Written by Counselor at SchoolNet on 20th January, 2009
You may need to re-exam your friends. Good friends don’t call you names or make fun of you when you don’t do what they do or when you are not like them. Good friends should always respect you for what you are. Good friends should never force you into having sex. Having sex is a decision you will have to make after weighing out all the possible consequences of sexual intercourse.
Being a virgin is normal and very healthy and you should be proud of it. It is the best way to avoid early unwanted pregnancy with its associated responsibilities and consequences which include dropping out of school.
At this point in your life, your education should be your priority and you should desist anything like sex which may divert you from concentrating on your studies or cause you to drop out of school. Good education will guarantee a good future. Your future lies in your hands so don’t do anything for the sake of pleasing your friends.
Remaining a virgin is also one of the ways of avoiding Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) which include Syphilis, Gonorrhoea and even HIV/AIDS. STIs when not treated early or properly may lead to complications like barrenness or even death like in the case of HIV/AIDS.
It is not true that when you have no sex, a lot of water will accumulate in your back because biologically your reproductive system is not connected to your back.
In marriage, people look for partners whom they respect and are responsible and able to raise and look after the family and not people who have a lot of practice in sex. Your education and virginity are likely to add you additional points.
Written by Counselor at SchoolNet on 4th January, 2009
The fact that your friends say they are having sex, does not mean that they really are or that you should do it too. A lot of friends brag about their sexual adventures to gain false prestige or acceptance from their friends.
It is very normal not to have a girl friend. Do not be pressured by your friends to have a girl friend or try to get one simply to please your friends. We are all different and have different needs at different times. You need to stand up to them and explain your position.
Before engaging in sexual intercourse, think about the responsibilities and the consequences which go with it like pregnancy, STDs, HIV/AIDS especially with unprotected sex. Even if you used condoms as a protection against pregnancy and STDs, they are also negative emotional consequences.
Written by Counselor at SchoolNet on 4th January, 2009
Yes, it is possible for a girl to get pregnant if she has unprotected sexual intercourse during per period (i.e. when she is still breeding). It depends on the length of her cycle, how many days her period lasts and when she has sexual intercourse because the sperm can survive up to 3-4 days in a woman’s body.
For a girl with a short menstrual cycle like that of 21 days, ovulation (release of the egg) may occur when she is still in her period especially if she stays long like 7 days in her periods. Therefore it is possible for the girl to get pregnant so long as there are sperm when ovulation occurs even if she is still in her periods.
Written by Counselor at SchoolNet on 4th January, 2009
A wet dream (or nocturnal emission) is when a boy’s penis becomes erect and he ejaculates while sleeping. Wet dreams are part of the growth changes that happen in boys during puberty.
As a child nears puberty, a gland in the brain, called the pituitary gland, increases the secretion of a hormone called follicle-simulating hormone (FSH). In boys, FSH causes sperms to develop.
Wet dreams are caused by sexual excitements from dreams or by physical stimulation like rubbing against the blankets or beds.
Wet dreams are healthy and natural. When you get wet dreams, there is no need to worry, get embarrassed or feel guilty because they are part of normal sexual development. Not all boys however get wet dreams. If you have never got a wet dream, that’s normal too, it does not mean anything is wrong with you.
Written by Counselor at SchoolNet on 2nd January, 2009
Thank you for the concern about your friends. You must be a true friend to worry and want to help. Naturally, we can never predict the exact “problems” that our friends will get but we could consider and explore certain general challenges and ways in which you could help in that kind of situation.
Your friends could contract sexually transmitted infections like Gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV/AIDS, and more. They could also end up with a pregnancy, in case they engage in unprotected sexual intercourse or miss use a condom.
Your friends are also at a risk of building the foundation of their relationship on sex performance, which would lead to a quick break up should one of them not match up to the other’s satisfaction.
Your friend could even be accused by the girls’ parents for defilement because the girls is less than 18 years. According to the Uganda law, have sex with a girl of less than 18 years is illegal wthether consensual or not. Defilement carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
With a few of those sample challenges, you as a friend could share with them more knowledge on the risks of engaging in sex, and help them preoccupy themselves with activities that would divert their attention from the desire to engage in sex.
Written by Counselor at SchoolNet on 1st January, 2009
Sex feelings are a normal part of growing and can be controlled using Abstinence skills. These skills are very rarely mentioned when people talk of Abstinence yet they are very important. Some of the abstainance skills include:
Self awareness: Your ability to identify the things that trigger your sexual feelings.
Imagination: Your ability to create in your mind , options to limit your feeling beyond your present reality.
Conscience: A deep inner awareness of the separating the right options from a wrong ones.
Independent will: Ability to decide on a response to what exactly triggered your sexual feeling, free from all other influence
The following may help you to control your sexual feeling:
First you should appreciate that having sexual feelings is a normal. In fact you would be abnormal if you did not have them. However those feelings do not mean anything and you don’t have to do anything about them. Nothing will happen when sexual feeling are ignored. In fact after some time the feelings may change or even vanish.
Secondly you should avoid situations and behavior that can cause you to get temptations of having sexual intercourse.
Then be very active in many activities. When you are young you are so energetic and you need to use that energy to engage in productive activities or to develop a particular skill e.g sports. In this way your mind will not think about the sexual feelings. I think there are many more ways some even individual specific we have to continue thinking about them.