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