Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Some like it hot


If you are going to ‘lose your cherry’ in Poland, it’s very likely you will lose it while on summer holiday. And you are going to be young.

That’s the finding of studies by people who study this sort of thing. The sun is out, and so is school, so girls and boys come out to play. Polish Radio reports:

“10 percent of 15 year old girls and 20 percent of boys of the same age have had sex. The average age of sexual initiation of teenagers in Warsaw is fifteen and a half years and that age has been going down, says sexologist, Dr Krzysztof Nowosielski from the Silesian Medical Academy.

“Ten years ago they used to start their sexual life at the age of 18, 19. Now they start at the age of 15, 16. So it’s some five years lower than a couple of years ago.”

Over fifty percent of youngsters have ‘gone all the way’ for the first time while on vacation. In the autumn, gynecologists report an increased number of teenage girl who are expecting a baby as well as youngsters with sexually transmitted diseases.

I lost my cherry (never to find it again) in the summer – a very hot summer, way back circa…1666. I was sixteen. So around about the average age of the current teenage Varsovian and their first night nerves. Oh, those first night nerves – actors opening major plays in the West End experience nothing like it. I was in such a state I was drinking – gulping – glasses of neat Cinzano! It was all I could find in the parent's cocktail cabinet. It didn't help.

But sixteen years old, back in Tudor times when I first…um…you know…’did it’ and ‘went all the way’ was about two years younger than the average among my friends in south London. In fact, I was driven to …you know…’break my duck’ with the sole purpose of screwing up my friends who had yet to be screwed.

Which is quite sad, looking back on it. But summer certainly gives kids the opportunity for a little summer lovin’ – although be careful of sunburn, it can make things very difficult.

Do I look back at 16 as being too young? Actually I do. But then again, kids are different now. Thirteen year old girls here look like 17 year old girls back ‘in my day’. The average 15 year old boy in Warsaw is often taller than many tall man-made structures – like the Empire State Building.

Which brings us to the law and when you should be able to mislay your small red fruit (the kind that makes Swiss kirsch) without being bothered by the law.

In 1932 in Poland, the age of consent was set at 15 for all sexual acts, be they hetero or homosexual. That doesn't fit the stereotype.

So gays have had legal equality since 1932 in Poland. In Britain they had to wait till 1967!

But having the same age of consent since 1932 is a bit daft. Kids back then were a completely different species. In fact, the age of consent is one of those strange ideas, based around ‘well, you have to draw a line somewhere..’ type thinking.
But do you have to draw a line? The age of consent in Switzerland is 16. However, there exists a close in age exception if the difference between the ages of the participants is three years or less. So in that country there is a relativity built into the law.

Whatever: summer in Poland, like in most other countries, is the time when the birds and bees dance in the air, and teenagers are thinking naughty thoughts about whether or not they are going to get…well, you know…a damn good shagging. It’s only natural.

12 comments:

Frank Partisan said...

The average age of consent around the world is 16, and in the US, it's a states rights issue.

Anonymous said...

"So gays have had legal equality since 1932 in Poland. In Britain they had to wait till 1967! "

Errr... 2000 actually. Male Homosexual Age of consent was 21 from 1967 until 1994, then 18 until 2000.

beatroot said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
beatroot said...

You know what I mean....UK was 35 years behind Poland...

Anonymous said...

I've always wondered which kids they ask in these surveys. I think I was one of the youngest of my peers to lose theirs, just after my 16th birthday (again out of a feeling of obligation, with you on that beat), most of my peer-group friends were 17/18 and a couple are still waiting at 23... Maybe I just know lots of abhorrent weirdos. My point is, though (before this turns into a teen girl mag contribution), is that I get the impression some of these kids are telling fibs. Or I was a sheltered teen.

Anonymous said...

Also, on the age of consent issue, I've always thought of this as a deeply flawed law. From what you infer beat, Switzerland seemingly has the right idea cos as it stands in -for instance- the UK, a 16-year-old having sex with a 15-year-old is committing statutory rape. I appreciate that the age of consent is mainly there to protect adults from abusing children, so why can't it be adapted to ensure young people aren't, as the Barnado's rep says in the linked article, criminalised for "normal experimental sexual development"?

As well as that, it's always struck me as odd that in most countries one can legally marry, pay tax and join the army before voting is permitted. So, you can contribute to a society's wealth and fight for its values but not actually have a say in what those values are... It's like renting a flat, you've got to pay for the upkeep whilst unable to arrange it in the manner you'd wish. I blame the Glorious Revolution, myself.

beatroot said...

Agreed on all point. Including the Glorious Revolution!

All sex surveys are flawed because of the subject matter. But I wonder in what way they are in this case. Would kids boast about this and claim that they had done it when they had not? Or, in Poland, would they conceal the fact that they did? Maybe the two impulses cancel themselves out. Who knows?

On the age of consent issue. Yes, the law is to protect kids from predatory adults. But if a 16 year boy does it with a 15 year old girl, and it was mutual, then is that crime? I think not. But I do think it is too early, all the same.

Anonymous said...

beat-
I'm pretty certain that the 15-year-olds I taught a couple of years back in Silesia were very keen for their peers to know what they'd got up to at the weekend. Whether that would transfer to not wishing to appear naive in a survey I concede is improbable.

Being 'old enough' is a funny thing. I suppose it depends on, for one thing, whether you approach it from a procreational or recreational angle. A cousin of mine is 7 months pregnant and 17 in November, and I certainly would agree that's too young to be able to properly approach the task of parenthood. Certainly, my cousin is in no way mature enough as yet. As for sex as pure recreation, which let's face it is to all but a handful of hardline religious types, why would you say 16 is too young? It seems as good a place as any to place the largely arbitrary line, but I'm totally open to argument.
As I said, in common with yourself I followed the government prescription. Now, if the age of consent were lower, I know for a fact that wouldn't have affected me (single-sex schooling until 16, girls were more or less mythical creatures...), but I wonder if I'd have waited longer if it were, say, 18? Can you say if it would have affected you, beat? OK, peer-pressure is a bigger factor than what the government say, but does that pressure arise from the suggestion of a 'correct' age?

Anonymous said...

Great work! One of the most professional polish blog in english. I've ever seen. Keep up the good work

beatroot said...

Cheers mate.

Age of consent had nothing to do with when I did or didn’t do it. What is did do was turn up the pressure to get rid of me cherry – as it was with all of my peer group. There were effectively three of us, who got girlfriends all at the same time, anxious that something should happen soon. But we left it up to the girls to decide when. Luckily they all had the same idea.

But I knew people who were going it at 14 and 13, and I just didn’t like that for some reason. There again, it took me until into my 20s to really understand what I was doing – it stopped being a purely self-centered thing and I clicked it was about two people communicating – as it were….

Frank Partisan said...

The relative sexual liberation at a younger age, is a slap in the face, to religious fundamentalism, and the abstinance only crowd.

Anonymous said...

i am 15 and i have lost my virginity ive had sex many times
i even screwed my teacher and my sisters best friend i also had sex with lily allen before she was famous
my penis is rather large its 19"long and 9"