Wajibu VOL. 17, NO. 1 (March-May 2002)

`A JOURNAL OF SOCIAL & RELIGIOUS CONCERN`

VOL. 17, NO. 1 (March-May 2002)

SPIRITUAL JOURNEYS

Youth Speaks

Relationships: The Adams and the Eves of Our Time.

Mokeira Masita

If Adam and Eve were created anew today, they might do a thing or two differently. You will discover this in reading about male-female relationships in Wajibu's YouthSpeaks feature. The theme for this issue's feature was inspired by a mini-survey I conducted. Relationships came out on top among the topics that young people discuss among themselves.

It is not surprising that young people can spend hours on end talking about relationships since there is a whole gamut of things to discuss: sex, contraceptives, abortion, teenage pregnancy, marriage, STDs, cultural aspects and many more. I have found that many young persons are insatiably curious. This leads to a search for more information or even experimentation in order to satisfy this curiosity. For instance, to experiment or not is a question many are grappling with as far as premarital sex is concerned. In this connection, I came across a small sticker that carries the following message:

What is good sex?
Sex between people who care,
are committed to each other and want it.
Sex between people who are old enough
to know what they are doing.
Sex which brings pleasure
equally to both people.
Sex which is safe from
disease and unwanted pregnancies.

After some reflection on this matter, I decided to ask one of our young contributors to explore the pros and cons of premarital sex. The cons are generally quite well known though it does no harm to bring them to light for, as the saying goes: forewarned is forearmed. However, the other side of the coin deserves a hearing also. Some people actually think that there are disadvantages in abstinence. For instance, some cultures in Africa dictate that a young woman should not go to her husband a virgin: she must be taught the art of lovemaking well before her marriage day. There are a number of divergent viewpoints on this, both from a socio-cultural and a religious perspective.

And then there is the question of cross-cultural relationships, especially where the urban population is concerned. A better part of the older population frown upon this, most likely because of their upbringing. The Adams and Eves of yester year grew up in communities that largely consisted of people belonging to the same culture and so they ended up in man/woman relationships with their own kind. Often they do not realize that the Adams and Eves of today, the younger generation, are growing up in places where there is a mixture of people from different tribes, races and backgrounds. As a result, this younger generation is more tolerant and accommodating. YouthSpeaks takes a look at the different viewpoints. Cross-cultural relationships may not really be fatal but they could be, if you let them. Since young people have a lot of energy (which we hope is not all spent on relationships) there is an interesting group of young persons whose profile has been featured in this issue's column, Positive Energy. Find out if you can channel some energy towards this good cause.

Ciao.

Mokeira Masita

A JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONCERN
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