My last two posts have been somewhat negative - or rather me complaining about the vast seas of incompetence and ignorance out there.  So I sat down to write this morning determined that it be positive.  So follow me through my train of thought and we’ll take a nice little ride together.
First, this YouTube video [...]

The Body Scoop for Girls is a new book out in a very familiar genre.  I’m all for new books in this area, because there aren’t many that I like.  Disappointingly, this is another one I don’t like.
But before I review the book, I feel compelled to ask: Why another one for girls?  First, there [...]

Gang rape, pulling a train, gang bang, serial sex.  These painful words that hurt, following or preceding or completely apart and separate from the acts they describe.
And then that one word that looms so large: SLUT.
And the smaller ones words that follow: she wanted it, she asked for it, dresses like a whore, I knew [...]

I had the pleasure of seeing Spring Awakening on Tuesday.  I had never seen it, nor had I read a full plot description.  So while I knew it was one of those things I needed to see, I didn’t have any preconceptions or really any details at all.
What I found in Spring Awakening was a [...]

Tonight I am preparing for a class tomorrow morning on gender.  I start all my college classes with a song that is relevant to the topic, and my dear partner and I were playing around with music for tomorrow, including The Kink’s Lola, Vitamin C’s Girls Against Boys, Beyonce’s If I Were a Boy, and [...]

So here’s my overview from last Thursday and Friday’s conversation on sexting:

Yes, it can be problematic, as can almost any form of communication.
Texting is (currently) a ubiquitous communication method, and it doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, so as parents, teachers, and caring adults, we have to make our peace with it.
Texting about [...]

Yesterday I wrote about sexting, in the original, text-based sense.  Today I get into those terribly troubled waters when teenagers send sexual images - either stills or video - of themselves.
I’m hesitant to write about this topic, which is perhaps telling in and of itself.  I write about a lot of controversial issues [...]

I recently went over physiology and anatomy with my college students.  Afterward, one of the young men thanked me.  He was clear and direct:
“Thank you for teaching me what is inside a girl’s body.  I never knew, but I really wanted to know.  It’s always been a mystery to me how things happen up in [...]

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 [...]

The problem is that almost everything worth talking about - certainly anything related to sex and sexuality - is probably nuanced.  Scare tactics are black and white.  So too much of the conversation is left out, and the wrong impression can be easily taken away.
The most recent version of this conversation is about a viral [...]