9 Lives Series: Chapter 3: Sovereignty, Ages 17-25, Sexual Activation to Reproductive Intent

July 30, 2024

This article is part of a weekly series adapted from our latest book, "The 9 Lives of Woman," by our founder, Christine Marie Mason.

The Nine Lives of Woman

Chapter 3: Sovereignty

17-25: Sexual Activation to Reproductive Intent

Chapter Introduction

Dear Rosies,

Put yourself for a moment back in time: 17 years old. What was happening in your life? For many in the West, this is the cusp of Sovereignty, going from being 'of your parents' to being 'of and for yourself.' Sometimes, it's a gradual transition. Parents often offer hybrid support while a young adult attends college or university. Sometimes, it's sudden: a thrust out of the nest. In this section, we look at the age from first intercourse to reproductive intent (if that ever comes). What is that like today? Young adult women have choices and options that their grandmothers could never have imagined.

The approximate beginning of this stage, 17, marks the average age of first intercourse in the United States.

While most young women have a sexual experience in this window, relatively few are deliberately trying to become mothers. Teen motherhood in the US is at an all-time low. In 2023, 57% of US births were to mothers over 30. Now, the average age of first-time mothers is over 27, and the average age of all births is hovering around 30 years old. That is an immense change from even 30 years ago.

So, how you hold your sexuality when you don't actively want to conceive children is one vital question of the age. In this chapter, we are going to look at that question.

We'll also look at first sexual experiences, "sexual debut" versus "losing your virginity," sexual literacy, the gender gap in satisfaction, claiming desire, and mastering pleasure. We'll look at birth control changes, environmental changes, fertility, the rise in endometriosis, reproductive rights, and reproductive fear. We will look at the capacity to communicate and develop rich relationships in this "app, pod, hookup" era, how to understand the new asexuality and androgyny, navigating adulting, developing a personal identity and agency… and more.

Let's drop in, and to understand the experience of this age, beginning with a look at what's going on in the biostack, specifically the brain.

The Young Adult Brain

The brain continues to mature until the mid-20s, consolidating its cognitive, social, and emotional capacities. The prefrontal cortex, responsible for executive functions such as decision-making, impulse control, and planning, continues to mature. This area is one of the brain's last parts to develop fully. Other parts of the brain are also maturing. Extra neurons and synaptic connections are pruned to increase the efficiency of neuronal transmissions. The formation of a fatty sheath around the axons of neurons (myelination) continues to improve the speed and efficiency of signal transmission. This period also sees heightened activity in brain regions involved in social processing, such as the medial prefrontal cortex and superior temporal sulcus. This supports the complex social interactions and relationships typical in young adulthood.

I start with this because this ongoing brain development informs the questions of this age and stage, such as:

Heightened sensitivity to rewards
Increased risk-taking behaviors
Ongoing development of effective emotional regulation, which leads to a greater capacity to manage stress and form stable relationships
Cognitive flexibility is adapting thinking and behavior to changing environments and new information.
Better abstract thinking means the ability to consider future consequences of actions improves. It also helps facilitate a more defined self-concept and identity, as well as long-term goal setting, a critical factor of independence.
They look adult, voting, going to war, holding down jobs, doing genius creative work- and people in this age are in the process of an incredible blooming.

More next week!

Christine

Christine Marie Mason

Founder, Rosebud Woman

Host, The Rose Woman podcast