Chances are historically high, young person, that if you screw around sexually nowadays well…you could very well be…screwed. As in, for life, with the “gift” that keeps on giving—namely, a Sexually Transmitted Disease.

FYI young dudes and dudettes: no matter what they tell you on the various TV commercials, these diverse and multitudinous sex plagues aren’t just a “little inconvenient” like a runny nose, halitosis or dandruff. They are devastating.

The entrance of an STD into your B-O-D could equal one or more of the following: perpetual physical pain, public humiliation, chronic depression, infertility, increased chance of birth defects in your kids (if you can still have them), cervix, penile and anal cancer and/or an early and horrible visit from the Grim Reaper.

Now, I know what most teenage crotch rockets and their aiding and abetting adult purveyors of the follow-your-little-head propaganda are thinking: “It could never happen to me. I’m special. That kind of stuff only happens to skanks like Courtney Love and Tommy Lee, and anyway, more than likely this is trumped-up parent/Bible Belt-inspired blather lathered up to make us keep our zippers in the upright and locked position.”

The truth of the matter is that STDs are cranking in our culture like never before, and they are an equal opportunity infector. An estimated 19 million new cases occur each year with our teenage kids getting hammered with the lion’s share of this slop (teens now make up 25% of the 19 million new “victims” annually).

Check out this smattering of factual 411 from Dr. Meg Meeker’s new book Your Kids at Risk: How Teen Sex Threatens Our Sons and Daughters:

• This year, 8 to 10 million teens will contract an STD.

• Nearly one out of four sexually active teens is living with a sexually transmitted disease at this moment.

• Nearly 50% of African-American teenagers have genital herpes.

• Although teenagers make up just 10% of the population, they acquire 25% of all STDs.

• Herpes (specifically, herpes simplex virus type 2) has skyrocketed 500% in the past 20 years among white teenagers.

• One in five children over the age of 12 tests positive for herpes type 2.

• Nearly one out of ten teenage girls has chlamydia, and half of all new chlamydia cases are diagnosed in girls 15 to 19 years old.

• STDs accounted for 87% of all cases reported of the top ten most frequently reported diseases in the United States in 1995.

• This new epidemic is not just cursing those “poor inner city kids.” No, the viruses have solidly taken up residence in the suburbs.

Yep, the reality is that every twenty-four hours 21,000 teens are slapped, saddled, infused and infected with some creepy, nasty and potentially deadly bug brought about by following the advice of our crass culture. Continued...