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Can Condoms Help a Man Stay Erect?
April 23, 2011
Men who complain that condoms decrease sensation or interrupt the “action” to put on may want to rethink their attitude about condoms. A condom being tested in Europe has a benefit that may outweigh a lot of perceived negatives: Lined with a special gel, the condom will increase the strength of an erection. Read the full story here.
Pink Piggies Campaign Fights Gender Stereotypes
April 21, 2011
Recently, Fox News made a big fuss about a J. Crew ad showing a happy mom and her child (real-life famiy members) showing off his freshly painted neon pink toe nails. Fox News was convinced that nail polish, especially a “girl color” like pink, will make a boy less of a boy. Hogwash.
What I saw when I looked at the ad was a delightful kid doing what little kids love to do: have fun with a parent, decorating his toes in a fun color. The brouhaha about the ad reminded me of the time I took my twin daughters out for a walk. One wore a pink snowsuit, while the other wore a blue one. A woman stopped at the crosswalk near us and complimented me on my cute boy and girl.
“Thank you,” I said, “But these are both girls.” She said, “Oh, they can’t be!” she said. “One’s wearing blue.” Excuse me? Girls are assumed to be boys simply for wearing blue? And boys are assumed to be girls if they wear pink? Or pink nail polish? I identify as female, yet I played in mud and creeks as a kid, chucking pebbles into pools of water. My ninth birthday was celebrated on Big Creek, where my mom chaperoned me and five girl friends enjoying a pollywog and minnow hunt in icy water.
Gender identity has nothing to do with how parents support their kids’ play or what they put on them, from names, to clothes, to nail polish. Some boys who wear nothing but denim and trucker hats may identify as more female than male someday–or even 100% female, despite biologically male bodies. Girls competing in beauty pageants with sky-high piles of ringlets and lipstick may someday identify as males, as masculine as the next guy.
The J. Crew ad made me happy, so I joined the Pink Piggies campaign, painting my toe nails pink to show support for gender-neutral joy. I wish all the worriers would give it a rest. Let kids be kids, free to enjoy nail polish, baseball, tutus and mud. And pollywogs.
To read another perspective, written by someone who knows the mom and child in the ad, click here. To “like” the Pink Piggies campaign on Facebook, click here. To learn more about whether nail polish is safe for kids of any gender, click here.
Teens are Sober & Unprotected for First-Time Sex
April 20, 2011
Think your teen isn’t having sex? Chances are, it’s time to make time for another conversation about condoms. According to an article abstracted in Medical News Today (4-19-2011), teens are typically 16 years old and sober when they have sex for the first time. They are typically happy with the experience, but they may be unaware of the risk they’ve taken by forgoing condoms for contraception and protection from sexually transmitted infection.
Here’s the article:
Youngsters are, on average, 16 years old and sober when they make their sexual debut with somebody they have known for a while. However, condoms feature in just half of sexual encounters with new or casual partners, reveals a major survey on the sexual habits, attitudes and knowledge of young people carried out by the University of Gothenburg on behalf of the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control.
“We have to get young people to view condoms as an essential part of having sex,” says Ronny Heikki Tikkanen, one of the researchers behind the study which polled 15,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 29 right across Sweden. “The fact that so many don’t use condoms, even though they know that they offer protection against both STIs and unwanted pregnancies, shows how important it is to work on attitudes and behaviour.”
The survey clearly demonstrates that those who start having sex at a young age and are generally inclined to take risks with alcohol and drugs are also likely to do so with sex. It is also more common for risk-takers to have accepted payment for sex. Those identified by the study as having exposed themselves to sexual risks have generally encountered HIV prevention initiatives without them having impacted notably on their behaviour.
“We’ve got to get better at identifying youngsters who take risks,” says Margareta Forsberg, R&D manager at the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control. “We also need to be more aware of the link between sexual risks, drugs and social exclusion. If we can come up with support structures at an early stage, we stand a better chance of promoting sexual health, self-esteem and wellbeing.”
The researchers behind the study are now calling for new methods and strategies for preventive work on sexuality and health for young people.
“Young people want sexual health clinics to be readily accessible, condoms to be distributed at various meeting places and the Internet to be used more widely for advice and support,” says Jonna Abelsson, assistant researcher at the University of Gothenburg. “The study offers guidance on the types of initiative that are viable for youngsters. We need to think about whether we’re going about things the right way when it comes to reaching those who most need advice and support.”
The Ung KAB09 study is the largest of its kind in Sweden and the large number of respondents means that it has huge potential for increasing our knowledge and for investigating the links between different types of experience. As it was carried out partly through an online questionnaire, the study is not entirely representative, but it still makes an important contribution to preventive work on account of its size.
Source:
Ronny Heikki Tikkanen
University of Gothenburg
Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/222853.php
Teens, Sexting, and Legal Consequences
April 3, 2011
A recent New York Times article told the sad story of an 8th grade girl victimized by both society and her friends. The girl, who sent a nude photo of herself to a boy she liked, almost immediately found her image on hundreds of her schoolmates’ phones. The girl had fallen into the trap of sexting, a trend that typically involves the sending — and some times forwarding without permission — racy images.
What is also tragic is the legal fallout affecting students who forwarded her image. While clearly they knew what they were doing was wrong, they did not seem to understand that their behavior was criminal. Because the girl was underage, the other students have been charged with crimes related to child pornography.
Society has fostered the sexting trend by giving the message that appearing sexy and available is essential to social success. Sexualized images in film, TV, and marketing featuring ever-younger males and females. Social media has contributed, too, by creating a sense among young people that there needn’t be boundaries between one’s personal and public lives. Another factor is a general quickness to act in anger and mean spiritedness, as promoted by reality TV shows and viral videos of teens fighting and bullying each other.
Most teens are not sending nude photos of themselves, but on the off-chance that yours are, you need to have a conversation about it. Even if they feel they would never send or request a nude or semi-nude photo, they may be on the receiving end, whether they like it or not. They need to know the importance of reporting these photos immediately and not forwarding them to others. The emotional and legal consequences can be very troubling otherwise.
To learn how sexting affected the teens in the NTTimes piece, read the full article here.
Sex after 50 Survey Needs You!
April 3, 2011
For my upcoming book on sex and aging, I am conducting a study on sexual interests and behavior. If you are at least 45, please take 5-10 minutes to complete the survey online survey. I am casting a wide net for participants from across the country and online, and your answers will be mixed in with theirs. I will see the combined results, not your individual results. Here’s the link: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/497191/Sex-after-50-Survey