First off, the problem with teen pregnancy, I think, is that our culture is so hostile to families. If we had a village to raise the children, teen pregnancy needn’t rob anyone of their teen years. If our culture weren’t so consumer-crazy and materialistic, we would all have more time to spend with each other, outside the competitive rat-race too many are trapped in.

The other piece that I’m reacting to is the idea that our ancestors had a deep commitment to girls. I think, rather, they had a deep commitment to keeping the upper class in power, and keeping girls virginal till marriage so progeny could be counted on. There was no commitment to lower class girls, no need to keep them virginal and pristine.

The cultural constructs of monogamy and marriage are tools of the patriarchy.

I can’t answer for Religion per se, but I do see lots of wonderful religious families where kids are getting the reprouctive facts of life along with valuable lessons in personhood (You Are More Than Your Hotness, Just Because Your Hormones Say Yes Does Not Mean They Are In Charge, Having Sex With Someone Is Not Going To Solve Your Other Problems In Life). Those are stablizing messages for any kid to hear, frankly, religious family or no.

You’ve probably already read this article about sexuality education and religion, but I’m putting the link here on the off chance that you have not.

Maybe it depends on girls being treated *equally*, but not necessarily the same. Double standards are not healthy or helpful, but there are still greater potential consequences - pregnancy mainly - for girls than boys.