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October 3, 2005
Yahoo! Young
women lead the way in tearing down sex taboos! Another sex
study. And another news report.
Yahoo!
Feelings of guilt plummeted, especially among young women.
Yahoo!
Sexual practices that were frequently reviled by earlier generations –
especially oral sex – were becoming far more acceptable and
widespread.
Yahoo! Oral
sex has become so popular. In previous generations, oral sex was
considered disgusting. Now young people see it as another way of
being sexual.
Yahoo! It’s
also part of the general trend of sexual behavior moving away from
marriage and reproduction. Yahoo!
Once again,
eager Yahoo.com reporters rush out to herald “a landmark new report by
researchers.” And with the thoughtlessness of lemmings content to
march off the cliff, if dying produces a two-inch headline, they
report on the state of teen sex in America complete with confetti and
fanfare.
Do any of these
Yahoo reporters bother to read their own news reports? Are any of
these reporters parents with sons and daughters? Are any of these
reporters suffering from infertility, herpes outbreaks, or cervical
cancer? Would these be the examples of “pleasure” linked to
rampant sex?
Americans are
literally schizophrenic about sex. In January, we wring our hands
over the rising rate of unwed teen parents.
In February, we
celebrate Valentine’s Day by handing out red flavored condoms that
fail to prevent infection by the humanpapillomavirus (HPV), the cause
of over 97 per cent of cervical cancer.
In March, we
bemoan college spring break trips to Florida and Mexico, where thong
bikinis, alcohol and tanning oil make sex nearly unavoidable.
In April, we buy
magazines with nearly naked models on the cover in the latest summer
thong bikinis.
In May,
headlines cry out about the dangers of prom night.
In June, a new
“landmark report by researchers” reveals that television is more
sexual than ever, and...because of that... that kids are more sexual
than ever, too.
In July, doctors
announce they are treating increased number of teens for gonorrhea of
the throat, the result of oral sex in junior high school.
In August, a
lawsuit is settled out of court by parents who discovered their
thirteen-year-old daughter was sold an abortion in violation of state
law without their knowledge.
In September,
SIECUS rejects abstinence sex education as “fear-based.”
And now it’s
October. Yahoo! Teens are having more sex at younger ages for more
fun.
Do we really
need more reporters and researchers counting and reporting the number
of teens having sex and the ways they are doing it? Do we really need
more magazine surveys that solicit intimate details from people about
their every little sexual practice?
What does it say
about a culture struggling to find ways to keep porn off the Internet
and out of the hands of children at the same time it is celebrating
when we learn that North American sexual taboos are out of fashion?
With so much
research and so much news, we have learned so little. If we truly
understood the news we read, this week’s story would have been
heralded with a much truer headline. Young women lead the way in
ignoring sexual consequences.
Sadly, that is
nothing to Yahoo about.
Copyright © 2005 Jane Jimenez
January 3, 2005 -
Teen Pregnancy: What's the Problem?
September 10, 2004 -
Duh
See Archives
for more past editorials.
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