How to Talk to a Pre-Teen or Teenage Boy About Sex and Sexual Responsibility and Safety

Tonight I watched a rerun of "Law and Order Special Victims Unit." The storyline was about a young man who raped his teacher because he had a "sex addiction." I'm sure rape of teachers does occur and this is a crime and a tragedy. Most of the sex we hear about, outside of actual rapes, in the media between students and teachers is between a male student and a female teacher. It is usually considered statutory rape depending on the age of the student and the state the offense occurred in.

Situations like this bring up a lot of moral and legal issues and questions. If no physical force was used was the young man raped? Is seduction the same thing as rape? Is it child abuse, weather or not the young man is of the legal age of consent? Is the teacher a sexual predator? This article doesn't intend to discuss these issues. What this article intends to address is how parents can help prevent this from happening to their pre-teen or teenage sons.

Parents of teenage boys (and girls too) do well to think about these issues. Parents should have frank, honest, direct conversations with their pre-teen and teenage sons about this issue. Ideally parents should talk about sex, including sexual abuse and inappropriate touching from a very young age, as soon as the child can understand. Only by making sure children understand what is and is not appropriate or safe can parents protect their children. Parents may tell a young child that no one is to ever touch their "private areas" and that they should tell a parent or trusted adult if someone tries to do this to them. But what kind of conversations should parents have with pre-teen and teenage boys about sexual situations that could potentially arise with a teacher, neighbor or other adult?