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Dear Ann Landers,
am a sixteen-year-old and I attend a large high school in New York. The kids in school talk a lot about sex, and I can tell you that most of them do more than just talk. My best friend has been sleeping with her boyfriend, but I am not writing to criticize her. What I need is some answers. We have had lots of arguments about right and wrong, and I have been losing. My friend says she is in love, and sex is the natural way to express complete devotion. She also says if she refused to go along, her boyfriend would drop her and find someone more cooperative. When I asked what she would do if she got pregnant, she laughed and said, "The Pill never fails." Please tell me how to win these arguments. -Out-Talked
Dear Out,
Why bother? Your girl friend has already lost the most important argument. Now she is trying to justify her position. I have had letters from other teen-age girls who also laughed and said, "The Pill never fails." They stopped laugh-ing when the doctor said, "You're pregnant." Assuming that pregnancy can be avoided, it is still foolish for high-school kids to play house. Why? Because our society has decreed that sex belongs in marriage. Sex on the sneak can be ugly, frightening, and disappointing. It can create guilt, resentment, and a totally unrealistic concept of what life and love are all about. If it's love, it can wait. If it isn't, who needs it?