Gender Identity Among Teenagers

In a world full of demands and expectations, teens are still grasping for the answer on the question, “Who am I?”. Teenage years are full of confusion since the youths are still at the stage of finding their true selves and the need to prove themselves to other people. Raging hormones, peer and sometimes family pressure, and fear to be different and wanting to fit in can cause the teenagers to doubt themselves in most aspects, including their gender identity and sexual orientation.

GENDER IDENTITY AND SEXUAL CONCERNS Gender identity, as mentioned in the previous lesson refers to how the person perceives him/herself, either as a boy or a girl, based on his/her biological sex. However, for some people, the gender identity does not match

Typically, this attraction usually starts during the pre-teen periods. Teens during these years tend to experiment about themselves. Consequently sometimes, this phase elicits confusion among teenagers and they would start to feel baffled about their sexual orientation. They may develop “crushes” or “likeness” to the same sex. Eventually for some, these experiences may be outgrown and the teenager does not end up as a lesbian or a gay later on. But for some teens, this attraction to the same sex does not fade but rather grows stronger as they get older while other teens, because of different reasons such as fear, only realize and accept their true genders when they already become an adult.
Most adolescents consider themselves as heterosexuals. But there are still adolescents who pass the stage of “questioning” their sexual orientation. There are psychological and social issues experienced by young people who identified themselves as homosexuals (gay, lesbian,bisexual) mostly because of stigma brought by the society instead of the issue

A person does not need to be a virgin to abstain from sexual deed. Even if a person already has sexual experience, he/she can still choose to abstain from sex and wait for the time to be physically active again. Abstinence has a lot of benefits. Some of these are given below:
• Abstinence prevents pregnancy and the cost and side effects of contraceptives or other means of birth control. If two people do not engage in sex, fertilization will not happen. The sperm of a male will not meet the female’s egg cell, thus, pregnancy will be avoided. Although the use of artificial methods like condom or pills also prevent pregnancy, abstinence is safer because it is 100% guaranteed to avoid pregnancy.
• Abstinence prevents the risk of acquiring STDs or Sexually Transmitted Disease, HIV, and AIDS. Since there is no penetration nor sexual acts performed, no reason to have STD, HIV and AIDS.
• Abstinence can help prevent the teen’s physical, emotional and psychological repercussions of engaging in early sexual activity especially if the relationship does not last long.
• Abstinence maintains the person’s self-respect, self-discipline, and good