Adolescence is second only to early childhood in the rapidity and sheer volume of changes occurring in brain development. Three different brain systems (and their interconnections) are at play: reward-driven behavior, harm avoidance, and regulatory behavior. At the same time, teens are experiencing powerful changes to their physical and sexual selves, accompanied by the hormonal cascade of puberty. During this period, there is an increase in brain receptors for dopamine, a neurotransmitter that has a strong effect on the experience of pleasure.
Most of us received minimal, awkward, or fear-based sex education. We had to learn in small, fragmented ways, like ripping open the sealed section of a Dolly magazine or attempting to find things out from our peers (who were honestly just as clueless as we were). Pleasure was rarely, if ever, discussed and our bodies were seen as problems we needed to fix or manage.