Adolescent Sexuality – An Unexplored Territory

Abstract

Adolescent sexuality continues to be unexplored, particularly in the provision of health care. Little attention has been paid to meet the unmet needs of young people (10-24 years of age) despite their numbering more than 238 millions in India. Whatever services are available are looked at through the eyes off adults whose needs are different to those of the adolescent, Service providers wear blinkers and think “segmentally” e.g. – for substance abuse, alcoholism, teenage pregnancy, violence. Unexplored yet is how to integrate all these that damage healthy sexuality in a holistic proagramme, culturally specific and area appropriate managed by young people for young people. Sexual development in the adolescent is described and some highlights of the unexplored area for research are mentioned. Communication and counselling continue to be weak points of health providers along with their negative attitudes, often stemming from their own personal sexual sensivity.