Sexual Awareness

Level of Sexual Awareness of Grades 7 & 8 junior High school of Jesus Christ King of Kings Lord of Lords Foundation School Inc.

Sexual Awareness
Poverty is one of the world 's major problems. It 's causes ranges from the failure of the government, corruption, and over population. Going back to our research, lack of awareness to certain things leads to major problems.

Sex Education in the Philippines Basically, it is one of the few words that catch our attention. Whenever we see the word “sex” in magazines, newspapers and other print materials, we tend to stop at some point and become interested to read the article where it is written. It’s not because we simply feel the urge to read about sex but perhaps the “questioning self” wants to clarify and discover the truth about this matter. In liberal democracies, sex is viewed as a normal activity for both adults and teenagers. Whether they are married or not, in a serious relationship or just in a fling, they engage to this kind of human activity. In fact, most of their High School youngsters have this “get laid plans” before entering college. For them, sex is not a big deal. So, their state colleges and universities came up with a decision to integrate sex education into their classrooms as a regular part of instructions. In the Philippines, it’s very different. Whenever we say the word “sex”, we are labeled as “rude”. No wonder why if we heard of “sex” we directly associate it to “vulgarity”. We cannot blame ourselves because we are living in a society with a stronghold of moral standards and conservatism. Some of us are still walking around the circular path of Father Damaso’s preachings in Noli, dictating us not to do this and that, which made us all hypocrites at the end of the day. With SexEd, the intention is not to encourage young ones to engage into sex but to propagate learnings instead. As long as highly influential institutions, like the Church, are there, willing to guide and give assistance, we will not forget how to draw the line between what is moral and not. If our government will continue to adhere to all the medieval age thinking, I doubt if we could help this country from preventing Rapid Population Growth. As what Conrado de Quiros said “It’s the Education, not the Sex”, true indeed that we’re for education and not of sex. However massive screening and studies must be allotted regarding this matter if ever our government would implement sex education as part of our private and public schools’ curricula. We can never say “never”, when in fact we’re not blind of the rampant controversies around us and when our eyes are all open, widely open to see those problems. Let us not be miopic in these issues. Let us think of the future and most importantly, THINK OF TODAY.

A psychological approach to sex education Adolescence is an important time period with regard to sexual development considering hormonal changes increase sex drive, change appearance and improve the likelihood of reproduction. The stages of sexuality largely depend on perception but usually begin with autoerotic behavior, which translates into actual sexual activity with another person (Steinberg, 2011). Even though adolescent sexual behavior is by all accounts normal, the implications related to the use of contraception are concerning. Due to the prevalence of sexual intercourse during adolescence efforts to educate the youth continue to be a top priority of the educational system and government. Nonetheless, these efforts have done little to solve the current crisis in our community with regard to adolescent sexual behavior. A report published by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services “suggests that as many as 50% of all adolescents are sexually active” (White, 2008, p. 349). A portion of those are young women who will become pregnant, adolescent men who will contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and teenagers who will suffer from emotional distress and regret. Even though the majority agrees education is the solution to this dilemma, one question continues to create division; should public schools provide abstinence only education programs for teens? There are two primary responses to this question. The first approach is to implement comprehensive sex education, which is any "program that not only provides information about contraception, STDs, and pregnancy but also teaches adolescents how to refuse unwanted sex" (Steinberg, 2011, p. 368). The goal of this type of program is to educate teens that are or will be sexually active the methods of protecting themselves against the negative implications related to sexual behavior. The second approach is called abstinence only education, which is any "program that encourages adolescents to avoid sexual activity but does not provide information about safe sex" (Steinberg, 2011, p. 368). The goal of these programs is to persuade teens to withhold from sexual activity until they are married in order to prevent the implications discussed earlier. The results of abstinence education programs vary; however, funding for abstinence only education is minimal compared to the funding given to comprehensive sex education programs. In either case, all parties involved understand the importance of developing a solution that better coincides with adolescent sexual development and the current crisis.

Conceptual Framework

Scope of Limitation:
40 Students; 20 Students every section.
The place where we will conduct the study is at Jesus Christ King of kings and Lord of Lords Foundation School Inc.
Questions to be Answered:
INSTRUCTIONS: The items listed below refer to the sexual aspects of people 's lives. Please read each item carefully and decide to what extent it is characteristic of you. Give each item a rating of how much it applies to you by using the following scale: A = Not at all characteristic of me. B = Slightly characteristic of me. C = Somewhat characteristic of me. D = Moderately characteristic of me. E = Very characteristic of me.

1. I am very aware of my sexual feelings.
2. I wonder whether others think I 'm sexy.
3. I 'm assertive about the sexual aspects of my life.
4. I 'm very aware of my sexual motivations.
5. I 'm concerned about the sexual appearance of my body.
6. I 'm not very direct about voicing my sexual desires. (R)
7. I 'm always trying to understand my sexual feelings.
8. I know immediately when others consider me sexy.
9. I am somewhat passive about expressing my sexual desires. (R)
10. I 'm very alert to changes in my sexual desires.
11. I am quick to sense whether others think I 'm sexy.
12. I do not hesitate to ask for what I want in a sexual relationship.
13. I am very aware of my sexual tendencies.
14. I usually worry about making a good sexual impression on others.
15. I 'm the type of person who insists on having my sexual needs met.
16. I think about my sexual motivations more than most people do.
17. I 'm concerned about what other people think of my sex appeal.
18. When it comes to sex, I usually ask for what I want.
19. I reflect about my sexual desires a lot.
20. I never seem to know when I 'm turning others on.
21. If I were sexually interested in someone, I 'd let that person know.
22. I 'm very aware of the way my mind works when I 'm sexually aroused.
23. I rarely think about my sex appeal. (R)
24. If I were to have sex with someone, I 'd tell my partner what I like.
25. I know what turns me on sexually.
26. I don 't care what others think of my sexuality.
27. I don 't let others tell me how to run my sex life.
28. I rarely think about the sexual aspects of my life.
29. I know when others think I 'm sexy.
30. If I were to have sex with someone, I 'd let my partner take the initiative. (R)
31. I don 't think about my sexuality very much. (R)
32. Other people 's opinions of my sexuality don 't matter very much to me. (R)
33. I would ask about sexually-transmitted diseases before having sex with someone.
34. I don 't consider myself a very sexual person.
35. When I 'm with others, I want to look sexy.
36. If I wanted to practice "safe sex" with someone, I would insist on doing so.
Review of Related Literature

Abstract
This paper examines whether young adult literature accurately reflects young adults’ knowledge of and interaction with sexuality. Teen literature has grown to represent a broader inclusion of sexuality, be it orientation, sex, or examples of healthy and unhealthy relationships. Some of these topics have been present in teen literature for decades, but there has been a shift in focus, content, and acceptance. Today’s young adults are exposed to many new possibilities and are freer to choose and explore their sexuality without as much backlash as in previous years, which means more choices to make without much structure or guidance in that process. Teens are faced with family and community expectations for their sexual orientation and activities; they can and should reflect on their own feelings in the matter, as well as what their peers are doing and expecting from one another; reading about these topics provides teens with a safe learning environment. Sex is incredibly important post-puberty as it is frequently on their minds, on their TVs, and in their books. By being aware of what literature is available in the interests of our diverse teen populations, we can provide better reader’s advisory without fretting over whether we are censoring material. The goal as librarians is to further our awareness of the availability of materials for teens to read and identify with as they explore their own sexuality and become comfortable with who they are.

Sex presents a complex problem in libraries with regard to how we interact with our patrons. We all want to protect children—our youngest group of patrons—from overt sexual references, yet for adult patrons of public libraries, we allow open access to sex so long as they comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Where is the line between “okay” and “too much” for our young adult patrons? According to Martin, the line is drawn at sexuality, “often considered the issue that divides children’s from adolescent literature.” Sexuality can be defined as the recognition of what is sexual. It is this age where puberty, sexuality, and sex come into play in the lives of younger patrons—and authors, publishers, television producers, and musicians know it. For this age range, a greater range of sexuality is both more marketable and more widely accepted than ever before. Teens are faced with both family and community expectations for their sexual orientation and activities, yet they can and should reflect on their own feelings in the matter, as well as their peers’ activities and expectations. What can young adult librarians do to better serve this population? Know your community, know your collection, and aim to provide truthful and accurately written materials on your shelves in order to promote healthy sexuality in young adult patrons and a healthy environment for our young adult patrons to learn more about themselves.

Puberty brings endless changes to teen lives, including bodily changes and heightened curiosity about bodies and romantic or sexual interactions. Teens seek answers to their questions from any source available, often friends, trusted adults, or the media. The library has always been a bastion of information, and in this topic, as in any subject, we should strive to provide the most accurate and factual information for our patrons. If the material is there, tweens and teens will read it. Libraries can accomplish this through comprehensive nonfiction collections containing factual information and through novels in which teens learn how others react to situations and interact with people. Experiences described in novels have profound influence on their teen readers—yet another reason to categorize them as “coming of age” stories. Because teens and adults find bodily changes awkward to discuss, the subject is often avoided in the home; teens will devour any information they can get from library materials.

A Brief History of Teen Literature and Sexuality
In the beginning, there was nothing—young adult literature did not exist. Teens chose from adult titles or continued to read books intended for children. One foundation of YA literature can be seen in the Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys books, which contained occasional references to the mere existence of relationships. These were followed years later by novels detailing the demise of teen characters who chose to have premarital sex, such as Jerrie Oughton’s Perfect Family, in which the main character, Welcome, is turned out of her home in shame and ultimately gives up her baby in addition to everything else she has lost. Like Welcome, the character Carol in Richard Peck’s Don’t Look and It Won’t Hurt is repudiated by her parents and moves into a home for unwed mothers. Similarly negative fates awaited gay and lesbian characters, usually in the form of institutionalization or frequent car crashes. The Man Without a Face by Isabel Holland and Trying Hard to Hear Youby Sandra Scoppettone both feature this violent and pessimistic ending for the gay characters involved. The arrival of Judy Blume briefly revolutionized young adult literature by openly acknowledging sex, although society quickly resumed the position that teens do not or at least shouldnot have sex. Trites states that most young adult books have conflicting messages about sexuality that “both reflect and perpetuate Western culture’s confused sexual

Sexuality and Teen Literature
According to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy’s 2009 survey, 46 percent of high school teens have had sex while 37 percent report being sexually active. This number is down from 1991 but has remained fairly steady over the last few years. Young focused on a different set of data from the National Center of Health Statistics and quotes the statistics as 42 percent of girls and 43 percent of boys under the age of 18 have had sex at least once. Yet for such a high number of teens being sexually active, there is not a corresponding amount of young adult literature depicting the act of sex. This dearth is not new in the genre—critics as far back as the late 1970s and early 1980s have called for a less conservative and more positive approach to sex in young adult literature. MacGregor focused on the messages sent to young girls through several contemporary novels and found that across several categories, with few exceptions, the majority of books further the abstinence-only sex education that many teens receive in school. Many contemporary novels offer negative consequences for the girls who partake in sex, in the form of unpleasant or unwanted sex, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, or emotional turmoil: “Their stories tell us that sex is not something a girl should want to do.” Many storylines serve to terrify teenage girls who are already scared of getting a sexually transmitted disease or becoming pregnant and repeat the idea “that the only things that result from sex are negative.” Negative consequences abound, such as Amber’s first and only sexual experience resulting in contracting herpes in Marilyn Reynold’s If You Loved Me, or Bridget’s emotional recoiling and withdrawal from others after her first sexual encounter in Ann Brashare’s Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. In Afterby Amy Efaw, Devon’s whole world is turned upside down when she denies that she is pregnant and copes by throwing her baby in a dumpster.

Teen Literature and Sexuality
Literature is a valuable way for young adults to “try on difference social masks” in forming their identity. Exposure to images of different orientations and open sexuality through various media “allows sexualized messages and products [to] be more easily accepted during this developmental age.” The American Psychological Association (APA) is referring to a negative sexualization of girls and not necessarily a healthy sense of one’s sexuality, but the sentiment that this age is more impressionable is apt. The broader the substance of your library’s collection, the more exposure youth will have to different ways of life and acceptance thereof.

Collecting and promoting materials with LGBTQ characters or those that promote an open-minded view of sexuality helps assimilate LGBTQ adolescents and aids straight teens in accepting gay peers. Unfortunately, while homosexuality in young adult literature is nothing new, we have been dealing with its censorship for decades and continue to see examples of it. Cart’s 1996 book reminds us that “according to the American Library Association, the topic of homosexuality was the leading cause of book challenges in 1993.” The children’s book And Tango Makes Three has made the top three on ALA’s lists of most challenged or banned books for the last four years. While there are still a limited number of titles published where homosexuality is the main theme, growing numbers of books feature gay friends of the main characters. Manfredi points out “books being published for young adults are not queer-friendly by default. The field has expanded in many positive ways, it is not free from some of the pitfalls of earlier eras.” These characters may not be the focus of the stories, but they appear with more frequency each passing year.Cart states the truth of the matter simply as “gay kids, like any others, need to see themselves represented in literature; they need positive role models too, just like any other kids.” The results of the interview project described in Meixner’s article revealed that libraries often have more LGBTQ literature in their young adult nonfiction collections than in their fiction collections. This project also discovered that unfortunately teens often do not request these materials. The lack of requests for this material may indicate teens’ shyness in asking librarians for these titles, or reluctance to check out books that might expose their sexuality to their parents or peers, rather than a lack of interest. There needs to be a balance between texts in the nonfiction collection that answer frank questions and fiction titles that give context and explain emotions.

Conclusion
This project provided not only insight of titles for future readers’ advisory, but also information that can be used to defend the collection against censorship. Knowing your collection is only part of the solution—knowing your community’s values and expectations will help you tailor your collection to your teens, and know what will be allowed onto the shelves, and what will push the envelope a bit too far. Continuing to read book reviews and compare booklists will enable library staff to broaden the collection. Learn more about what the community wants by attending school meetings and speaking with teen patrons and their parents. Ask trusted patrons what they think about the collections and what is missing.
Cart says the following regarding books with gay themes or characters, but it is true of all young adult literature dealing with sexuality: there are insufficient good books. He also states, “The books also need to be honest and candid in their treatment of the subject.” However hip young adult librarians can be, we must not overlook our own feelings about sexuality in young adult literature. Any teacher will tell you that young adults can sense your discomfort, which spreads and compounds the problem. Your openness should be present in your collection, your displays, and your manner. If you aren’t comfortable with the subject, seek out local sex educators through Planned Parenthood, The National Campaign, or sexual assault or domestic violence centers. They can help you find resources, titles, and determine accuracy of content. Resources and booklists also exist in abundance, and while it would be impossible to create one comprehensive list of all books, booklists, and recommendations for titles addressing the issue of sexuality, a selection compiled from resources utilized in the writing of this article can be found at the end of the piece.
In a collection, the amount of material in any of these areas is indicative of several factors, such as an individual librarian’s choices and comfort level with these subjects as well as the community’s values and expectations (or the librarian’s perception of these). Within your library’s collection development policies, it is your selection of titles that determine the breadth of your collection’s horizons and thus affects the horizons of your young adult patrons. A paucity of material in any area only perpetuates ignorance in sexually aware teens. As Meixner’s students learned, it is “possible for libraries, like schools, to perpetuate as well as perpetrate violence against LGBTQ youth” and by extension, other teens reviewing their sexuality, be it orientation, interest, personal opinions or values, or navigating relationships, simply by not having a balanced collection.
Being a teenager is complicated. Sex is complicated. Most adults will likely admit that sex is complicated, even with the benefit of years of practice and experience, and teens do not yet have much experience or knowledge in this area. Having accurate material available for them to get the information they seek is part of our job and helps make the issues less complicated. “Young adult literature becomes one of few places where readers can find greater explication of the mechanics of the sex act, descriptions of sexual maturation, and scripts for negotiating their own sexuality.” Our YA collections need more titles that fill this important information need for our teenage patrons. “Teenagers deserve to have the option of seeing positive representations of sex in the books that they are reading.” Much of this article may be preaching to the choir, as our ability to select titles with accurate information is limited to what the authors of YA literature produce, and more than likely they will not be reading this. Instead, the goal as librarians is to further our awareness as to what is available and on our shelves for teens to read and identify with in exploration of their own sexuality and identity.

References
1. Michelle Martin, “Saussure, Sex, and Socially Challenged Teens: A Polyphonic Analysis of Adolescent Fiction,” in Children’s Literature. Annual of Modern Language Association Division on Children’s Literature and the Children’s Literature Association 30 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2002), 219.
2. Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 2778.
3. Diane Emge, “I’m Pregnant! Fear and Conception in Four Decades of Young Adult Literature,” Young Adult Library Services (Winter: 2006): 22.
4. Leonard Sax, Girls on the Edge: the Four Factors Driving the New Crisis for Girls: Sexual Identity, the Cyberbubble, Obsessions, Environmental Toxins(New York: Basic Books, 2010), 12-13.
5. Roberta Seelinger Trites, Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature (Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 2000), 95.
6. T. L. Stone, “Now and Forever: The Power of Sex in Young Adult Literature,”Voice of Youth Advocates 28 (no. 6 2006): 463.
7. Marlene Perez, “Going All The Way in Teen Literature,” Young Adult Library Services (Winter 2006): 22-29.
8. Amy Pattee, “The Secret Source: Sexually Explicit Young Adult Literature As An Information Source,” Young Adult Library Services (Winter 2006): 30-38.
9. Perez, “Going All The Way In Teen Literature,” 20.
10. Trites, Disturbing the Universe, 96.
11. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, “Teen Sexual Behavior and Contraceptive Use: Data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2009,”( accessed August 2, 2010).
12. Sandra Young, “Teens Having Sex: Numbers staying steady,” CNN Health ‘The Chart’ Blog 2010. (accessed July 24, 2010)
13. A. M. MacGregor, “Let’s (Not) Get It On: Girls and Sex in Young Adult Literature,” Voice of Youth Advocates 26 (no. 6 2004): 468.
14. Young, “Teens Having Sex.”
15. B. E. Hamilton, J. A. Martin, and S. J. Ventura, “Births: Preliminary Data for 2007,” National Vital Statistics Reports 57 (no. 12 2009). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.
16. Emge, “I’m Pregnant! Fear and Conception in Four Decades of Young Adult Literature,” 26.
17. Lisa Goldstein and Molly Phelan, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Manga: Manga as an Extension of Young Adult Literature,” Young Adult Library Services(Summer 2009): 32-38.
18. American Psychological Association, Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls(Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2007). (accessed July 28, 2010)
19. Michael Cart, From Romance to Realism: 50 Years of Growth and Change in Young Adult Literature(New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996), 228.
20. Angie Manfredi, “Accept the Universal Freak Show,” Young Adult Library Services (Summer 2009): 27.
21. Cart, From Romance to Realism, 232.
22. Emily Meixner, “Teacher Agency and Access to LGBTQ Young Adult Literature,” Radical Teacher 79 (2006): 17.
23. Emge, “I’m Pregnant! Fear and Conception in Four Decades of Young Adult Literature,” 26.
24. American Psychological Association, Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, 8.
25. Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne, So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood, and What Parents Can Do To Protect Their Kids(New York: Ballantine Books, 2008), 151.
26. Lynn Biederman, “From Blume to Block and Beyond: Sex in Young Adult Literature,” ALA 2009 Annual Conference Materials, 2006, (accessed July 28, 2010).
27. Manfredi, “Accept the Universal Freak Show,” 28.
28. Cart, From Romance to Realism, 230.
29. Meixner, “Teacher Agency and Access to LGBTQ Young Adult Literature,” 17.
30. Pattee, “The Secret Source: Sexually Explicit Young Adult Literature As An Information Source,” 38.
31. MacGregor, “Let’s (Not) Get It On,” 468

Methodology
This study used an objective, self-report instrument designed to measure four personality tendencies associated with sexual awareness and sexual assertiveness:
(1) sexual-consciousness
(2) sexual-preoccupation
(3) sexual-monitoring
(4) sexual-assertiveness.
Grades 7 & 8 junior High school of Jesus Christ King of Kings Lord of Lords Foundation School Inc. were invited to take part. Data was collected through a questionnaire designed for the study of the level of sexual awareness. The questionnaire was administered to 40 students that agreed to participate. A 5-point Likert scale is used to collect data on respondents ' responses.The results of these statistical analyses provided strong preliminary evidence supporting the factor structure of the Sexual Awareness Questionnaire

References: 2. Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 2778. 3. Diane Emge, “I’m Pregnant! Fear and Conception in Four Decades of Young Adult Literature,” Young Adult Library Services (Winter: 2006): 22. 4. Leonard Sax, Girls on the Edge: the Four Factors Driving the New Crisis for Girls: Sexual Identity, the Cyberbubble, Obsessions, Environmental Toxins(New York: Basic Books, 2010), 12-13. 5. Roberta Seelinger Trites, Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature (Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 2000), 95. 6. T. L. Stone, “Now and Forever: The Power of Sex in Young Adult Literature,”Voice of Youth Advocates 28 (no. 6 2006): 463. 7. Marlene Perez, “Going All The Way in Teen Literature,” Young Adult Library Services (Winter 2006): 22-29. 8. Amy Pattee, “The Secret Source: Sexually Explicit Young Adult Literature As An Information Source,” Young Adult Library Services (Winter 2006): 30-38. 11. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, “Teen Sexual Behavior and Contraceptive Use: Data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2009,”( accessed August 2, 2010). 12. Sandra Young, “Teens Having Sex: Numbers staying steady,” CNN Health ‘The Chart’ Blog 2010.  (accessed July 24, 2010) 13 17. Lisa Goldstein and Molly Phelan, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Manga: Manga as an Extension of Young Adult Literature,” Young Adult Library Services(Summer 2009): 32-38. 18. American Psychological Association, Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls(Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2007). (accessed July 28, 2010) 19 20. Angie Manfredi, “Accept the Universal Freak Show,” Young Adult Library Services (Summer 2009): 27. 22. Emily Meixner, “Teacher Agency and Access to LGBTQ Young Adult Literature,” Radical Teacher 79 (2006): 17. 25. Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne, So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood, and What Parents Can Do To Protect Their Kids(New York: Ballantine Books, 2008), 151. 26. Lynn Biederman, “From Blume to Block and Beyond: Sex in Young Adult Literature,” ALA 2009 Annual Conference Materials, 2006, (accessed July 28, 2010).