This past week I heard a conversation on radio between a high school principal and the hosts of an evening news magazine show that had me a bit worried. The discussion was about whether teenagers should be given condoms. I suppose it was about kids protecting themselves from teen pregnancy and communicable diseases which these days can be life-threatening.

The principal was making the case that kids should be taught abstinence and if they are taught to have self-control, there is no need to distribute condoms in school. I am sure this woman has good intentions but I think she believes our kids are training for lives at the Vatican where the cardinals are believed to be chaste and the nuns virgins.

I am all for distributing condoms to kids, especially teenagers because it is better to be safe than sorry. Sure, there will always be those kids who are predisposed to chastity for whatever reason; small penises, body odour, fear; there are a million reasons. What I do know, however, is that most normal teenagers have a billion hormones raging through their bodies and that coupled with the curiosity that comes with subjects like sex will eventually cause them to indulge.

Trying to convince a teenager to be chaste is kind of like convincing an airline passenger that if the plane crashes, his or her lifejacket will make them safe. You can hope that it will happen but most likely it won't.

Sometimes I wonder if the people who propose we teach teenagers abstinence and actually believe it will work were actually children themselves or they were just born big and with no sexual desire whatsoever. I have seen grown women who claim they have no interest in sex sneak into special stores to acquire special toys which they use to find release. Let us not pretend here; sex is an instinct. It is a means by which we procreate. Let us not fool ourselves that telling a teenager that not having sex is better than having sex. Anybody who believes that is delusional.

If we want to be truly sure that we are protecting our children, we should perhaps consider teaching the 'benefits' of abstinence as well as how to use condoms safely. It doesn't hurt to have a Plan B.

But the passion I heard in that woman's voice the other day suggests to me that for her, not only is there no Plan B, there shouldn't be one. Now that's just naïve. She probably believes that Catholic priests accused of molesting little boys are all innocent. One of the reasons I believe these priests get into so much trouble is that they are not allowed to have sex. Had they been allowed to I would bet good money that they would not be molesting little boys.

One of the realities we face today is that we live in a much sexualised world. Everything is about sex, from the food we eat to the magazines we read. If superstar Rihanna was ugly and built like a brick, she'd be broke. Why? Because most of the people who buy her music think she is sexy. Girls want to be like her, boys want to be with her.

Every day there is a magazine telling you what foods help with virility. One of the largest selling pills in the world is Viagra and more young boys are buying them than the older men they are intended for. Sex is everywhere, so the only place you can make a teenager remain chaste is to perhaps fly him or her to the moon and cut their hands off.

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