Fran, real world expierence is what happens when your parents aren't there to bail you out from every mistake you've made. It has nothing to do with the sex itself. In fact, no where in any of my posts did I ever actually say anything about sex, or 18 year olds or 21 year olds having sex. I was talking about the whole maturity thing.
I hate to point to people(but since she pointed herself out), look at paige. 18 with a baby. Guess what, condoms and birthcontrol are NOT foolproof. Accidents happen. Are you prepared to deal with them?
Also, you may *think* you know something will not affect you, only to find out too late that it actually does.
Guess what, when I turned 16 I moved to Germany(by myself), I have more or less been on my own since then. Even before that, I was doing pretty much everything for myself. Most people thought I was 25 at 18 because of the way I handled myself.
Can I tell you something? I'm a lot less comfortable wih the thought of having sex, then I was when I was 18. I look back at the people I have had sex with(and all of it was during actual relationships, not one night stands) and I wish I had been more selective about who I shared my body with. What happened in between now and then? Life happened.
And it wasnt' even the whole, taking care of yourself, day to day type stuff. It was just a general overall mental maturity. I bet in another 5 years, I will look back at myself now and pick out things I'm doing now that I consider childish.
I've seen lives get ruined by sex. yes, simple "safe" sex. It has very real concequences, and they can be very scary. now imagine trying to deal with these with someone you barely know? Its hard on anyone... but I think it's really hard when you're so young.