Time was, when 17-year-old “girls” were women, with husbands, homes, children - and more maturity and responsibility than to be whiling away their young lives at the mall. And “boys” were young men, with skills and trades with which to provide for their wives and families, not stuck in some “school” and herded from class to useless class.
Our modern world concocted this “adolescence” thing out of thin air, thereby artificially prolonging childhood and postponing adulthood well into the 20s (and beyond, for some folks!)
Abstinence ought not to be such a burden on young adults. God (or Nature, if you wish) provided for us a healthy, wholesome, legitimate and honorable outlet for our sexual desires. It’s called marriage, and it doesn’t need to be postponed like we do.
Yes, and I am all for early marriages and early responsibility. Young people are ready for it way before they are expected to be, these days.
Abstinence was not all that hard pre-pill. There were a few girls who went to live with their aunts while they had their babies and then returned. They were not highly respected.
And of course for thousands of years abstinence has been expected. Lower your expectations, what do you get? duh.
I am a genealogy nut. The older sister of my g’gmother — they were all orphaned in Brazil (by cholera) shortly after immigrating there from Russia (Volga Germans) — the OLDEST sister was 13, took ALL the younger sibs and left for Kansas, with the hired hand, who was 14. When they got there, they got married. She was FOURTEEN then.
They were plenty mature to be married and start a family at that point.
I tutor Middle School kids. I alwayss teach up to them, expecting and demanding that they think clearly. And I always find, really, that they are capable of so much more than they are being taught.
Homeschooling gives you that clarity, too.
My feelings exactly!
A **lot** of children could be graduating from college or trade school at 16, 17, or 18. Our government schools (deliberately and maliciously) artificially retard children in their social and educational development!