Promoting Contraception

Manal is an eighteen-year-old girl. Last month, she had a painful experience that made her rethink about her acts. Manal was having sexual intercourses with her boyfriend who is two years older than her. Their relationship was funny at the beginning, but it turned to a nightmare when she learned that she was pregnant. Her boyfriend broke up with her, her girlfriends let her down, because she was trapped with a baby. The only solution that solved her problem was abortion. In fact, she risked her life and took responsibilities by herself because of a moment of enjoyment. Therefore, is there any solution that could be done in order to avoid such dangers? And how could she react if she knew about the drawbacks of what she was doing?
Manal is not the only teenager having experienced such an awful episode in her life. Everyday, a great amount of girls and boys face problems with their sexuality. In Morocco, the problem is greater because it is not only a matter of teenagers' problems, but also a problem of society. The actual Moroccan society suffers from paradoxes that confuse teenagers who are just about discovering the real world. Every single moment, they are catching different messages concerning their sexual lives: ones are encouraging them to 'go ahead' in what they are doing, and others are keeping them far from any temptation. Therefore, the question raised is closely related to the finding of the most suitable behavior that those lost teenagers might follow. Is it the right way the abstinence from all appealing signals of society? Or a total openness to the society and its temptations? I do believe that the promotion of contraception among teenagers is the best way to overcome problems resulting from extra-marital sexual intercourses.
Conservative families might be concerned that starting from the point that Morocco is a Muslim country; thus, we are not expected to debate the promotion of contraception. The Muslim religion that we are all required to follow has been clear about extra-marital sexual intercourses. “Let no man guilty of adultery or fornication marry and but a woman similarly guilty, or an Unbeliever: nor let any but such a man or an Unbeliever marry such a woman: to the Believers such a thing is forbidden.” Sura 24: 3.This surah clearly states the position of Islamic religion towards immoral relationships, and explains the punishment that should be inflicted to disobedient people. I can understand their concerns about the sacrality of girls’ honor, purity and virginity within a Muslim country. Yet, I want to highlight the actual situation in Morocco, especially concerning teenagers’ sexuality. Inside our Muslim country, the majority of young people are not convinced about Islam. Hence, they are labeled as Muslims at their birth, but they do not have the necessary faith to practice it honestly. In fact, the fake label “Muslim” is a way of hiding the reality and building a hypocritical society. Teenagers are encouraged to do what they want as far as nobody knows about it. Consequently, instead of imposing abstinence without convincing teenagers about its advantages, it is wiser to promote contraception among them to avoid potential risks of bigger scandals and dishonor.
Some scholars might argue that promoting contraception among youngsters would influence them negatively. They strongly believe that even with clear instructions, theory is far away from practice. For that reason, sex education classes are a platonic way to solve the problem, or worse, it creates other problems related to sexual practices. I agree, in part, with those people who consider that teenagers would be affected. Still, teenage hood is a critical stage of life where people are between childhood and adulthood. They want to experience adult customs, but they still have child fears. Indeed, they are vulnerable and must be guided throughout this period. If we do not act in that way, they certainly would have their own experience without taking any measure of precaution. The goal behind sex education classes is to make adolescents aware of all eventual risks and damages that they might encounter, then to encourage them to have safer sex.
The society accepts as true that promoting contraception among young people will destroy the morality and the society structure. They claim that after conceding about morally wrong issues such as cigarettes and alcohol, they cannot allow teenagers to behave in such way. This is a misconception of the current issue because the society is already destroyed. Teenagers are behaving wildly with a high non-sense of responsibilities. For that reason, communication is the most effective way that could be used to achieve satisfying results. The principal aim of promoting contraception is the use of a powerful tool to help adolescents think and act by themselves. Teaching them critical thinking is a way of getting rid of all potential risks. Still, the encountered problem is the lack of time and the urgency to act. Therefore, as a first step, the sensitizing could be the most effective way of stopping this phenomenon. Afterward, it may be possible to inculcate critical thinking to youngsters. I estimate that the actual society is suffering from hidden harms because of hypocrisy and taboos. In fact, we are not allowed to dig our heads in the sand and continue in the ostrich-like way because it misleads teenagers who are just about to discover the real world.
Some men are strongly attached to their cultural conceptions and do not accept to marry girls who experienced sexuality with other men. Indeed, they maintain that abstinence is the sine qua non condition to preserve girls. These people display narrow-mind and selfishness. This category of men is totally for abstinence. They impose to girls to withdraw from life. In other words, they want girls to stay at home, do housework and be pious. The unexpected aspect is that those men do enjoy life and all its forms of entertainment. They also have extra-marital sexual intercourses, refuse to use condoms, and take advantage from some liberal girls. Thereafter, they send them to the trash. The society is reined by a patriarchal system that encourages men to act as they want. On the other hand, women are supposed to be submissive and docile to men; otherwise, they will be punished. This mentality scandalizes me because I feel that the rules are made by and for men without giving any consideration to their women counterparts. Consequently, to the eyes of those men, abstinence is a warranty that a girl is “clean”, and it is still related to male chauvinism. I advocate the necessity to keep equality between men and women, and convince macho men that abstinence is not the right way.
Moreover, encouraging abstinence is an unrealistic goal that we have to forget about. Each day, youngsters are encountering heavy pressures from media and society. As a teenager, I do not understand the controversy of the situation because everywhere I look –on television, on billboards, in movies-; I see something that pertains to sex. Just because condoms would be handed out in school, this would not possibly promote sex anymore than it already is. Hence, we cannot stop the human instinct that is appealing those young people. Besides, we have to afford necessary circumstances for them in order to keep it as a good experience, without any result that could influence their future life.
Altogether, the necessity to promote contraception is an imminent duty to take before the spread of other harms. Advocates are always stressing abstinence. Abstinence is certainly the best form of birth control, and the best way to avoid sexually-transmitted diseases, but it is not very realistic to teens in today's world. Our modern life is evolving; accordingly, we have to adopt appropriate lifestyles and adapt them to our needs. Having safe sex is better than being exposed to sexually-transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies. Finally, abstinence is an against-nature situation that may take anti-human dimensions.