I was compelled to speak out on teenage sexuality after reading the article, 'Teen prostitutes - Missing 15-y-o selling sexual favours on 'Back Road'', that was published in The Gleaner yesterday. The country has a big issue with teenage sexuality. Educators will speak of horrifying incidents of orgies and sexual activities being uncovered on school grounds. As Betty-Ann Blaine said in the article, teenage prostitution has been around since time immemorial, but the magnitude of sexually inappropriate behaviours in teens has sky-rocketed in recent times.

The phenomenon of sexting ('exchanging sexual lyrics, pictures and videos via cellular phones') and daggering serve as examples of maladaptive expres-sions of teenage sexuality.

But, who is accountable?

Are the parents of these children, some of whom are young adults themselves who dropped out of school because of teenage pregnancy, accountable? Parents do have a role to play in their children's lives. They have the responsibility of meeting the basic needs of their children but parents also have an equally important responsibility to express their love to their children and also to model good behaviours for their children.

Onus on parents

The do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do era is through. Parents have to walk the walk and talk the talk. Hypocrisy does not sit well with teenagers. If parents are loose with their sexuality, they have modelled for their children poor sexuality.

Who is accountable? Is it the media, flaunting half-naked women in magazines and newspapers, pumping sexually explicit music and lyrics into the atmosphere? The media are also an agent of socialisation, just like the family, which can also model male and female roles for curious, confused teenage onlookers. The media have a role to play, and deejays like Vybz Kartel need to stop circumventing the effects that their music has on the vulnerable minds of young people and start using their creative genius for more benevolent purposes.

Is the Church accountable? Church members and pastors have to stop hiding behind their Bibles and speak out on these issues.

The list of persons accountable could go on. The truth is, we are all accountable to varying degrees.

I am, etc.,

Jesanya Scale

jesanya19@hotmail.com