Nobody Told Me: What You Need to Know About the Physical and Emotional Consequences of Sex Outside of Marriage
Pam Stenzel and Melissa Nesdahl
Regal, 2011, 128 pp., $9.99
In Nobody Told Me, the authors draw on years of experience in working with young people experiencing the fallout of sexual relationships. The book is written in a creative social-networking style, as if you were reading postings and online responses on a Facebook page. The content primarily is derived from stories and questions Stenzel and Nesdahl have accumulated from their time in pregnancy resource centers and speaking engagements across the country.
The personal stories comprising most of the book ring a familiar tune for anyone who has spent time interacting with youth in relationships from middle school through high school. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the book is spent in a discussion of the myriad potential regrets of sexual activity prior to marriage. This is the purpose given on the cover of the book, so it fulfills its own billing; but it remains a one-dimensional analysis of sex for the target audience of youth who might be making decisions about their own behaviors. Any discussion of how to build values for a healthy relationship gets overshadowed by the extent of the effort that is spent trying to instill fear of consequences as a motivation for behavioral modification.
