Book Spotlight: Sharnice Jones' Success Before Sex

Success Before Sex
by Sharnice Jones

Kindle Edition
File Size: 196 KB
Print Length: 46 pages
Publisher: Success 1stTM (August 24, 2012)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Amazon Link

Synopsis:

It's About Priorities

As honest as it is easy read, "Success Before Sex" is written by a teenager, for a young teenage audience. Sex can be difficult for teenagers to openly talk about with adults, leaving high risk for misinformation and misunderstanding. "Success Before Sex" is a suitable tool for starting adialogue on this sensitive subject. The young author details her journey and talks about (among other things) career aspirations, HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy and the American dream of reaching personal goals.

Chapter 1 What I Did Last Night

Serious discussions about serious topics can be seriously boring.  Yes, boring, dull and totally uninteresting.  This is especially true if you happen to be a teenager having such a discussion with a parent figure.  Most teenagers are not particularly interested in listening to someone tell him or her what to do, where to go or not to go, how to get there and how to go about life.   Most of the time it is a one-sided, adult-dominated session. (This technically does not qualify as a discussion anyway.)

If adults expect teenagers to welcome their opinion, they should first prepare to enter the conversation with an open mind and be ready to listen to what teenagers have to say in response.   Next, adults need to encourage teenagers to ask questions and then answer our questions.  Most important, let us respond without judgment or fear of being ridiculed, punished, or reprimanded.  

I myself tire of individuals twice my age telling me how avoid common mistakes teenagers make.  That is exactly why we (teenagers) have most of our discussions about serious topics with other teenagers.  We share similar interests and similar questions but not so similar answers.  Lecturers are not tolerated and more important, we keep it fun and interesting.

The most popular subjects my friends and I discuss include music, parties and relationships.  No shock, there are occasions when the mood is more serious and the topics are too.  We discuss topics like drugs, religion, politics, marriage and sex.  Sex or more precisely the act of engaging in sexual relations is a common topic.  I will never admit to my friends that some of the subjects we discuss are completely unknown to me.  

Additionally, I am not particularly thrilled about the inquisition I might receive by asking my mom or dad.  By luck or twisted fortune, I attend a vocational high school where I study Allied Health and Medical Science.  There, I have the privilege of taking Anatomy and Physiology courses.  I have a genuinely good excuse for doing research on anything and everything involving the human body.  So, when my curiosity wanted to know more I wasted little time satisfying it.

Anatomy research, that’s what I did last night.  I did research online to determine if the percent of sexually active teens was as high at it seemed to be when my teenage friends talk about it.  When I read the information available about teenagers and sex, I discovered more than I expected to.  Strange as it may seem, I was surprised and disappointed at the same time.  Negative statistic after negative statistic filled the pages.  Doubtful of the information I found, I added a variable that might improve the results: religion.   Teenagers who attend church regularly or practice a faith-based religion might improve the results.  Unfortunately, the added variable did not improve the outcome at all.

Amazon Link

Sharnice A. Jones completed this book at the age of 17 during her senior year of high school. She is a native of New Jersey and is supported by her parents and younger brother. Miss Jones began volunteer work nearly a decade ago and is using profits from this book to found a non profit project "Success 1st". This project exists to encourage teenagers to let nothing interfere with achievement of their goals. Sharnice enjoys singing, acting, writing, caring for pets and basketball. She will attend college in the fall following high school graduation in 2012.