Recently, there has been a law enacted in Heilongjiang Province which bans acts of ‘misconduct’, including ‘puppy love’. It arouses a lot of controversy. Is this law a curse or a blessing?
Teenagers usually fancy new and exciting things. A romantic relationship of course is one of the things teens are interested in. However, they may pay too much attention to it, struggling about how to deal with his or her lover and neglecting their school work. Establishing such a law can definitely have a deterrent effect on teens not to focus on romance too much. They can thus concentrate more at schools.
The puppy love fantasy also makes pre-marital sex more common among teens in recent decades. There is more likelihood for adolescents to have sexual experience. Teenage pregnancy is more likely to happen. Banning puppy love can prevent teens from developing their romantic relationships. It cuts down the probability for them to have pre-marital sex, let alone teenage pregnancy.
On the other hand, being attracted by someone and falling in love with him/her is a totally natural behaviour. It is not under any conscious control. In other words, it is a human instinct. Enacting a law which prohibits a natural behaviour is irrational. Teens cannot stop themselves from falling for someone. It is unreasonable to punish them as they cannot help it.
The law may also suppress teens interacting with the opposite sex as they may be afraid of being penalized. It will affect the social life of teens. They may not be able or become too shy to get along with the opposite sex in the workplace. It will definitely affect their lives in the long run.
To me, I object to this irrational law. Encountering a lot of teens every day and being exposed to an environment with a lot of the opposite sex around for a long time, like schools, teenage romance is nearly inevitable. How could the government set up a law which prohibits a human instinct? Teenagers are usually rebellious. They would rather follow their hearts, instead of obeying this irrational regulation. Besides, it cannot eradicate the teenage pregnancy problem. More education and promotion about safe sex is definitely a better way out in the long run.