I am thinking today about sexual identity.
But first, a short introduction to the concept of sexual identity.  Essentially, our identity on any given topic answers the question ‘Who am I?’  So in regards to a sexual identity, the question becomes, ‘Who am I, sexually?  What do I like, dislike, how do I approach sexuality, what [...]

There’s been a huge amount of talk about adolescent sexting recently.  It seems to have suddenly become popular enough - or at least its popularity seems to have sunk into adult awareness enough - to be everywhere all of a sudden.  Parents and interviewers have in the past couple of weeks come out of the [...]

There has been much to-do, over the past several months, about “plus-sized models.”  All of this conversation is, of course, moving media images in the right direction.  But it is using language that is damaging.
First, some history:
The bulk of this conversation started back in September when Glamour magazine put a photo of a woman with [...]

While this is not a topic that is terribly related to adolescent sexuality, it is one that is receiving a lot of attention recently.
One week ago the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether sentencing a juvenile - someone under 18 years old - to life in prison without the possibility of parole is cruel and [...]

Dear Friends,
I’ll be frank: I understand that the young people in your family are probably very busy, far too busy to enroll in another class.  I know your kids are going to be tapped-to-the-extreme this year.  I also know that most - not all, but most - young people have an absolute need to have [...]

Welcome to summer, time of vacations and summer flings!  I was on vacation in Florida with friends (hence, no post for a stupidly long time).  I ended up talking with the three other adults who I went with about our experiences as teenagers on vacation.  Our experiences ran the gamut - from flings on every [...]

A couple of weeks ago I interviewed John Styn about his project Hug Nation.  One of  the points we talked about was how critical physical contact is to us humans – in particular how important hugging is. Then yesterday, the New York Times published an article on teenage hug culture: For Teenagers, Hello Means “How [...]

Many Middle School students - okay, let’s face it, many Americans - have a hard time holding a serious conversation about sex using correct terminology.  Even among adult, many conversations about sex include a lot of insinuations, a lot of suggestive and knowing glances and meaningless phrases like “Well, he … you know … and [...]

On of the activities I do with my middle school students is have them role-play saying “No” to sexual advances and requests for a date.  I do this not because I think they are in the thick of needing to say no to would-be-suitors and would-be-sexual partners, but because they will eventually be in the [...]

“How old ARE you??”
“You have KIDS??”
“Wow, I never would have guessed.”
At this International Women’s conference, they have decided to group youth (high school) and young adults (19 through 35 years old) together into a social group they call YAYAs (Youth And Young Adults).  This means that I am technically a young adult, and that my [...]