All states have statutes governing the age of consent—the age at which a person is considered to be old enough to agree to have sex. A person who has sex with someone below the age of consent can be charged with rape even if the younger person was willing because, according to the statute, the [...]

Safer sex is for all women and men who may be at risk for sexually transmitted infection. In today’s world, practicing safer sex is one of the best things we can do for our sexual health. Safer sex is anything we do to lower our risk of getting sexually transmitted infections—infections that are spread through [...]

Thus far we have seen that there has been an increase in sexual activity among adolescent women in the United States. This increase has occurred at all ages for both races and is not restricted to those who are engaged. We now shall examine the relationship between some social factors and premarital intercourse. “Of all [...]

Masturbation is common during childhood, but not all children between the ages of three and seven masturbate. We have no accurate count as to the number who do, nor the frequency for those who do. Based on data from pre-1955 interviews conducted with boys (upper-white-collar class) with an average age of 7.2 years (age range [...]

Closeness and similarity to siblings. Special consideration has been given to the extent to which siblings may serve as companions and role models, affecting not only a boy’s core gender identity but also his subsequent relationships with his peers. It is posited, for example, that regardless of the extent to which a boy’s father is [...]