Back in the good old days, before sliced bread, air conditioning, automatic transmissions, ESPN, and pop culture ascended the throne, our young folks received mixed messages about sex, though most of the communication from the adult population came in the form of "NO" or "DON'T YOUR DARE!"
When two dared to tempt safe sex and conception occurred (keep in mind that one of the things sex often produces is babies), the young mother was often whisked off to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Houston to live with her aunt and deal with her "health issues."  In a terrible and unfair execution of social justice, the young man remained mostly anonyms, protected, and encouraged to suit up for Friday night under the lights.
My cousin recently shared the incredible pain of her 1967 pregnancy, which included mandatory expulsion from high school.  She had to return her cheerleader uniform and face the scorn and ridicule of her community.  The shame has never left her.
She was on the leading edge of the "Free Love" and "Open Sex" movement of the late 1960's that changed cultural values regarding sex, drugs, and rock-n'-roll.  We still haven't recovered.
It was like a switch was thrown, and the youth culture, suddenly the powerful and influential counter-culture, was electrified with the possibilities of sex disconnected from traditional morals.  Hormones went crazy.  From Woodstock to Berkley, Baby Boomers splurged in sex with no plans for marriage and family.  They did it because it felt good.
Since sex came out of the closet forty years ago, the definitions and understanding of our basic social units has changed dramatically.  Family isn't what it used to be.
Men and women no longer need one another for sex or security.  They have enough money to buy both, but not enough sense to recognize that money can't buy you love.  Separating sex from the marriage covenant and the accompanying emotions and responsibilities has produced anxiety, brokenness, and a city of lonely hearts.
Even though our sexual hardware can function outside of marriage, our internal software needs the intimacy and security only marriage can provide.
Sex is more than physical.  It is also emotional, psychological, and spiritual.  One can only be sexually satisfied when one is healthy holistically.  Our personal sexual dramas unfold on numerous fronts.  If we disrespect the emotional and spiritual dimensions of our sexuality, we will suffer consequences – some of which will affect us negatively for a lifetime.
The preacher of Ecclesiastes, at times rather depressing and annoying, shares timeless wisdom when he tells young folks to be careful in sowing their wild oats, because bad farming will haunt you down the road.  The Apostle Paul admonished his young preacher friend to, "flee from youthful lusts."
Biological scientists tell us that a sex act produces endorphins unparalleled in intensity.  Nothing – not shopping, not drugs, not gambling, not football-provides as much pleasure and excitement as sex.  Social scientists tell us that sex dictates the terms of nearly every relationship at some level.  Sexual chemistry often determines how we interact.  Personality scientists tell us that our self-concept of sexuality shapes who we are more than other factor.  The Bible tells us sex is good when properly administered, but bad when practiced in endless number of ways outside of its intended applications.
Our laws and social standards recognize that certain things are dangerous and restrictions are needed.  We don't grant a driver's license until a teen turns sixteen.  You can't buy cigarettes until you are eighteen, alcohol until you are twenty-one.  We don't give handgun permits to children.  Daughters can't date until they're twenty-nine. 
In many ways sex is much more dangerous than smoking or drinking, especially for those not mature enough to handle it.
What really bothers me about our over-sexed, pornographic culture is the devastating influence it has on our children.  How can any child in contemporary America grow up with a healthy, holistic, holy view of sex?
It's no secret that the giant advertising machine that fuels our insatiable desires for more and newer stuff targets our innocent young.  In order to increase consumption, they sexualize everything – including our children.
Nine and ten year old girls cruise the malls with their own credit cards dressed in t-shirts that say things like "hot," sexy," and "easy."  They are buying tight pants and short shirts that show their navels like the teens in the television commercials.  Everywhere they turn, the message is the same: "If you want to be popular and accepted, you have to be sexy."
It's innocence lost, and it's sad and disheartening.
Honestly, I have a big problem with "coming of age" celebrations for young teenage girls.  Many young women interpret it as a license for adult style sex.  In some sub-cultures and neighborhoods, half the children born are produced by unmarried teens, which in turn continues a cycle of poverty, which invariably leads to continued generational dysfunctionality.  We owe our children more. 
Just because your parts work does not mean they are ready for duty.
I think the whole psychology of sex separated from the Biblical teaching of one man, one woman, for life is clearly destructive.  Simply look around and see the damage.  The negative numbers should tell us what we are doing is not working.
Many signs that the end is near are flashing across our cultural landscape, but the one impossible to ignore is the blinking neon lights of sexual depravity.  We have tumbled to the point where anything goes, and we've lost the capacity to blush.  We appear little different than ancient Rome in its fading glory as it rotted from the inside out.
We are more than raw beasts.  As humans, we're mind, soul, and body – made in the image of God with dignity and purpose.  We must handle all our gifts, of which sex is one, with great care.