative and not very explicitly
applied to various activities and relationships, especially in the area of sexual
behavior at that. Hence young people often misunderstand or misinterpret the
teachings of the church. In the first case to follow, the boy is positive toward his church
and feels that he and his church see eye-to-eye on sexual behavior, but it is doubtful if
authorities in that church would agree!
The church did have some influence on my feelings and was a
strong motivating factor in most of my decisions. Because of the
church and my own attitudes, I felt the girl I went with should be
something special and have virtues above the normal act. Sex was
something I could secure by picking up some girl I didn't know and
would never see again.
The next two cases deal with Roman Catholic youth who are willing to engage in
non-marital sexual intercourse, which Catholicism unequivocally proscribes, but are
strict in following Roman Catholic teachings on birth control!
With my boyfriend being a Roman Catholic, and I a Protestant, our
views on birth control differed greatly. In keeping with his church's
beliefs, he believed that withdrawal and the rhythm method were
the only acceptable methods. And if I wasn't to cause him to go
against his church, I had to agree. Although I would have felt better
about it if one of us had employed a surer method. But I did not
desire to lessen his satisfaction with an artificial means if it was
not acceptable to him.
The only forms of birth control my girlfriend would allow was coitus
interruptus and the rhythm method. She was Catholic and was
quite set in her ways on this subject.
Disagreement between adolescents and the church may be a lesser problem than
their personal concerns over the disparity between their own ethical standards and
their behavior. Middleton and Putney (1962) found more females believing that
certain sexual encounters are ethically wrong, but boys and girls both departed in
their behavior from their ethical stances. Eighty-four percent and 57 percent of males
and females had engaged in heavy petting in the previous three years, while 24
percent of the males and 70.5 percent of the females believed the action to be ethically
wrong. Sixty-one percent of males and 18 percent of the females had engaged in non-
marital sexual intercourse; 49 percent of the males and 90 percent of the females
believed the action to be ethically wrong. Ninety-three percent of the males and 53
percent of females had looked at pornographic pictures; 35 percent of males and 59
percent of females thought it was ethically wrong. Sorensen (1973, p. 408) found that
of adolescents who had coital experience, 50 percent marked as true the statement, "I
sometimes worry about whether God would approve of my sexual activities"; 42
percent of those who were still virgins also marked it as true.