Schools Can’t Stop Kids From Sexting. More Technology Can.
“YOUTH is subjected by our civilization to aggressive sex stimuli and suggestiveness oozing from every pore.” So declared the education professor Clark Hetherington in 1914, condemning the proliferation of racy movies and tell-all magazines. Lest adolescents succumb to the “indulgence” on display, he wrote, schools needed to teach “self-control” and “higher standards.”
Sound familiar? For the past century, we’ve been worrying that new forms of media are fostering sexual immorality in the young. And we’ve called upon our schools to stem the evil tide. Witness the recent “sexting” revelations at Cañon City High School in Colorado, where it is reported that 100 students traded naked pictures of themselves and one another. As the story went viral, critics have inevitably asked why the school hadn’t done more to educate students about sexting.
The schools are an easy target, but the wrong one. Public ambivalence about youth sexuality limits what the schools can do, nor do we have strong evidence that schools can affect teenagers’ behavior, in any event. And it’s hardly certain that youth sexting is the dangerous scourge that most adults imagine.
Let’s be clear: There are serious risks associated with teen sexting, including bullying and exposure to adult sexual predators. And we know that kids who sext are more likely to have sex than those who don’t. But beyond that, nobody has ever shown that the sexting induces kids to engage in riskier behavior. In a 2012 study of seven high schools in Texas, 28 percent of sophomores and juniors admitted that they had sent a naked picture of themselves over text or email. But these teenagers were no more likely than their nonsexting peers to engage in other risky sexual behaviors, like unprotected intercourse, alcohol or drug use before sex, or sex with multiple partners.
Nor do all sexting teenagers experience trauma or bullying, as popular reports suggest. Many teenagers regard sexting as a normal part of courtship — as necking in the car was for earlier generations. Back then, of course, what happened in the back seat stayed there and wasn’t splayed across the Internet.
What hasn’t changed is our reliance on schools, which have been called upon once again to clean up a perceived sexual crisis. In Texas, the “Before You Text” program warns students that sexting can yield “embarrassment, humiliation, fear, and betrayal.” A curriculum used in the Miami-Dade County public schools declares flatly, “Safe Sexting, No Such Thing.” But our kids already know that sexting can be embarrassing and humiliating, in certain situations. And they also know that it can be perfectly innocuous in others, as when a romantic couple shares intimate photos and deletes them right afterward.
What they need is someone to help them sort out which is which. And that is something our schools probably can’t do. A curriculum that honestly appraised the risks of sexting would draw fire from parents and politicians who think adolescents should simply abstain from sexting (and, for that matter, from sex). Surveys have repeatedly shown that most parents favor sex education in our schools, but they also differ sharply about what the subject should contain. So the safest course for school officials is to focus on so-called plumbing lessons and to avoid anything controversial. And even frank sex education in schools might not make much difference in the lives of our teenagers, who have always drawn their sexual knowledge more from the hated mass media than from their teachers.
That was certainly the case in the 1920s, at the dawn of modern Hollywood, when educators worried that students were taking their sexual cues from movie stars. With the rise of pornography and sexually explicit rock ’n’ roll lyrics in the 1960s and ’70s, schools again struggled in vain to impose order on world that seemed to be spinning out of control. “A 12-minute filmstrip is hardly a match for two years of ‘R’-rated films every weekend,” the director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals admitted in 1981, adding that “schools are a puny David without even a slingshot against the media Goliath.”
So how should we address the issue of sexting? What if we tried to meet the kids where they are? The most promising sex education initiatives right now are text-messaging services, which allow teenagers to submit questions anonymously and receive informed answers. In North Carolina and Texas, these services are operated by public health departments; others are run by organizations like Planned Parenthood. And they’re catching on quickly among teenagers, especially among those whom researchers believe are at the greatest risk. In Washington, a study of a statewide text-messaging program that connects kids to trained health educators found that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were more likely to use the service than other kids were.
So the best answer to sexual text messages probably lies in … other text messages. Parents, not schools, should be our primary sex educators, of course. But most of them grew up in a time well before sexting, so they’d be wise to introduce their children to a more up-to-date source. Instead of relying on David’s meager public-school slingshot, let’s look to the media Goliath’s most powerful club. It’s called a smartphone, and it got us to this crisis. It’s also our best hope for moving to a better place.
Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University and is the author of “Too Hot to Handle: A Global History of Sex Education.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/10/opini ... 87722&_r=0
******
How Do We Get Young People to Stop Sexting?
To the Editor:
As an advocate for public-school sex education for nearly 25 years, I find myself surprisingly in agreement with Jonathan Zimmerman (“A Solution to Sexting? More Texting,” Op-Ed, Nov. 10). The battle for school-based sex education was won in the late 1980s, as the country responded to the H.I.V.-AIDS epidemic and Surgeon General C. Everett Koop bravely called for sex education beginning in the third grade.
During the last 25 years, we have seen continuing conflict about whether such school programs can address contraception, sexual orientation and pleasure, but there is general community consensus about teaching puberty preparation, decision-making and relationships.
Mr. Zimmerman is right: Teenagers need more than most schools will offer, and sex education is everyone’s job. Parents, schools, faith communities, media, technology and the government all need to be involved.
I don’t see this as giving up on the schools; it’s just being realistic about what we can expect to happen, given the lack of consensus about content. The important thing is getting young people information however we can.
(Rev.) DEBRA W. HAFFNER
Westport, Conn.
The writer is president of the Religious Institute, a national multifaith group.
To the Editor:
As a college freshman, I still see my peers engaging in sexting with total disregard for their own digital footprint.
This article seems to focus solely on the younger generations, but the problem has spread to all age groups.
Schools alone should not have the burden of eliminating sexting. Parents need to address these issues in the home.
How do we show parents how to teach their children tech smarts? Empathy. Not all parents can put their pride aside to learn new things. That is the real problem.
SAMANTHA SCHWARTZ
Chicago
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/opini ... inion&_r=0
Solutions to Sexual Problems.
The Meaning of Sex
Even on campuses, nature and culture cannot be wished away
May 04, 2015 | By Peter Wood
Attraction. Pleasure. Attachment. Reproduction. Fulfillment. What is the meaning of sex? The answer lies somewhere in the way we integrate the biological imperatives with the emotional and experiential realities. I’m not going to improve on that answer in the next few pages, but I’ll complicate it a bit.
More....
http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-meani ... cle/928461
Even on campuses, nature and culture cannot be wished away
May 04, 2015 | By Peter Wood
Attraction. Pleasure. Attachment. Reproduction. Fulfillment. What is the meaning of sex? The answer lies somewhere in the way we integrate the biological imperatives with the emotional and experiential realities. I’m not going to improve on that answer in the next few pages, but I’ll complicate it a bit.
More....
http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-meani ... cle/928461
Zika Infection Transmitted by Sex Reported in Texas
Excerpt:
But sexual transmission, experts said, adds a new level of difficulty to detecting and preventing Zika outbreaks, which may require not just mosquito control but also safe-sex education. Health officials now face the prospect of stopping an infection that is usually silent and for which there are no widely available tests; it may be transmissible sexually, yet there may be no sign until a child is born.
“This opens up a whole new range of prevention issues,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chief of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School.
More...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/03/healt ... 87722&_r=0
Excerpt:
But sexual transmission, experts said, adds a new level of difficulty to detecting and preventing Zika outbreaks, which may require not just mosquito control but also safe-sex education. Health officials now face the prospect of stopping an infection that is usually silent and for which there are no widely available tests; it may be transmissible sexually, yet there may be no sign until a child is born.
“This opens up a whole new range of prevention issues,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chief of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School.
More...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/03/healt ... 87722&_r=0
When Did Porn Become Sex Ed?
Conversations between adults and teenagers
about what happens after “yes” remain rare.
THE other day, I got an email from a 21-year-old college senior about sex — or perhaps more correctly, about how ill equipped she was to talk about sex. The abstinence-only curriculum in her middle and high schools had taught her little more than “don’t,” and she’d told me that although her otherwise liberal parents would have been willing to answer any questions, it was pretty clear the topic made them even more uncomfortable than it made her.
So she had turned to pornography. “There’s a lot of problems with porn,” she wrote. “But it is kind of nice to be able to use it to gain some knowledge of sex.”
I wish I could say her sentiments were unusual, but I heard them repeatedly during the three years I spent interviewing young women in high school and college for a book on girls and sex. In fact, according to a survey of college students in Britain, 60 percent consult pornography, at least in part, as though it were an instruction manual, even as nearly three-quarters say that they know it is as realistic as pro wrestling. (Its depictions of women, meanwhile, are about as accurate as those of the “The Real Housewives” franchise.)
More....
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/opini ... 87722&_r=0
Conversations between adults and teenagers
about what happens after “yes” remain rare.
THE other day, I got an email from a 21-year-old college senior about sex — or perhaps more correctly, about how ill equipped she was to talk about sex. The abstinence-only curriculum in her middle and high schools had taught her little more than “don’t,” and she’d told me that although her otherwise liberal parents would have been willing to answer any questions, it was pretty clear the topic made them even more uncomfortable than it made her.
So she had turned to pornography. “There’s a lot of problems with porn,” she wrote. “But it is kind of nice to be able to use it to gain some knowledge of sex.”
I wish I could say her sentiments were unusual, but I heard them repeatedly during the three years I spent interviewing young women in high school and college for a book on girls and sex. In fact, according to a survey of college students in Britain, 60 percent consult pornography, at least in part, as though it were an instruction manual, even as nearly three-quarters say that they know it is as realistic as pro wrestling. (Its depictions of women, meanwhile, are about as accurate as those of the “The Real Housewives” franchise.)
More....
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/opini ... 87722&_r=0
Teenage Sexting Is Not Child Porn
Extract:
These new laws may seem like a measured solution to the problem of charging teenage sexters with child pornography felonies. However, once they have the option of lesser penalties, prosecutors are more likely to press charges — not only against teenagers who distribute private images without permission, but also against those who sext consensually.
More...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/04/opini ... 87722&_r=0
Extract:
These new laws may seem like a measured solution to the problem of charging teenage sexters with child pornography felonies. However, once they have the option of lesser penalties, prosecutors are more likely to press charges — not only against teenagers who distribute private images without permission, but also against those who sext consensually.
More...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/04/opini ... 87722&_r=0
Internet Porn Nearly Ruined His Life. Now He Wants to Help.
Extract:
'I think I was relying on pornography as some kind of emotional crutch,” he said. “If anything bad would happen, you would go to porn, because it would always be there.
“I knew it was bad for me,” he said. “But I also realized it was bad for women I was involved with, and that was the moment that I said: ‘I need to leave this thing behind. It is completely distorting my sexuality to the point where it could actually be harmful or at least not enjoyable for other people who I am involved with.’”
Mr. Rhodes came to believe he had a calling greater than his work in data analysis at Google. “It wasn’t an easy decision,” he said of his leaving the job last year. “But ultimately it was what was best for humanity.”
The website serves as an online umbrella for men looking to escape pornography. It has advertisements for porn-blocking software and online programs that promote the idea of steering clear of pornography and masturbation. The site also has discussion forums and includes testimonials by men sharing stories of their successes and failures.
And it helps match men with “accountability partners” meant to serve as Alcoholics Anonymous-style sponsors, to keep a person on the right path. The site generates revenue through subscriptions and advertising, Mr. Rhodes said."
More...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/08/fashi ... pe=article
Extract:
'I think I was relying on pornography as some kind of emotional crutch,” he said. “If anything bad would happen, you would go to porn, because it would always be there.
“I knew it was bad for me,” he said. “But I also realized it was bad for women I was involved with, and that was the moment that I said: ‘I need to leave this thing behind. It is completely distorting my sexuality to the point where it could actually be harmful or at least not enjoyable for other people who I am involved with.’”
Mr. Rhodes came to believe he had a calling greater than his work in data analysis at Google. “It wasn’t an easy decision,” he said of his leaving the job last year. “But ultimately it was what was best for humanity.”
The website serves as an online umbrella for men looking to escape pornography. It has advertisements for porn-blocking software and online programs that promote the idea of steering clear of pornography and masturbation. The site also has discussion forums and includes testimonials by men sharing stories of their successes and failures.
And it helps match men with “accountability partners” meant to serve as Alcoholics Anonymous-style sponsors, to keep a person on the right path. The site generates revenue through subscriptions and advertising, Mr. Rhodes said."
More...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/08/fashi ... pe=article
From a Christian perspective - C.S.Lewis
5. Sexual Morality
We must now consider Christian morality as regards sex, what Christians call the virtue of chastity. The Christian rule of chastity must not be confused with the social rule of "modesty" (in one sense of that word); i.e. propriety, or decency. The social rule of propriety lays down how much of the human body should be displayed and what subjects can be referred to, and in what words, according to the customs of a given social circle. Thus, while the rule of chastity is the same for all Christians at all times, the rule of propriety changes.
A girl in the Pacific islands wearing hardly any clothes and a Victorian lady completely covered in clothes might both be equally "modest," proper, or decent, according to the standards of their own societies: and both, for all we could tell by their dress, might be equally chaste (or equally unchaste). Some of the language which chaste women used in Shakespeare's time would have been used in the nineteenth century only by a woman completely abandoned. When people break the rule of propriety current in their own time and place, if they do so in order to excite lust in themselves or others, then they are offending against chastity. But if they break it through ignorance or carelessness they are guilty only of bad manners.
More...
https://www.dacc.edu/assets/pdfs/PCM/me ... ylewis.pdf
5. Sexual Morality
We must now consider Christian morality as regards sex, what Christians call the virtue of chastity. The Christian rule of chastity must not be confused with the social rule of "modesty" (in one sense of that word); i.e. propriety, or decency. The social rule of propriety lays down how much of the human body should be displayed and what subjects can be referred to, and in what words, according to the customs of a given social circle. Thus, while the rule of chastity is the same for all Christians at all times, the rule of propriety changes.
A girl in the Pacific islands wearing hardly any clothes and a Victorian lady completely covered in clothes might both be equally "modest," proper, or decent, according to the standards of their own societies: and both, for all we could tell by their dress, might be equally chaste (or equally unchaste). Some of the language which chaste women used in Shakespeare's time would have been used in the nineteenth century only by a woman completely abandoned. When people break the rule of propriety current in their own time and place, if they do so in order to excite lust in themselves or others, then they are offending against chastity. But if they break it through ignorance or carelessness they are guilty only of bad manners.
More...
https://www.dacc.edu/assets/pdfs/PCM/me ... ylewis.pdf
A Strategy Backfires, Increasing Teen Births
For more than two decades, educators with high hopes of preventing teen pregnancy have assigned their students computerized baby dolls, programmed to cry, coo, and make life complicated, just like a real baby.
“Having a baby can change a teen’s life in many ways… Experiencing those changes firsthand can help convince teenagers that putting off parenthood is a good idea,” one woman explains in a laudatory video about the program.
But a new report found that caring for a fake infant actually makes it more likely that teens will get pregnant, not less.
More...
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/0 ... dline&te=1
For more than two decades, educators with high hopes of preventing teen pregnancy have assigned their students computerized baby dolls, programmed to cry, coo, and make life complicated, just like a real baby.
“Having a baby can change a teen’s life in many ways… Experiencing those changes firsthand can help convince teenagers that putting off parenthood is a good idea,” one woman explains in a laudatory video about the program.
But a new report found that caring for a fake infant actually makes it more likely that teens will get pregnant, not less.
More...
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/0 ... dline&te=1
Pathfinder Receives Nearly $10 Million for Contraception Programs
Pathfinder Receives Nearly $10 Million for Contraception Programs
Pathfinder International, a Boston-based nonprofit organization that works to remove barriers to sexual and reproductive health services, has announced two grants totaling $9.7 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to expand women's and girls' access to modern contraceptive methods.
To that end, the organization was awarded a three-year, $2.7 million grant in support of its Beyond Bias project, which addresses the different types of provider bias and behaviors that can create barriers for youth who want access to high-quality contraceptive counseling and services. Building on ongoing projects in Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and Pakistan, Pathfinder will partner with Camber Collective, YLabs, and Behavioral Economics in Reproductive Health to implement a four-phase process aimed at gathering insights, generating and testing solutions, and supporting adaptation and scaling of the effort. The organization also will work with local partners, Aga Khan Health Services in Tanzania and Greenstar in Pakistan on solution development and testing.
The second grant, $7 million over four years, will support Pathfinder's Resolve project, which aims to advance transformative interventions designed to expand the use of modern contraception among women who do not wish to become pregnant. Building on its work in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh, the organization will partner with Ideas42, Camber Collective, and ICRW to fund adaptive and disruptive change in family planning program design.
"For more than thirty years, Pathfinder has been at the forefront of programming to address the unique sexual and reproductive health needs and interests of young people, and we are thrilled to have this opportunity to tackle one of the most persistent barriers young people face,” said Pathfinder interim-CEO Caroline Crosbie. "People don't make choices about their reproductive health in a vacuum. Their providers, families, society, gender norms, religion, and other factors all play a role. As a global community, we need to be looking how all these factors come into play and design programs that acknowledge and account for these dynamics."
More...
http://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/ ... n-programs
Pathfinder Receives Nearly $10 Million for Contraception Programs
Pathfinder International, a Boston-based nonprofit organization that works to remove barriers to sexual and reproductive health services, has announced two grants totaling $9.7 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to expand women's and girls' access to modern contraceptive methods.
To that end, the organization was awarded a three-year, $2.7 million grant in support of its Beyond Bias project, which addresses the different types of provider bias and behaviors that can create barriers for youth who want access to high-quality contraceptive counseling and services. Building on ongoing projects in Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and Pakistan, Pathfinder will partner with Camber Collective, YLabs, and Behavioral Economics in Reproductive Health to implement a four-phase process aimed at gathering insights, generating and testing solutions, and supporting adaptation and scaling of the effort. The organization also will work with local partners, Aga Khan Health Services in Tanzania and Greenstar in Pakistan on solution development and testing.
The second grant, $7 million over four years, will support Pathfinder's Resolve project, which aims to advance transformative interventions designed to expand the use of modern contraception among women who do not wish to become pregnant. Building on its work in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh, the organization will partner with Ideas42, Camber Collective, and ICRW to fund adaptive and disruptive change in family planning program design.
"For more than thirty years, Pathfinder has been at the forefront of programming to address the unique sexual and reproductive health needs and interests of young people, and we are thrilled to have this opportunity to tackle one of the most persistent barriers young people face,” said Pathfinder interim-CEO Caroline Crosbie. "People don't make choices about their reproductive health in a vacuum. Their providers, families, society, gender norms, religion, and other factors all play a role. As a global community, we need to be looking how all these factors come into play and design programs that acknowledge and account for these dynamics."
More...
http://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/ ... n-programs
10 Things To Feel Good About Right Now
Slide Show
http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/weeke ... 2-fsdyghz/
This week, the Dutch government announced plans to establish an international fund to provide contraception, sex education, and abortion services for those in need around the world. This was in direct response to President Trump's recent reinstatement of the "Global Gag Rule," eliminating U.S. federal aid to foreign groups that offer abortion services — or even provide education about them. Hup, Holland, hup!
Slide Show
http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/weeke ... 2-fsdyghz/
This week, the Dutch government announced plans to establish an international fund to provide contraception, sex education, and abortion services for those in need around the world. This was in direct response to President Trump's recent reinstatement of the "Global Gag Rule," eliminating U.S. federal aid to foreign groups that offer abortion services — or even provide education about them. Hup, Holland, hup!
Nigerian family planning: Condoms v conservatives
In Nigeria, faith and tradition favour high fertility. Family planning pulls the other way. The state of Kaduna offers free birth control and suggests women pause between pregnancies; its fertility rate fell by a third in the five years to 2013. Nigeria’s population is growing at 3% a year. To be prosperous as well as populous, better education is vital. It would also curb population growth: well-schooled women tend to have fewer babies
More..
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-ea ... lydispatch
In Nigeria, faith and tradition favour high fertility. Family planning pulls the other way. The state of Kaduna offers free birth control and suggests women pause between pregnancies; its fertility rate fell by a third in the five years to 2013. Nigeria’s population is growing at 3% a year. To be prosperous as well as populous, better education is vital. It would also curb population growth: well-schooled women tend to have fewer babies
More..
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-ea ... lydispatch
Scientists have delivered a chilling warning about sex robots
A report on the growing market of sex robots has sent out a strong warning this week that could shake up the industry for good.
Simply put, the warning states that there should be a ban on the import of sex robots designed to look like children, as right now there’s a worrying “lack of clarity” in the law.
Sex robots are becoming more readily available, and customisable. Technology can now create dolls that perform 50 sex positions.
The Foundation for Responsible Robotics has argued in its report, 'Our sexual future with robots,' that another “dark side” to sex robots could be that they are used to simulate rape.
More...
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle/rela ... ailsignout
A report on the growing market of sex robots has sent out a strong warning this week that could shake up the industry for good.
Simply put, the warning states that there should be a ban on the import of sex robots designed to look like children, as right now there’s a worrying “lack of clarity” in the law.
Sex robots are becoming more readily available, and customisable. Technology can now create dolls that perform 50 sex positions.
The Foundation for Responsible Robotics has argued in its report, 'Our sexual future with robots,' that another “dark side” to sex robots could be that they are used to simulate rape.
More...
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle/rela ... ailsignout
Taboo-busting sex guide offers advice to Muslim women seeking fulfilling love lives
The Muslimah Sex Manual: A Halal Guide to Mind Blowing Sex is praised for empowering women
It was a confession by a newlywed friend about her disastrous sex life that gave Umm Muladhat an idea for a groundbreaking book.
Published last week, The Muslimah Sex Manual: A Halal Guide to Mind Blowing Sex is the first such guide written by a Muslim woman. The author has chosen to stay anonymous, using an alias.
Candid advice is offered on everything from kissing to cowgirl positions – with the core message being that Muslim women can and should enjoy a varied sex life and take the lead in physical relationships.
While some critics have accused the author of fetishising Muslim women and encouraging promiscuity, the book has been welcomed by readers who have lauded her as a Muslim Belle De Jour, bringing a taboo subject into the open. “I’ve received encouraging feedback, but also a significant number of demeaning and disgusting messages,” said Muladhat. “One woman said it’s not needed, they learn everything from their mothers. I doubt any mother speaks in as explicit detail as I have.
More...
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... WEML6619I2
The Muslimah Sex Manual: A Halal Guide to Mind Blowing Sex is praised for empowering women
It was a confession by a newlywed friend about her disastrous sex life that gave Umm Muladhat an idea for a groundbreaking book.
Published last week, The Muslimah Sex Manual: A Halal Guide to Mind Blowing Sex is the first such guide written by a Muslim woman. The author has chosen to stay anonymous, using an alias.
Candid advice is offered on everything from kissing to cowgirl positions – with the core message being that Muslim women can and should enjoy a varied sex life and take the lead in physical relationships.
While some critics have accused the author of fetishising Muslim women and encouraging promiscuity, the book has been welcomed by readers who have lauded her as a Muslim Belle De Jour, bringing a taboo subject into the open. “I’ve received encouraging feedback, but also a significant number of demeaning and disgusting messages,” said Muladhat. “One woman said it’s not needed, they learn everything from their mothers. I doubt any mother speaks in as explicit detail as I have.
More...
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... WEML6619I2
Want Teenage Boys to Read? Easy. Give Them Books About Sex.
Excerpt:
My new novel portrays a young boy’s emotional, heteroflexible sex life — and I’d like young people to read it. But it’s being published for adults, partly because the guardians of young people’s literature get so easily riled up about sex, preferring to recommend, say, books about teenagers slaughtering one another in a post-apocalyptic landscape, rather than books about kids masturbating at home.
To which many would say, so what? Don’t we have more important things to worry about than giving sexually explicit literature to young people? Shouldn’t we be more concerned about, say, the rampant misogyny of everyday life, in a nation led by a self-admitted sexual predator?
Which to me is precisely the point. I believe in the power of literature to connect, to transform, particularly for young minds beginning to explore the world. I want books to be an unlimited resource for young people and their curiosity, not a sphere restricted by how uncomfortable some curiosities make adults feel.
The books I read as a teenager, sex and all, made me a better boy and then a better man, just as literature continues to make me a better husband, a better father, a better feminist. I want that for my son, and for all my young readers of every gender. Let’s not smirk at their interests. Let’s give them books that might engage them.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/29/opin ... d=45305309
Excerpt:
My new novel portrays a young boy’s emotional, heteroflexible sex life — and I’d like young people to read it. But it’s being published for adults, partly because the guardians of young people’s literature get so easily riled up about sex, preferring to recommend, say, books about teenagers slaughtering one another in a post-apocalyptic landscape, rather than books about kids masturbating at home.
To which many would say, so what? Don’t we have more important things to worry about than giving sexually explicit literature to young people? Shouldn’t we be more concerned about, say, the rampant misogyny of everyday life, in a nation led by a self-admitted sexual predator?
Which to me is precisely the point. I believe in the power of literature to connect, to transform, particularly for young minds beginning to explore the world. I want books to be an unlimited resource for young people and their curiosity, not a sphere restricted by how uncomfortable some curiosities make adults feel.
The books I read as a teenager, sex and all, made me a better boy and then a better man, just as literature continues to make me a better husband, a better father, a better feminist. I want that for my son, and for all my young readers of every gender. Let’s not smirk at their interests. Let’s give them books that might engage them.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/29/opin ... d=45305309
Pakistan, Let’s Talk About Sex
Excerpt:
I must have read that Happy Home magazine about 40 years ago, but things haven’t changed much here when it comes to conversations about how babies are made. Despite warnings about a population explosion, we still don’t talk about population control. Talking about population control might require talking about sex, and you can’t really talk about sex on prime time TV or the radio, in Parliament or at village gatherings. Ads for condoms are often banned. There’s the occasional valiant attempt — like Clinic Online, a call-in TV show about sexual health — but “sex” remains a dirty word. As if just saying it was the same as doing it. We don’t even talk about sex with the person we’re doing it with.
The Pakistani government could have involved the clergy to dispel the common myth that contraception is somehow un-Islamic, but it hasn’t. There also used to be a myth about the campaign to vaccinate children against polio: That it was a cover for an American conspiracy to sterilize Pakistanis. Then the government got imams to explain on TV that it really wasn’t Allah’s will to cripple the next generation. Yet clerics aren’t preaching that even though God wants you to have good, wholesome sex with your legitimate partner, that shouldn’t stop you from using a condom or taking a birth-control pill.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/opin ... ctionfront
Excerpt:
I must have read that Happy Home magazine about 40 years ago, but things haven’t changed much here when it comes to conversations about how babies are made. Despite warnings about a population explosion, we still don’t talk about population control. Talking about population control might require talking about sex, and you can’t really talk about sex on prime time TV or the radio, in Parliament or at village gatherings. Ads for condoms are often banned. There’s the occasional valiant attempt — like Clinic Online, a call-in TV show about sexual health — but “sex” remains a dirty word. As if just saying it was the same as doing it. We don’t even talk about sex with the person we’re doing it with.
The Pakistani government could have involved the clergy to dispel the common myth that contraception is somehow un-Islamic, but it hasn’t. There also used to be a myth about the campaign to vaccinate children against polio: That it was a cover for an American conspiracy to sterilize Pakistanis. Then the government got imams to explain on TV that it really wasn’t Allah’s will to cripple the next generation. Yet clerics aren’t preaching that even though God wants you to have good, wholesome sex with your legitimate partner, that shouldn’t stop you from using a condom or taking a birth-control pill.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/opin ... ctionfront
Can an 11-Year-Old Girl Consent to Sex?
PARIS — Last Tuesday, France woke up to news reports that a 28-year-old man and an 11-year-old girl had had “consensual” sex.
The events, first reported by the website Mediapart, took place on April 24 in the Paris suburb of Montmagny. That afternoon, the child followed a man, who had already approached her twice in the previous days, telling her he “could teach her how to kiss and more.” They went to his building, where she performed oral sex in the hallway. Then she followed him to his apartment, where they had sexual intercourse. Afterward, he told her not to talk to anybody about it, kissed her on the forehead and asked to see her again.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/opin ... dline&te=1
PARIS — Last Tuesday, France woke up to news reports that a 28-year-old man and an 11-year-old girl had had “consensual” sex.
The events, first reported by the website Mediapart, took place on April 24 in the Paris suburb of Montmagny. That afternoon, the child followed a man, who had already approached her twice in the previous days, telling her he “could teach her how to kiss and more.” They went to his building, where she performed oral sex in the hallway. Then she followed him to his apartment, where they had sexual intercourse. Afterward, he told her not to talk to anybody about it, kissed her on the forehead and asked to see her again.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/opin ... dline&te=1
A Condom-Maker’s Discovery: Size Matters
Condoms get a bad rap for being a bad wrap. Men often complain of discomfort, diminished sensation and poor fit. A recent federal study found only a third of American men use them.
Now, changes by the Food and Drug Administration and industry-standards groups have opened the door to the condom equivalent of bespoke suits. A Boston-based company has begun selling custom-fit condoms in 60 sizes, in combinations of 10 lengths and nine circumferences.
Will the development improve the appeal of condoms, the only birth-control method that protects against most sexually transmitted diseases? Public health experts are unsure.
Many ideas for improving condoms have fizzled, sometimes stymied by the costs of testing required to satisfy the F.D.A., which considers condoms to be medical devices. A competition sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sought ideas for more pleasurable condoms in 2013 but has not yet brought one to market. While some winners are still pursuing prototypes, others have given up.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/heal ... d=45305309
Condoms get a bad rap for being a bad wrap. Men often complain of discomfort, diminished sensation and poor fit. A recent federal study found only a third of American men use them.
Now, changes by the Food and Drug Administration and industry-standards groups have opened the door to the condom equivalent of bespoke suits. A Boston-based company has begun selling custom-fit condoms in 60 sizes, in combinations of 10 lengths and nine circumferences.
Will the development improve the appeal of condoms, the only birth-control method that protects against most sexually transmitted diseases? Public health experts are unsure.
Many ideas for improving condoms have fizzled, sometimes stymied by the costs of testing required to satisfy the F.D.A., which considers condoms to be medical devices. A competition sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sought ideas for more pleasurable condoms in 2013 but has not yet brought one to market. While some winners are still pursuing prototypes, others have given up.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/heal ... d=45305309
Untreatable Gonorrhea Is Rapidly Spreading. Here’s What You Need to Know
As drug-resistant gonorrhea rapidly spreads around the world, one team of researchers may have a strategy to combat it, according to a new study.
Gonorrhea is becoming a superbug, meaning the drugs typically used to treat it are no longer reliably effective. Should gonorrhea’s antibiotic resistance continue to increase, the results could be bleak, given that the sexually transmitted disease can cause long-term complications like infertility if left untreated.
In July, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that around the globe, about 78 million people are infected with gonorrhea each year, and that 97% of 77 countries surveyed from 2009 to 2014 reported the presence of drug-resistant gonorrhea strains. Sixty-six percent of the countries reported the emergence of resistance to last resort drug treatments for the infection.
If a person gets a resistant strain of gonorrhea today, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t ever clear the infection. “At the moment, all cases of gonorrhea are still treatable using some combination of available antibiotics,” says Dr. Xavier Didelot, senior lecturer in the department of infectious disease and epidemiology at Imperial College London. “But at the current rate at which resistance is developing, we could find ourselves facing a situation where no antibiotic works, which would mean a return to the pre-antibiotic era.”
To prevent that from happening, researchers are working to figure out new treatment strategies for gonorrhea. In a new study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine, Didelot and his colleagues report that relying more on an older drug for the disease may stop it from becoming more resistant to antibiotics.
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/sexual ... ailsignout
As drug-resistant gonorrhea rapidly spreads around the world, one team of researchers may have a strategy to combat it, according to a new study.
Gonorrhea is becoming a superbug, meaning the drugs typically used to treat it are no longer reliably effective. Should gonorrhea’s antibiotic resistance continue to increase, the results could be bleak, given that the sexually transmitted disease can cause long-term complications like infertility if left untreated.
In July, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that around the globe, about 78 million people are infected with gonorrhea each year, and that 97% of 77 countries surveyed from 2009 to 2014 reported the presence of drug-resistant gonorrhea strains. Sixty-six percent of the countries reported the emergence of resistance to last resort drug treatments for the infection.
If a person gets a resistant strain of gonorrhea today, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t ever clear the infection. “At the moment, all cases of gonorrhea are still treatable using some combination of available antibiotics,” says Dr. Xavier Didelot, senior lecturer in the department of infectious disease and epidemiology at Imperial College London. “But at the current rate at which resistance is developing, we could find ourselves facing a situation where no antibiotic works, which would mean a return to the pre-antibiotic era.”
To prevent that from happening, researchers are working to figure out new treatment strategies for gonorrhea. In a new study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine, Didelot and his colleagues report that relying more on an older drug for the disease may stop it from becoming more resistant to antibiotics.
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/sexual ... ailsignout
This Is The Bizarre Side Effect 1 In 100 People Experience During Sex
Sex headaches are no joke. Here, doctors explain why they happen and how to deal.
As your sexual arousal ramps up, pleasure is probably the only thing on your mind. Unfortunately, for some people, pain interrupts the party. At least one percent of adults experience coital cephalalgia, or “sex headaches,” aka head pain that occurs before, during, or after orgasm. Here's what you need to know about this condition, which is basically the unpleasant epitome of a buzzkill.
Mayo Clinic spotlights two kinds of sex headaches. The first is "a dull ache in the head and neck that intensifies as sexual excitement increases," and the second is "a sudden, severe, throbbing headache that occurs just before or at the moment of orgasm."
More..
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/health ... ailsignout
*****
Birth Control Your Own Adventure
Excerpt:
It gives me pause to criticize contraceptives. American public discourse doesn’t digest nuance well, and I fear not being heard if I criticize birth control and in the same breath assert my right to it. But these beliefs are not mutually exclusive: I deserve to make decisions about my body, and I deserve a health care system that doesn’t consider what’s unacceptable for men to be the gold standard for me. Yes, I deserve birth control, but I also deserve better birth control.
More..
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/o ... 1&referer=
Sex headaches are no joke. Here, doctors explain why they happen and how to deal.
As your sexual arousal ramps up, pleasure is probably the only thing on your mind. Unfortunately, for some people, pain interrupts the party. At least one percent of adults experience coital cephalalgia, or “sex headaches,” aka head pain that occurs before, during, or after orgasm. Here's what you need to know about this condition, which is basically the unpleasant epitome of a buzzkill.
Mayo Clinic spotlights two kinds of sex headaches. The first is "a dull ache in the head and neck that intensifies as sexual excitement increases," and the second is "a sudden, severe, throbbing headache that occurs just before or at the moment of orgasm."
More..
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/health ... ailsignout
*****
Birth Control Your Own Adventure
Excerpt:
It gives me pause to criticize contraceptives. American public discourse doesn’t digest nuance well, and I fear not being heard if I criticize birth control and in the same breath assert my right to it. But these beliefs are not mutually exclusive: I deserve to make decisions about my body, and I deserve a health care system that doesn’t consider what’s unacceptable for men to be the gold standard for me. Yes, I deserve birth control, but I also deserve better birth control.
More..
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/o ... 1&referer=
Contraception for Teenagers
Although teenage pregnancies and birthrates in the United States have been declining steadily since 1990, the nation still leads the developed world in these challenging statistics.
I say challenging because 82 percent of teen pregnancies and births are unplanned and nearly always unwanted. They often disrupt a girl’s education and life goals and sometimes result in shotgun marriages with poor long-term survival.
The falling pregnancy rate is not a result of a decline in teenage sexual activity, which experts say has remained steady for decades. Nor does abortion, which has dropped along with pregnancies, account for fewer teen births.
Rather, the data indicate that more teens now use contraception when they have sex. Still, too many fail to use the most effective methods or use them incorrectly or inconsistently, resulting in ill-timed or unwanted pregnancies. Even informed teenagers may have trouble accessing contraceptives: A new report by the Guttmacher Institute found that 24 states do not allow minors to receive contraceptives without parents’ permission.
Condoms, sold over-the-counter and sometimes distributed free in schools, are the most frequently used contraceptives by teens. But while key to preventing sexually transmitted infections, in practice condoms are among the poorest means to prevent pregnancy — better only than withdrawal. Currently, the most effective methods — so-called long-acting reversible contraceptives — are least often used by adolescents.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/well ... dline&te=1
Although teenage pregnancies and birthrates in the United States have been declining steadily since 1990, the nation still leads the developed world in these challenging statistics.
I say challenging because 82 percent of teen pregnancies and births are unplanned and nearly always unwanted. They often disrupt a girl’s education and life goals and sometimes result in shotgun marriages with poor long-term survival.
The falling pregnancy rate is not a result of a decline in teenage sexual activity, which experts say has remained steady for decades. Nor does abortion, which has dropped along with pregnancies, account for fewer teen births.
Rather, the data indicate that more teens now use contraception when they have sex. Still, too many fail to use the most effective methods or use them incorrectly or inconsistently, resulting in ill-timed or unwanted pregnancies. Even informed teenagers may have trouble accessing contraceptives: A new report by the Guttmacher Institute found that 24 states do not allow minors to receive contraceptives without parents’ permission.
Condoms, sold over-the-counter and sometimes distributed free in schools, are the most frequently used contraceptives by teens. But while key to preventing sexually transmitted infections, in practice condoms are among the poorest means to prevent pregnancy — better only than withdrawal. Currently, the most effective methods — so-called long-acting reversible contraceptives — are least often used by adolescents.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/well ... dline&te=1
Can There Be Good Porn?
Excerpt:
Still, some pornographers have been taking steps to try to minimize porn’s potential harm to young people and adults for years. And one way we’ve been trying to do so is by putting our work into its proper context.
Context reminds people of all the things they don’t see in the final product. It underscores that pornography is a performance, that just as in ballet or professional wrestling, we are putting on a show. For years the B.D.S.M.-focused website Kink provided context for its sex scenes through a project called Behind Kink, with videos that showed the scenes being planned and performers stating their limits. Their films also showed a practice called “aftercare,” in which participants in an intense B.D.S.M. experience discuss what they’ve just done and how they’re feeling about it. (Unfortunately, the Behind Kink project lost momentum and appears to have stalled out in 2016.)
More..
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/opin ... dline&te=1
Excerpt:
Still, some pornographers have been taking steps to try to minimize porn’s potential harm to young people and adults for years. And one way we’ve been trying to do so is by putting our work into its proper context.
Context reminds people of all the things they don’t see in the final product. It underscores that pornography is a performance, that just as in ballet or professional wrestling, we are putting on a show. For years the B.D.S.M.-focused website Kink provided context for its sex scenes through a project called Behind Kink, with videos that showed the scenes being planned and performers stating their limits. Their films also showed a practice called “aftercare,” in which participants in an intense B.D.S.M. experience discuss what they’ve just done and how they’re feeling about it. (Unfortunately, the Behind Kink project lost momentum and appears to have stalled out in 2016.)
More..
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/opin ... dline&te=1
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FreeLancer
- Posts: 180
- Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:20 pm
Kmaherali don't you have some decent topics to post. What pornography, contraception, sex have to do with Ismaili Heritage. All Newyork times postings are not healthier for Ismaili youth.kmaherali wrote:Can There Be Good Porn?
Excerpt:
Still, some pornographers have been taking steps to try to minimize porn’s potential harm to young people and adults for years. And one way we’ve been trying to do so is by putting our work into its proper context.
Context reminds people of all the things they don’t see in the final product. It underscores that pornography is a performance, that just as in ballet or professional wrestling, we are putting on a show. For years the B.D.S.M.-focused website Kink provided context for its sex scenes through a project called Behind Kink, with videos that showed the scenes being planned and performers stating their limits. Their films also showed a practice called “aftercare,” in which participants in an intense B.D.S.M. experience discuss what they’ve just done and how they’re feeling about it. (Unfortunately, the Behind Kink project lost momentum and appears to have stalled out in 2016.)
More..
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/opin ... dline&te=1
Ismaili youths live in twenty first century and are exposed to issues of sexuality. They have to be exposed to different facets of this subject and how to deal with them responsibly. That's why we have sex education in our schools.FreeLancer wrote: Kmaherali don't you have some decent topics to post. What pornography, contraception, sex have to do with Ismaili Heritage. All Newyork times postings are not healthier for Ismaili youth.
-
FreeLancer
- Posts: 180
- Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:20 pm
You are one sided. Sex education is taught only in western countries. This subject is not taught in Pakistan, Afghanistan, central Asian countries, even not in India. Mostly persons don't know English in these areas, how they will understand your sermons on sex in English. Let me ask you, why not we start this valuable subjects in JKs?kmaherali wrote:Ismaili youths live in twenty first century and are exposed to issues of sexuality. They have to be exposed to different facets of this subject and how to deal with them responsibly. That's why we have sex education in our schools.FreeLancer wrote: Kmaherali don't you have some decent topics to post. What pornography, contraception, sex have to do with Ismaili Heritage. All Newyork times postings are not healthier for Ismaili youth.
Appropriate understanding and responsible practice of sex is a global issue. Irresponsible sex creates social problems such as poverty, diseases, unwanted pregnancies etc. This is what I am trying to highlight in this thread.FreeLancer wrote: You are one sided. Sex education is taught only in western countries. This subject is not taught in Pakistan, Afghanistan, central Asian countries, even not in India. Mostly persons don't know English in these areas, how they will understand your sermons on sex in English. Let me ask you, why not we start this valuable subjects in JKs?
Senegal's innovative approach to prostitution
Its HIV prevalence rate is lower even than Washington, DC
VIOLENCE against women, anti-prostitution laws and poor health-care systems all make sub-Saharan Africa an appalling place to be a sex worker. Criminalised by many African states and exploited by corrupt officials, many women are forced into the world of organised crime. Worse still, they have been at the forefront of the continent’s ongoing AIDS epidemic. One study in 2013 found that in 16 African countries, an average of 37% of sex workers were HIV positive. Yet one African country does things differently. Senegal is the only place in Africa where sex workers are regulated by the state. Identification cards confirm the women as sex workers and give them access to some free health care, condoms and education initiatives. Why is this small west African state so different?
https://www.economist.com/blogs/economi ... m=20180413
Its HIV prevalence rate is lower even than Washington, DC
VIOLENCE against women, anti-prostitution laws and poor health-care systems all make sub-Saharan Africa an appalling place to be a sex worker. Criminalised by many African states and exploited by corrupt officials, many women are forced into the world of organised crime. Worse still, they have been at the forefront of the continent’s ongoing AIDS epidemic. One study in 2013 found that in 16 African countries, an average of 37% of sex workers were HIV positive. Yet one African country does things differently. Senegal is the only place in Africa where sex workers are regulated by the state. Identification cards confirm the women as sex workers and give them access to some free health care, condoms and education initiatives. Why is this small west African state so different?
https://www.economist.com/blogs/economi ... m=20180413
Why STDs are soaring in America
Rates of syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia come roaring back
NEARLY 20 years ago, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an ambitious proposal to “eliminate syphilis from the United States”. The plan seems to have worked rather poorly. Soon after the proposal’s issue, infection rates began to head in the wrong direction and then worsened. From 2000 until 2016, the most recent year for which data are available, the rates of syphilis quadrupled. Congenital syphilis, a nearly eradicated condition in which the infection is passed from mother to fetus, has also sharply increased—by nearly 28% from a low base in one year. That is distressing not only because the disease is easily detected and treated by a course of antibiotics, but also because afflicted mothers have a 40% chance of a stillbirth.
The problem is not only limited to syphilis. Other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are roaring back. Rates of gonorrhoea have, after a brief period of decline, surged 46% since 2010. Chlamydia, an extremely common STD which can result in female infertility, has nearly doubled since 2000. Nearly every sort of American has been affected. Even though people under 30 account for a large share of new infections, STDs have also risen among the elderly. Among adults aged 55 or over, chlamydia has more than doubled since 2010, while gonorrhoea has more than tripled. The public-health departments of New York City and Los Angeles County have sounded alarms, as have rural states like Mississippi, where STD rates are among the highest in the country.
More...
https://www.economist.com/united-states ... in-america
Rates of syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia come roaring back
NEARLY 20 years ago, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an ambitious proposal to “eliminate syphilis from the United States”. The plan seems to have worked rather poorly. Soon after the proposal’s issue, infection rates began to head in the wrong direction and then worsened. From 2000 until 2016, the most recent year for which data are available, the rates of syphilis quadrupled. Congenital syphilis, a nearly eradicated condition in which the infection is passed from mother to fetus, has also sharply increased—by nearly 28% from a low base in one year. That is distressing not only because the disease is easily detected and treated by a course of antibiotics, but also because afflicted mothers have a 40% chance of a stillbirth.
The problem is not only limited to syphilis. Other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are roaring back. Rates of gonorrhoea have, after a brief period of decline, surged 46% since 2010. Chlamydia, an extremely common STD which can result in female infertility, has nearly doubled since 2000. Nearly every sort of American has been affected. Even though people under 30 account for a large share of new infections, STDs have also risen among the elderly. Among adults aged 55 or over, chlamydia has more than doubled since 2010, while gonorrhoea has more than tripled. The public-health departments of New York City and Los Angeles County have sounded alarms, as have rural states like Mississippi, where STD rates are among the highest in the country.
More...
https://www.economist.com/united-states ... in-america
The Sex Recession Is Here
These should be boom times for sex.
The share of Americans who say sex between unmarried adults is “not wrong at all” is at an all-time high. New cases of HIV are at an all-time low. Most women can—at last—get birth control for free, and the morning-after pill without a prescription.
If hookups are your thing, Grindr and Tinder offer the prospect of casual sex within the hour. The phrase If something exists, there is porn of it used to be a clever internet meme; now it’s a truism. BDSM plays at the local multiplex—but why bother going? Sex is portrayed, often graphically and sometimes gorgeously, on prime-time cable. Sexting is, statistically speaking, normal.
To hear more feature stories, see our full list or get the Audm iPhone app.
Polyamory is a household word. Shame-laden terms like perversion have given way to cheerful-sounding ones like kink. Anal sex has gone from final taboo to “fifth base”—Teen Vogue (yes, Teen Vogue) even ran a guide to it. With the exception of perhaps incest and bestiality—and of course nonconsensual sex more generally—our culture has never been more tolerant of sex in just about every permutation.
But despite all this, American teenagers and young adults are having less sex.
To the relief of many parents, educators, and clergy members who care about the health and well-being of young people, teens are launching their sex lives later. From 1991 to 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey finds, the percentage of high-school students who’d had intercourse dropped from 54 to 40 percent. In other words, in the space of a generation, sex has gone from something most high-school students have experienced to something most haven’t. (And no, they aren’t having oral sex instead—that rate hasn’t changed much.)
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/wellne ... ailsignout
These should be boom times for sex.
The share of Americans who say sex between unmarried adults is “not wrong at all” is at an all-time high. New cases of HIV are at an all-time low. Most women can—at last—get birth control for free, and the morning-after pill without a prescription.
If hookups are your thing, Grindr and Tinder offer the prospect of casual sex within the hour. The phrase If something exists, there is porn of it used to be a clever internet meme; now it’s a truism. BDSM plays at the local multiplex—but why bother going? Sex is portrayed, often graphically and sometimes gorgeously, on prime-time cable. Sexting is, statistically speaking, normal.
To hear more feature stories, see our full list or get the Audm iPhone app.
Polyamory is a household word. Shame-laden terms like perversion have given way to cheerful-sounding ones like kink. Anal sex has gone from final taboo to “fifth base”—Teen Vogue (yes, Teen Vogue) even ran a guide to it. With the exception of perhaps incest and bestiality—and of course nonconsensual sex more generally—our culture has never been more tolerant of sex in just about every permutation.
But despite all this, American teenagers and young adults are having less sex.
To the relief of many parents, educators, and clergy members who care about the health and well-being of young people, teens are launching their sex lives later. From 1991 to 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey finds, the percentage of high-school students who’d had intercourse dropped from 54 to 40 percent. In other words, in the space of a generation, sex has gone from something most high-school students have experienced to something most haven’t. (And no, they aren’t having oral sex instead—that rate hasn’t changed much.)
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/wellne ... ailsignout
The Huxley Trap
How technology and masturbation tamed the sexual revolution.
Excerpt:
The people trying to argue against porn in Alberta’s article, or the people struggling to articulate their sexual and romantic discontents in Julian’s, are trying to find their way back to a worldview that takes moral virtue and human flourishing seriously again. But they inhabit a society that often recognizes only arguments about pleasure versus harm, and that at some level has internalized the logic of Mustapha Mond, one of the Controllers of Huxley’s world civilization: “Chastity means passion, chastity means neurasthenia. And passion and neurasthenia mean instability. And instability means the end of civilization. You can’t have a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices.”
Pleasant vices and stability: With some technological assistance, that’s the sexual culture we’ve been forging. The only good news, and the best evidence that we might yet escape Huxley’s trap, is that we retain enough genuinely-human aspiration to be unhappy with it.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/opin ... dline&te=1
How technology and masturbation tamed the sexual revolution.
Excerpt:
The people trying to argue against porn in Alberta’s article, or the people struggling to articulate their sexual and romantic discontents in Julian’s, are trying to find their way back to a worldview that takes moral virtue and human flourishing seriously again. But they inhabit a society that often recognizes only arguments about pleasure versus harm, and that at some level has internalized the logic of Mustapha Mond, one of the Controllers of Huxley’s world civilization: “Chastity means passion, chastity means neurasthenia. And passion and neurasthenia mean instability. And instability means the end of civilization. You can’t have a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices.”
Pleasant vices and stability: With some technological assistance, that’s the sexual culture we’ve been forging. The only good news, and the best evidence that we might yet escape Huxley’s trap, is that we retain enough genuinely-human aspiration to be unhappy with it.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/opin ... dline&te=1
Sex with robots: Will more people turn to advanced technologies, such as robots, VR environments to take the place of human partners?
A second wave of sexual technologies are now starting to appear, and are transforming how some people view their very sexual identity.
Sex as we know it is about to change.
We are already living through a new sexual revolution, thanks to technologies that have transformed the way we relate to each other in our intimate relationships. But we believe that a second wave of sexual technologies is now starting to appear, and that these are transforming how some people view their very sexual identity.
People we refer to as “digisexuals” are turning to advanced technologies, such as robots, virtual reality (VR) environments and feedback devices known as teledildonics, to take the place of human partners.
More...
https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/technol ... -partners/
A second wave of sexual technologies are now starting to appear, and are transforming how some people view their very sexual identity.
Sex as we know it is about to change.
We are already living through a new sexual revolution, thanks to technologies that have transformed the way we relate to each other in our intimate relationships. But we believe that a second wave of sexual technologies is now starting to appear, and that these are transforming how some people view their very sexual identity.
People we refer to as “digisexuals” are turning to advanced technologies, such as robots, virtual reality (VR) environments and feedback devices known as teledildonics, to take the place of human partners.
More...
https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/technol ... -partners/