SEX, WITH LOVE: A Guide for Young People

For young people seeking explicit guidelines, Hamilton lays them down flat: no intercourse without emotional commitment (the new stand-in for marriage), full maturity (which isn't likely until you're 18 or 21 years old), economic independence, and other prerequisites stipulated on an eight-point list. Meanwhile, you can indulge ""your wonderful sexuality"" by masturbating and (for older, dating teens) petting to orgasm. When pressed for more, ""A simple 'Thank you for wanting to make love to me, you have paid me a beautiful compliment but I am not ready for it' is really all that is needed."" Maybe. And maybe readers' parents will be as open as Hamilton suggests to answering questions about their own early sex experiences and granting their daughters bedroom privacy with their boyfriends--but if it's all this easy, who needs advice books? Hamilton does include a birth control overview for those ""absolutely determined"" to have premature intercourse, and she offers the usual up-to-date definitions and reassurances (many people have bizarre fantasies; homosexuality is not sick)--plus an oddly extensive argument for backrubs (a good way to get in touch with friends, parents, whomever) and some unobjectionable but probably too general guideposts to the ""yellow brick road"" of getting along with others. Overall her advice is refreshing in that she doesn't disguise her personal opinions and recommendations; but it's helpful only insofar as those pat answers fit.