Today, Slate.com's Dahlia Lithwick hit upon the cellphone-porn phenomenon, too. Her disbelief that many teens actually engage in swapping nughty pics via cell phone led her to this study. (.pdf) The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy found that a staggering one in five teens has sent a naked cellphone pic of himself or herself.
20% of teens (ages 13-19) trading self-snapped nudes like baseball cards has many consequences. Prosecutors, parents, teachers, judges, and social workers are all trying to stop their heads from spinning. Exactly what the legal ramifications are have not yet been tackled by legislators. They probably don't want to explain to voters why they do or do not want to make little Billy and Katie have to register as sex offenders because of "sexting."
Our take is far easier: teens are facing exposure to sexual situations at a shockingly early age. They need guidance from parents to help decide what actions are appropriate. At the same time, not every parent has the time, the understanding, or the interest in having these conversations with their children. Every teen needs to be taught how to avoid unintended pregnancies and contracting Sexually Transmitted Infections.
Comprehensive, medically-accurate sex education shoud be taught in all our schools. Parents and teachers should work together to be aware of the challenges kids face, and develop lessons designed to teach them how to stay out of trouble.
It being a Saturday, National Condom Day, and Valentine's Day, we've got love on the brain, and not particularly interested in spending time persuading you fine people to practice safe sex. So we're just gonna' paste the talking points from Planned Parenthood and get to the florist before they close.
Women, men and teens need to know how to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections.
The CDC reports the teen birthrate is on the rise, and that young women are more affected by sexually transmitted infections (STI) and have greater risks associated with STIs. We must provide commonsense solutions to preventable health care problems.
With an estimated 750,000 teenage girls becoming pregnant this year and nearly four million teens contracting a sexually transmitted infection, it is time to reject policies that aren’t working and embrace those that help teens make responsible decisions about protecting their health and avoiding unintended pregnancies.
In 2007, the YRBSS included a national school-based survey conducted by the CDC, 44 state surveys, five territory surveys and 22 local surveys conducted among students in grades nine–12 between January 2007 and February 2008.
In 2007:
47.8 percent of high school students had ever had sexual intercourse
14.9 percent of high school students had had sex with four or more people in their life
35 percent of high school students are currently sexually active
61.5 percent of sexually active high school students reported condom use during their last sexual intercourse
In 2007, chlamydia and gonorrhea together accounted for more than 1.4 million reported cases in the United States, and the number of reported syphilis cases continued to increase.
Women represented the majority of reported chlamydia and gonorrhea cases.
African-American women were particularly affected — young black women aged 15–19 had the highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea of any group, followed by black women aged 20–24.
After many years of decline, syphilis continues to increase among women and infants, though the majority of cases are still among gay and bisexual men.
In a world of text messages and Facebook status updates, we’re all able to check in on our friends at every waking hour. Workplaces are beginning to ban Facebook access on work computers because of the amount of time wasted on it, but it’s not only the time that gives us pause. Researchers have recently started looking at increased anxiety inteen girls who excessively use Facebook-based chat rooms.
This just in from the "What are the kids doing?" division: College students swapping bodily fluids also swap diseases. Shocking, I know.
What may not be as well known is the variety of ways college students have figured out how to spread these diseases. Today, The Lanternreported that Beer Pong is a silent culprit in the transmission of herpes, mono, influenza, and others. In passing a ping pong ball between communal cups of beer, germs are carried from one participant to another. College health officials are troubled that the drinking game's popularity is, well, infectious.
I can't help but add to their concern: mixing alcohol and sex can lead to big problems.
College students who have sex while drunk are much more likely to neglect to use condoms or other birth control.
Even if the guy uses a condom, he's less likely to use it correctly while intoxicated.
Alcohol fuels an enormous number of sexual assaults, even among friends.
Booze is a leading cause of impotence in young men.
I could give you numbers to back up these facts, but I think you know I'm right.
So there you have it - Beer Pong may be hazardous to your health.
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