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Archives for adolescent development

Teaching about the media

There are many people talking loudly about how over-sexualized, inappropriate, highly suggestive the media is at all times and in all places.  This outreach tends to focus specifically on women and female representations.  There is currently a video making the rounds on Facebook and in other places stressing just these things, along with a discussion [...]

Those crazy teenagers! What do they think they’re doing?

What is it about teenagers that drives their parents so crazy?
I had a mother of two young teenage boys in my office this morning, bewailing the very typical actions of her sons.  By all accounts her sons are good kids - they (generally) listen to her and (eventually) do ask she asks them to.  They [...]

How to respond when your kid/teen views varsity level porn

Last week I asked that parents send me questions that they had about adolescent sexuality or their children (or themselves) specifically.  Below is my favorite question so far.  If you have a question that you haven’t sent in yet, don’t hesitate to e-mail me or leave it in the comments section below.
HERE’S A QUESTION THAT [...]

The time for insight

A parent of a newly minted high school student recounted a story to me today where his daughter cussed at him for the first time.  It was a relatively mild cussing event, but it upset him.  He pulled her aside, talked about the issues he has with cussing, and encouraged her not to do it [...]

My sex ed magic wand

Today I have been pondering how to best provide high quality comprehensive sexuality education in a school setting.  If I could wave a magic wand and design a program for all young people, what would it look like?  Here is a general outline:
I would provide a semester of sexuality education to all students in the [...]

Teenagers and vibrators

This summer seems to be the summer of teenagers contacting me about how to get a vibrator. I have gotten at least a few comments or e-mails every week, and sometimes every day, from young women who want help getting a vibrator. (I have also gotten the occasional e-mail from a young man interested in [...]

The problem with photoshop

I’ve been talking a lot about media recently, so I’m just going to go with that and keep it up.  There is just so much to say on the topic that once I get going it’s hard to stop.  Last week I presented my new group of college students with their Sexuality in the Media [...]

Negotiating the road to adulthood

I have a friend with a teenage son. Actually, I have quite a few friends with teenage sons, but I’m thinking of one in particular this morning. She called me the other day because her 15 year old, after a day with a particularly high number of pestering questions and little annoyances, had [...]

Dynamite by Taio Cruz

This song took much of my classroom attention last week. In each of my three college classes we watched the music video. Dynamite is a relatively well-known, currently popular song. Most of my college students had heard it, many of them had danced to it in the clubs. But only one or two had seen [...]

How To Lose Your Virginity (And Maybe Reclaim the Other-V-Word While We’re At It)

The first book on virginity loss that I want to talk about is How To Lose Your Virginity (…and how not to) by Shawn Wickens.
Shawn describes his book as: “shocking, humorous, dangerous, sweet, & scandalous stories of the first time taken from 1,000 face-to-face interviews.” Shawn presents pretty much exactly what he promises. I’m not [...]