Lust

I think that the narrator’s depiction of relationships, sex and responses to these for young adults is pretty much accurate. Relationships for teenagers are a blur. Everything is new; there is a lot of curiosity to be satisfied. They are at a very confusing stage of their lives and every week or everyday is a new crush for girls, the way that everything walking is an opportunity to get some for teenage boys.
One night stands are a very common thing for younger males, the way that the narrator depicts their strategies to achieve this is pretty accurate. If the males are having one night stands then there have to be females willing to participate. I believe that these girls have lost their souls.
“Teenage years. You know just what you’re doing and don’t see the things that start to get in the way.”
In this story the school gives out “the pill like aspirin”, not that here is anything wrong with knowledge about your options and precaution if you are going to be involved in such things. Then the headmaster reprimands her for the p.d.a. that he is worried will ruin the schools name, but since it is expected he guides her toward where she can do it without getting caught. Then there is also the pressure that is placed on her or other teenagers who just want to be accepted. If you’re not in some relationship, or you refuse sex it seems that there is something wrong with you. But in the same breath when you do participate you are called mean names and so forth and it seems like devalued in the eyes of other young adults who know what you are doing. But not boys; it’s like the narrator explains when she writes that “for a girl, with each boy it’s as though a petal gets plucked each time.”
As a female I think that the repercussions from one night stands are grave to the emotional and mental state of young women. The narrator explains it best in 79. I think females are more involved emotionally when it comes to sexual activity.
I believe God wants us to wait until marriage to participate in sexual activity to protect people. It is a very intimate thing to share yourself with someone else. It is probably very painful to not feel loved, appreciated and wanted after participating in such special act. I believe before you make Love you must know you Love the person and be involved in a healthy committed relationship with them. This ensures positive or healthier feelings about what you have done. I also don’t believe you should ever regret a thing you do that’s why you should think things through before you do them.
They say that it is one of the things that women should try to experience at least once in their lives (at least according to what I heard on a Z100 commentary). But for the most part, especially when girls start at a young age the feelings that the girl had throughout the story of feeling “diluted, like watered-down stew”, “like a bathroom window that only lets in the grey light, the kind you can’t see out of”, “I was ashamed and couldn’t look him in the eye”, are what results.
I don’t think that we are wired to do this, even males, I think we all want something more, at least deep down in our hearts.
This society is backwards sometimes; in the American culture it seems to me that it is not expected for younger people to become involved in meaningful relationships. It is not encouraged with things like you need to find what’s out there in order to find the right one, and the notion that you can’t find that person if you only date one person. Through this mentality young adults miss out on having much healthier emotional experiences. Relationships of all kinds are not easy, you have to work at them, and nothing worth having is easy.
I could write forever on this topic but I shall leave any further comments for class if the occasion arises that we analyze it.