It’s not about sex at all

Sometimes money is spent in all the wrong places. An interesting short article in the Independent reported on a £5.9 million UK government drive to reduce teenage pregnancies and how it had failed in its objective.

The findings on the Young People’s Development Programme (YPDP) were quite surprising. A comparison between the group where the government had spent £2 500 on each participant and a group where no funding had been provided gave a strange result. The funded group had a 16% pregnancy rate to the non funded group’s 6%.

It seems that sex and drugs education and in some cases a free distribution of condoms had no effect, and seemed to increase the rate of pregnancies rather than reduce or stop them.

So it’s not about sex then is it?

Sex is going to happen regardless of what the happy clappers and morals police have to say about it. Sex is going to happen regardless of the age of the participants.

Why would some young people want to ignore birth control measures. They know about them, they are aware of the consequences in fact the funded group in the above YPDP case study even seemed to have less sexual activity.

It seems that having a baby has nothing to do with accidents and unprotected sex. Or at least not to a large extent. It’s more likely to be about the pregnancy and the baby.

Just as an observation, and I’m no psychologist or social worker, would it be more about the girl in question wanting the attention and admiration of others because she is achieving something? She’s having a baby?

In a life where a young person might think they are worthless, that they have achieved nothing and that the chances of their ever achieving anything significant is remote, a pregnancy might do the trick and make them feel more worthy.

Having a baby could give them a sense of achievement lacking anywhere else. It also gives them a moment in the spotlight. It’s a time where they are somebody. They have an important function to fulfill.

Whatever the reason for teenage pregnancies, one of these days the authorities might just make the connection that it’s not actually about sex at all. It’s more about the girl not concerned whether she is pregnant or not. A pregnancy could just be something to make her day, or year, or her life.