Turn and Face The Strange Changes .

When you begin to hit puberty and experience physical changes in your body, you may begin to notice that your perception about the opposite sex changes. It is about this time that you may start experiencing sexual feelings. Gradually your friendships may start to change, and you may find yourself becoming more interested in relationships of a different nature. The first ‘romantic' relationships you have will be memorable, make no mistake. The decisions you make as a teenager about your sexuality and how you express it will be memories that you will last throughout your entire life. Your first: kiss, date, make out session, party with the opposite sex, will all become memories that last a lifetime. The music you were listening to and what you were doing during those moments will also be remembered. The romantic relationships you have now, can become all absorbing, taking up many hours on the telephone.

As you begin to experience romantic relationships, you will develop your own sexual identity. Your sexual identity begins with how you were taught to express your feelings and thought about sex. Are you open about your feelings? Do you share your thoughts with those you love easily or do you withhold your feelings because you don't want to 'rock the boat' so to speak? Awareness of how you communicate with those you love now, will provide you with information about your communication skills. Communication is very important when you start to think about expressing your sexuality with another person. Sharing what your ideas are about what you expect, and what you think the other person expects from you will only make your experience better--because both of you will know how to better please each other. And no, no one is saying go out and have sex. We are saying if you are thinking about any kind of sexuality activity talk about it FIRST! Why? Because once you start to kiss a person, you don't go back to holding hands. Once you start having sex with a person, you can't become a virgin again. The decisions you will make about your sex life and sexual activity, or lack thereof, may or may not change over time. However, your "firsts" will always be a part of your memory. To test any of what is said, ask any adult to describe their first kiss, boyfriend/girlfriend, etc....believe me, they'll remember. The articles and pages on sexuality are designed to discuss areas of your interest. So give us feedback and tell us what you want to know!