# Fight teen pregnancy: Encourage Cybersex **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 4, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fight-teen-pregnancy-encourage-cybersex/283068 "2005-01-04T18:54:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fight-teen-pregnancy-encourage-cybersex/283068/1 "2005-01-04T18:54:11Z")
At least that’s the idea at [Meltingdolls](http://meltingdolls.blogspot.com/2005/01/blog-post.html) blog. I’m guessing the ad and the blog are meant jokingly, but is it on to somehting? Jocelyn Elders took a lot of crap and was forced to resign when she suggested that “masturbation is part of human sexuality and a part of something that perhaps should be taught”. Aren’t cybersex and masturbation safe? So is it something that should be allowed, even encouraged for teens. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fight-teen-pregnancy-encourage-cybersex/283068/2 "2005-01-04T20:26:24Z")
Possibly, but without monitoring you’d have no way of knowing if one side of the cybersexing is actually an adult who will sooner-or-later sugest a real-life meeting. I suppose you could set up a teen chat room where anything goes _and_ those over 18 (except the monitors) are weeded out, but I’m not sure how you’d work it. ---
**Author:** ![Wrath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee7513/32.png) [@Wrath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrath)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fight-teen-pregnancy-encourage-cybersex/283068/3 "2005-01-04T20:40:20Z")
I, in fact, quietly attribute the recent drop in teen pregnancy to cybersex. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fight-teen-pregnancy-encourage-cybersex/283068/4 "2005-01-04T21:05:47Z")
I will go and get my husband to ask our high-school-senior teenage son, who just discovered the existence of entities known as “girls”, whether he would prefer to have real sex, or cybersex. And if he says “cybersex”, I will eat this keyboard. And then I’ll get back to you on whether cybersex would prevent teen pregnancy. 😃 pixels vs. hormones? hormones will win, every time ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fight-teen-pregnancy-encourage-cybersex/283068/5 "2005-01-05T00:41:06Z")
> [@Duck Duck Goose](#): > > I will go and get my husband to ask our high-school-senior teenage son, who just discovered the existence of entities known as “girls”, whether he would prefer to have real sex, or cybersex. > > And if he says “cybersex”, I will eat this keyboard. > > And then I’ll get back to you on whether cybersex would prevent teen pregnancy. 😃 But if he’s a smart kid, he knows of various reasons NOT to have real sex. His hormones might be stronger than those reasons. But if he has cybersex, which is at least something, cybersex plus his brain might be stronger than his hormones. Certainly, it’s not a prima facie ridiculous claim. ---
**Author:** ![laigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laigle)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fight-teen-pregnancy-encourage-cybersex/283068/6 "2005-01-05T00:53:34Z")
Err, is cybersex something that really _requires_ encouragement? It’s like encouraging abstinence by getting teenage guys to masturbate. You don’t need a billion dollar educational program to get results. ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_the\_Plumber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Jake\_the\_Plumber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_the_Plumber)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fight-teen-pregnancy-encourage-cybersex/283068/7 "2005-01-05T01:19:28Z")
I have absolutely no scientific samples to draw from here, but given my long (and sordid) history with the Internet, I’ve seen how romances over the 'net play out, and the end result isn’t usually “good.” They’re unstable, unreliable, break easily, and cause people to do stupid things, lacking something physical to act out on. I’ve seen 5 marriage dissolve because of side romances on the 'net, and that’s just in my small group of friends over the years. Thrice that number have gotten “together” only to be “apart” very easily. I think it is a combination of the ease and detatchment that make it so attractive. I mean, people writing each other naughty letters has gone on since we learned to write. It’s just faster now (and less poetic, in general). It also has the unhelpful side effect of isolating the individual within the confines of a “virtual” world, where they obsess over everything in it and ignore their real life obligations. Frankly, I just don’t think it is a good idea to get involved in a relationship online. I’ve had 2, and while they were wonderful and eventually ended with living together, the trip to that point if frought with peril. Especially those relationships that broke up marriages - it turns out that cheaters are cheaters, whoever they’re with. I don’t think it should be encouraged just because it is “safer”, and I’m no prude. It is still pretty dangerous, mental-wise, not pregnancy/STD-wise. ---
**Author:** ![Wrath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee7513/32.png) [@Wrath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrath)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fight-teen-pregnancy-encourage-cybersex/283068/8 "2005-01-05T01:31:13Z")
I think by “cybersex” in the OP that we’re not talking about encouraging on-line inbterpersonal relationships. I liken it more to the idea of a two-way peep show. You have some fun and move on to the next one. Not unlike reading a dirty magazine - it’s just interactive. If anyone’s ever left open an IM program (like AIM or Yahoo chat) for a few hours, you’ve probably been propositioned by a cyberbot porn-pusher. I have, several times. For a bot, they’re almost convincing. Perhaps this is even more innocuous, akin to simply “reading” Playboy. Although, the anti-porn crowd will lambaste that theory, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fight-teen-pregnancy-encourage-cybersex/283068/9 "2005-01-05T01:37:41Z")
_ **ponders the implications, and possible unforseen consequences** _ I for one will welcome our new cyborg overlords. _ **ducks and flees** _