At the turn of the last century, the African traditional society crumbled under the twin assault of Christianity and colonialism.

With it went the collective moral values that held together the societies of yesteryears as we embraced liberal thinking that informs the modern world as we know it.

A liberal view certainly widens the scopes of freedoms enjoyed by an individual. But there is always a price for everything and it is evident that we are paying dearly for those unfettered freedoms, particularly for our liberal attitude towards sex.

Much as we want to proclaim the freedom to choose when and how to engage in sex, there are some fundamental truths which we sometimes consciously seek to suppress.

Sex comes with a raft of some awesome responsibilities and consequences.

This is why, in principal, it is generally agreed that sex should only be practised by adults; people who can make sound decisions and live with the consequences.

Yet, we never can run away from the fact that the age of first sexual encounter is going down each year. Research in recent years has conclusively revealed that youngsters in their early teens are engaging in sex.

First, this is an indication of our failure as parents and as a society to teach our teenagers how to cope with their sexuality during a sensitive phase of their lives when an explosion of hormones takes place.

Secondly, we are living in an age of shameless glorification of sex. There is sex everywhere. There is sex on TV, in magazines, on the Internet as well as in the streets.

The teenager is therefore under tremendous pressure from practically all fronts and it is small wonder that premature sex has become the cool thing.

But this is just part of the story. As we report elsewhere in this newspaper, the use of emergency contraceptive pills popularly known as the 'morning after pill' by teenagers and young adults is reaching frightening levels and experts are concerned that users are blissfully ignorant of the dangers posed by these drugs.

What is even more disturbing is that experts are convinced young women and girls are more worried about getting pregnant than contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

In this day and age, when HIV/Aids is threatening to wipe out an entire generation, it is terrifying to think this plague which by last year had in some way touched virtually every family in Kenya, is the least of young people's concerns when they practise sex.

It also throws in a new dimension in the fight against the spread of a scourge that is the biggest health challenge of all time.

It means that many people are yet to internalise the fact that by engaging in unprotected sex, young people are playing with fire -- literally.

However, it also important to place this fear for pregnancy into perspective among young women and girls.

It is tough being a teenager, but worse being pregnant. In this stage of development, the teenager will most likely be in school and dependent on parents.

It means dropping out of school and diminished opportunities of a better life.

Worst of all is the thinly-veiled rejection by family, peers and a society that frowns on teenage pregnancy and yet feels hopelessly lost when it comes to giving guidance to its off springs.

It also important to note that the emergency contraceptives are not 100% effective and therefore in addition to the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, the user is still exposed to unwanted pregnancy and all the dangers that go with it.

Even more worrying is that the popularity of the pills has triggered off a flood of fake products which can seriously compromise the health of users.

One incontestable fact though is that these pills are not alternatives to safe sex and contraceptives available on prescription by qualified professionals based on the suitability and specific needs of the individual.

While there is need to educate the public on the dangers of using these over-the-counter pills, it is also important to recognise that in matters of sex, young people are in crises and, as a society, we need to rethink our increasingly permissive attitude to sex.