Sex In The Public Square - Teens - Comments

Judith Levine is a hero of mine

Elizabeth — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:22:06 -0700

Thanks for mentioning her book. I think we reviewed it somewhere on the site, or have at least mentioned it before in several posts. Sanity.

"Saving" sex and teens

Leon Symone — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:48:35 -0700

I saw this report a few days and I, too, questioned the underlying message and what it truly meant for teens, sex workers, and sex in general. Elizabeth, you brought up some excellent points!

Another book that I would recommend is Judith Levine's "Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting our Children from Sex". She argues that much of our strategies for preventing such misunderstood plights like teen pregnancies, online predators, and sexual trafficking are actually far more damaging to children than one would expect. She has a great section about teenage runaways who turn to prostitution for survival and youth groups that believe in realistic solutions instead of ideological ones.

Groups such as those held in District 202 in Minneapolis do not treat child/teen prostitutes/runaways as victims that need to be "saved." Instead, they provide counseling, condoms, and an environment where these kids can go for shelter, food, or support.

I also agree with Gemini Girl in terms of what survival prostitution actually means. It certainly reflects a society that is unable to provide essential needs to its fellow citizens. We often leave children out of that loop. But, if these kids have to make very adult choices about their situation, then it only seems reasonable to treat them as such, allow their choices some validation, and let them live their lives knowing that they are respected as human beings. You can't put an age or a price on that!

Claudine, thank you so much

Elizabeth — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:22:21 -0700

Claudine, thank you so much for the links to your coverage and the additional details about the arrests. I'm so glad you are out there with Rethink Resources advocating for wiser policy and programs to support teens in a way that will help them rather than marginalize them further.

supporting marginalized youth

Elizabeth — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:17:54 -0700

Gemini Girl, thank you so much for sharing your compassion and your experience here. I am so glad there are people with your sensibilities reaching out to teens who need support and not judgment.

I've been thinking a lot about what you wrote regarding the distinction between adults choosing sex trade work and teens doing the same, and I'm not convinced that our society sexualizes kids but I would agree that we fetishize youth in a way that may make younger and younger people seem attractive to adults. As you say, kids are sexual beings. I do see how the combination of a society that fetishizes youth and a population of young people on their own and seeking affirmation and basic surivival resources makes for a situation where teens lacking enough information, maturity and bargaining power will end up in dangerous situations.

I'm particularly struck by your last sentence:

When basic survival is the motivation behind sex work I believe it illustrates the deficits which exist in our society to support those who are at risk.

I'd expand on that to include all socially devalued or stigmatized or unreasonably dangerous work and not just sex work.

Sex work and teens

Gemini Girl — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:32:32 -0700

It is always interesting when headlines use words such as saved or saving. There is more than a hint of "look how wonderful we are, we saved children. Pat us on the backs and see how much we do for the collective you". I can only begin to imagine how much money was spent to save these 21 young people and what a dfference this same money could have made in their lives if it had been utilized differently.

I do not believe the words "teens and sex work" should be coupled. A teen/adolescent/youth still has much of the child within them. Adolescents are finding the balance between becoming adults (hence the phrase young adults) and responding to certain situations in the same way as when they were a child. Humans are sexual beings, but our society prematurely sexualizes its children. It concerns me when children (anyone under 16) has to resort to the sex trade in order to survive.

I have worked with marginalized youth and street kids for long enough to know few young people leave home because they don't like the rules or structure in the home. They leave because life at home is worse than the risks of living on the street.

I am frustrated that our society does not value children sufficiently to insure adequate support and programs are available to young people who can no longer live in the family home. Forcing anybody to do anything does not work. Youth who are survivors of abuse do not belong in the justice system, nor in a shelter. Adults often mistake the survival behaviors of youth as disfunctional or inappropriate and think the young person should be in residential "treatment". In my experience the young person is more likely to need a safe, warm, supportive living environment and possibly support as they recognize their survival behaviors may not be necessary anymore and are getting in the way of the next step in their life journey.

I also agree with your statement regarding meeting "...them where they are, finding out what they need, and offering services they will use while building trust and helping them form goals and make plans for meeting them." People solve their own problems, offering our solutions to another's experience is of no value. We need to respect the life experiences the youth brings with them and support them as they take the next step in their lives.

I have no issues with the sex trade, if the sex trade worker is an adult who has made an independent decision to enter into the transaction. When basic survival is the motivation behind sex work I believe it illustrates the deficits which exist in our society to support those who are at risk.

So true - "saving" does not work

Claudine O'Leary — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:33:42 -0700

I work with teens in the sex trade and it's definitely true that "rescues" are not helpful at all. I wrote about it in my blog too. http://www.rethinkresources.net/2008/06/25/ap-reports-345-arrested-kids-..., and http://www.rethinkresources.net/2008/06/26/local-reports-from-the-arrest...

I'll point out too that at least 290 of the arrests were of adult women (18 and over) who were charged with offering sex for money, and may possibly face federal charges if the feds believe they had any involvement with minors in the sex trade. They also arrested people offering money for sex in that number. Very few were charged with pimping offenses at all.

Age, race, class and HPV

Elizabeth — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:01:02 -0700

Mojave66, that's interesting about the age-HPV thing. And the intersection of class and health is so important. Thanks for emphasizing it! I'd love to hear more of your thoughts about how to address those problems!

>We know that

Mojave66 — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:53:03 -0700

>We know that abstinance-only "education" is not really education. We know that lots of infections go undetected because of shame or embarrassment on the one hand, or because of lack of access to health care services on the other.

BINGO. This is exactly it. The Planned Parenthood spokesperson in the article who pointed out that abstinence-only education has been a 1.5 billion dollar boondoggle also hits the nail on the head.

As for separating out age groups, a cursory look at data on the HPV study I'm working on doesn't show much separation between 14-16 and 17-19 year olds in terms of HPV infection. Keeping in mind that those 14-16 year olds in my particular study are of lower socioeconomic status than most of our 17-19 year olds, who are college students, my impression is that race and class have a lot more to do with infection rates than age, something the study shockingly brings out. 50% of African-American teenagers are infected with STIs vs. 20% of white teenagers? That's a disturbing statistic right there, especially its implications for how badly we've educated youth around sexuality.

And the winners are.......

Elizabeth — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:05:13 -0800

1st place: Kylee Darcy, for "Talking to the hand"

2nd place: Robert Valls for "101 Movie Trailer"

3rd place: Jeremy Fisher for "Sketching out a better sex ed program"

Click here to see the winners. And congratulations to each of them!

homeless teens

Elizabeth — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 07:24:53 -0800

Thanks Gracie! That sounds like an interesting study and when it's finally posted on the sciencedirect.com site I'd love to read the whole thing. The problems facing homeless teens need to be taken seriously and it's great that researchers are paying careful attention to them. (I'd especially love to see legislation like the proposed but still unpassed Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth ac-- an imperfect act, as I wrote here, but a better start to be sure than continuing to criminalize teens attempts at survival.)

Meanwhile I'd encourage a word of caution about interpreting the results of this study to indicate that parental involvement is best.

In the case of runaways it is important to acknowledge that the parents may be a big part of the problem, indeed part of why the kid has run away. I'm wondering if "family situation" as used in the study means crashing with an older sibling, an aunt or uncle, or a grandparent.

Also, even based on the summary linked above, it appears that a large majority (more than 3/4ths) of the study participants were sexually active before becoming homeless. Their additional risky behavior is characterized this way: "Males were found to be more likely to have multiple sex partners if they lived in settings without family members and abused drugs. For females, drug abuse was the primary predictor of risky sexual behavior." So it seems like drug use was more influential than the presence of family members for girls, and at least very important for boys in combination with the absence of family members."The summary goes on to say that neither drug use nor family were predictors of condom use in boys, leaving one to wonder what did predict condom use in boys.)

Lets keep an eye on this study and see what it says when the full text is released. (When it is, it will be available here.) One of my goals for this site has been to develop a pool of folks who can comment on recently-released sex research, because so often that research gets accepted by the mainstream media at face value without much critique.

boo- hiss... mr o'reilly

tracya — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:20:39 -0800

my family have been going on about "fox" but living in england i just didn't get it....now i get it!!!

you would never see this discussion in the UK or europe. i'm a bit speechless except to say congratulations to the happy couple!

i'm sure they were more acceptable than a homosexual(male)couple, why is it that (american) society has such difficulty with gay men?

my daughter took photos for her high school yearbook so i know the thrust is to capture the "real" student life. i am completely comfortable with students showing their sexuality, whether they are experimenting or whether it becomes a way of life.

i was or attempted to be intimate with guys back in my high school days (70's) who weren't "able" to consummate~~~i later found out they were happy with other guys... at the time i was confused but it all seems so clear now, i almost wish i could say it's okay, you shouldn't have wasted your time with me~you should have been with tom, dick or harry!

ps. so proud ms berman is in chicago, my hometown!!!

Once again

JanieBelle — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:11:45 -0800

O'Reilly proves that logic and critical thinking are beyond his mental capacity.

Dr. Berman very clearly pinned him down on his inconsistent approach to different types of sexuality, and he was apparently more than happy to flaunt his ignorant stance that teenagers' sexuality should be subject to his religious censorship.

Once again, it all comes down to the press to create an American theocracy led by the fringe of the political right wing. No one is safe until the iron fist of the would-be Taliban is marginalized and castrated of its influence in every arena, from politics and policy to education and science.

Well, to begin with,

JanieBelle — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:42:50 -0800

we're not going to get anywhere until we can begin to change the general attitude that sex and sexuality are somehow bad or dirty (in a negative sense) or activities and attributes that should be hidden from view.

Until we (the royal we, the general public) acknowledge that teenagers have sex, that people have sex, that it's a good thing, to be celebrated in the open, we're going to continue to have insane, medieval laws like the one that put Genarlow Wilson in prison pushed on us by the self hating, reality denying snake charmers that occupy the pulpits of America.

How do we get there from here? We start at home. "Hey Sue, did you hear they finally let that Genarlow Wilson kid out of prison? Geez, what a mess they made of that. It still burns me that teenagers having sex is a crime though. Can you believe that? Why, right here in North Carolina, just the other day..."

Beyond that, I'm torn. As much as I despise the tactics of the repressive right, I'm not sure that waiting around until the Enlightenment arrives in fundy America is a viable plan. Whatever their ideological and mental failings, I have to admit that denigration, ridicule, and marginalization are effective tools in their toolbox. I admit to occasionally borrowing from their playbook in frustration. Then I shower.

Kids these days...

Elizabeth — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:08:19 -0700

Don't they make you proud?

I'd love to create a "protecting public space" award just to give it to these students!

It can't come soon enough

Paul — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:37:24 -0700

I read this post right after my friends at the Pink Pistols informed me about a former contestant on TV's "Top Chef", her sister and a friend being attacked by a pack of gay-bashers on Long Island, Labor Day weekend. I've got two opposing emotions fighting for the top slot right now. Thank you for bringing us this promising story.