Sexting: An Argument For Better Sex-Ed

I think all feminists can agree that comprehensive sex-education is important for teenagers; we can also agree that it shouldn’t just be about sex. Teenage dating culture has become more and more volatile, especially with the advent of technology.

One day last winter Margarite posed naked before her bathroom mirror, held up her cellphone and took a picture. Then she sent the full-length frontal photo to Isaiah, her new boyfriend.

Both were in eighth grade.

They broke up soon after. A few weeks later, Isaiah forwarded the photo to another eighth-grade girl, once a friend of Margarite’s. Around 11 o’clock at night, that girl slapped a text message on it.

“Ho Alert!” she typed. “If you think this girl is a whore, then text this to all your friends.” Then she clicked open the long list of contacts on her phone and pressed “send.”

Conservatives have managed to trick schools and parents into believing that their children aren’t sexually active in some way, that they are pure innocent souls whose only information on sex comes from whether or not their parents give them a talk on the ‘birds and the bees’. This is obviously untrue and unfortunately dangerous for teenagers; ignorance always is. Just as important, there is also a need for schools and parents to find different ways to deal with ‘sexting scandals’ with better means than slut shaming and re-victimizing.

The Morning-After Pill Available For Free In Wales

Via Daily Mail. Yes, that Daily Mail. Much snark forthcoming, I promise.

In true Daily Mail fashion the full title has a caveat of “even to under 16s if ‘clinically appropriate'” with quotes around ‘clinically appropriate’ just in case you didn’t notice the disapproval from the initial qualification.

It’s the usual mess: greater accessibility to birth control will increase teen promiscuity (because sex is the enemy and won’t someone think of the children!)

But critics fear the change will promote a casual and irresponsible attitude to sex. They point out women will know that they can easily get hold of the pill within 72 hours of sex, when it is most effective at preventing pregnancy.

Oh wow, watch out world! The rate of sex will increase just so these stupid girls (and don’t tell me that wasn’t implicit in their wording) can have an excuse to go to pharmacies right after having sex.

*sigh*

Same old song from pearl-clutching conservatives who refuse to understand that what teenagers (and arguably a good amount of adults) need is sex education. Not just the kind with the bibles between your knees and biology- fallopian tube here, vas deferens here- but the kind that gives stats on sexually transmitted infections/diseases (STIs) and their transmission, the kind that informs on birth control and protection, the kind that offers useful resources that actually offer all the options should a pregnancy or STI transmission occur, the kind that teaches sex positivity, and let’s never forget the kind that encourages healthy dating and sex practices.

Sex is not the enemy here, ignorance is.

Related Articles

• Morning-after pill free in Wales (bbc.co.uk)