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Dear Dr. Ruth: I am a 16-year-old boy who belongs to a swim and dive team. Our coach is a very pretty 23-year-old female. Whenever she coaches us outside the pool, I get an erection. This is very embarrassing since we are wearing bikini-type racing suits.

The girls on the team also wear very sexy swimsuits and I almost always get an erection at practice. A couple of the other boys on the team get erections, too. Is there anything I can do to keep from getting these erections? I try to concentrate on other things but it does not help. Can you give us any advice?

Dear Reader: I would suggest wearing different trunks, but I know that would slow you down in the water and make the team less competitive, so that's not a good solution. The only thing I can say, then, is to ignore it. At least you know that your sexual apparatus is working, and that's a good thing.

Take into consideration that maybe your coach and the girls are also sexually stimulated, but it just doesn't show. And in any case, once you jump into that cold water, that should take care of your erection.

Dear Dr. Ruth: I have a friend who has multiple partners. She also practices safer sex. The other day she asked me if her behavior made me think poorly of her. I said no because I didn't want it to and I didn't think it should, but deep inside, it did. It made me question her morals. What is your take on it? Is it wrong?

Dear Reader: You obviously have a different set of moral values than she does and you have every right to maintain those standards for yourself, and for the friends that you do keep. If you were to surround yourself with people who had multiple partners, or who shoplifted or used illegal drugs, it would make it harder for you to resist. Peer pressure would push you toward lowering your standards, and that would not be a good thing.

If there is a little voice inside of you that is saying maybe you should see a little bit less of this person, then I think you should listen to it. That doesn't mean that you can't remain friends, but it probably would be better for you if you spent more time with people who shared your set of moral values.


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