TresSugar

Are Teens Growing Up Too Fast or Too Slowly?

TresSugar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0800

When I first saw this headline on Newsweek, "Why Teenagers Are Growing Up So Slowly Today," I thought, whaaa? With all the sexting and drugs, aren't teens growing up too fast?

Just because teens are doing adult things doesn't mean they are acting like adults, argue Joseph Allen and Claudia Worrell Allen, authors of Escaping the Endless Adolescence. By sheltering adolescents from work and other grownup issues in cookie-cutter high schools, we may be preventing their brains from maturing. Says Allen: "We don’t give teens enough ways to take risks that are productive." That results in bad risky behavior for cheap thrills and a generation of 25 year olds who act like teenagers. Do you think there's any truth to the argument that not treating teens like adults actually stunts their adulthood?

Stranger than Fiction: School Used Lap Dance Therapy

TresSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -0800

When you think of activities to help the emotional growth of teens with behavior troubles or special learning needs, lap dances would probably be the last thing you'd think of.

But that's exactly what the staff at Mount Bachelor Academy came up with, and they forced students to undergo lap dance therapy as a part of their "emotional growth" curriculum. The boarding school was shutdown after students accused the staff of employing this dubious therapy, and a seven-month state investigation has just confirmed the allegations.

According to the report, the school's "Lifesteps" seminars made students take on sexualized roles and perform in front of staff and students. One girl, who had been raped before going to the school, was forced to dress as a French maid and perform a lap dance. (Who thought this was a good idea?!)

Oregon's Department of Human Services says the school poses "a serious danger to child safety." Whenever I hear these horror stories about reform schools, I wonder: did anyone ever check to see if the people allowed to run them for so long needed some reform themselves?

Do Tell: Who Was Your Favorite Teen Heartthrob?

TresSugar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -0800

A heartthrob is defined as a man, typically a celebrity, whose good looks excite immature romantic feelings in women. Immature or not, almost every woman I know once crushed on a fresh-faced famous person with heavily-marketed sex appeal. In fact, some grown women currently lust for ~~Edward Cullen~~ Robert Pattinson. Who got your heart throbbing when you were a teen? (And if you're nostalgic, note that you can still check out Tiger Beat and Bop.)

More Teens Getting Pregnant; Who They Are May Surprise You

TresSugar — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0800

We often hear media stories about teenagers from poor and single-parent homes getting pregnant.

Research conducted for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, however, concludes that only 28 percent of people who reported giving birth or fathering children as teens lived in families with incomes below the federal poverty line, and only 30 percent said they were living with a single parent.

Although teens from poor families headed by single mothers are disproportionately likely to become teen mothers, "teen pregnancy is not limited to a particular racial group or socio-economic status or a particular family structure," says Bill Albert, chief program officer for the National Campaign.

In other words, parents and schools need to be vigilant about teaching teens either to abstain from sex or to have safe sex - even upper-middle-class teens. After 15 years of a decline in teen pregnancy, the number of teens giving birth has gone up in the last couple years. The reason? More sex and less contraception, says Albert, especially because teen boys are less concerned about contracting HIV.

Teenage Girls Support Alleged Richmond Rapist on MySpace

TresSugar — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:21:49 -0800

The news about the gang rape of a teenage girl in Richmond, CA, outside a homecoming dance while others watched and did nothing continues to get crazier.

A seventh suspect (the oldest so far at age 21) was arrested today, but even as details about the horrific crime continue to come out, one of the youngest accused rapists, who is 15, seems to have unlikely supporters: teenage girls on his MySpace page.

It's not clear if they think he's innocent, but they hope he's freed and that anyone who "snitched" on him gets theirs.

"F*uck the system. F*uck the snitchz. Free Cody," writes Vanessa.

What is going on here? Typical teen confusion? Are young girls oblivious to their own vulnerability? Are they repressing their knowledge of their vulnerability by supporting an accused rapist instead of a female rape survivor? Or do teen girls just learn to hate themselves and each other at an earlier age? Help me out - I am genuinely at a loss for words.

Teens to Text For Morning After Pill in UK - Good or Bad Idea?

TresSugar — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:12:43 -0800

There are more teen pregnancies in the UK than anywhere else in Europe. It might make sense then, that an experiment was conducted at six secondary schools that were considered "pregnancy hotspots" in Oxfordshire. The experiment? Girls from age 11 have been able to text requests for emergency contraception (aka the "morning after pill") if they had unprotected sex or were worried their condoms broke.

Since July, five students (less than one student per school) requested the service. The students don't just get a pill magically at their doorstep afterwards; they get a face-to-face appointment for a full clinical assessment with a nurse. (Incidentally, not one of the five students was deemed eligible after their consultations.)

Not surprisingly, people are divided about this "text-for-pill" trial. Family values groups think it promotes promiscuity among young girls, and those in support of the program want to roll it out to all schools in the county.

Does providing access to emergency contraception (via text and after consultation with health care professionals) to young girls make sense to you?

Front Page: HPV Vaccine Reminds Girls of Sexual Risks

TresSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:00:43 -0700

A new study shows that the HPV vaccine reminds girls of risks associated with sex, such as contracting STDs, instead of giving them a license to be promiscuous as some people feared. - Salon
Wal-Mart is now selling affordable coffins. - BBC News
A Dutch court has told 14-year-old Laura Dekker that she is too inexperienced to sail around the world by herself, and she will be placed under the guardianship of child protection authorities until next year. - New York Times
A sixth person has been arrested for the gang rape of the 15-year-old California girl outside her homecoming dance. - CNN
Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley sat down for another beer this week, this time without President Obama. - Huffington Post

Clash of Cultures Puts Latina Teens in Danger of Suicide

TresSugar — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:50:13 -0700

According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, one out of seven Latina teenagers attempts suicide.

Psychologist Dr. Luis Zayas of Washington University, who has spent the last 25 years studying Latina teens, believes that this rate is so high because of the teens' troubled relationships with their mothers. Usually the child of poor immigrant parents, the troubled teen is caught between her parents' values and the ones she sees growing up in the US.

American teens, says Dr. Zayas, have "very different models about what girls should do, can do and are permitted to do." For Francisca Abreu, now 15, clashing with her Dominican mother led to depression, a suicide attempt, and pregnancy at 14. Her mother Isabel wanted Francisca to stay home, clean the house, and learn to cook. Not surprisingly, Francisca wanted to go out with her friends.

"Teenagers have certain freedoms; they don't need to consult with their parents to make certain decisions," Dr. Zayas says. "That's the culture that's here, and inserted in that is the Latino family that says the family is much more important than the individual."

After giving birth to her daughter Destiny at 14 and lots of therapy, Francisca says she finally understands what her mother went though. "All she did was be a good mother, sacrifice her life for us," Francisca says. "That's all she did."

Did you grow up in an immigrant family and deal with the clash of cultures as a teen?

Oh Snap! The Pink Lady Sets Sail Solo

TresSugar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:00:00 -0700

Jessica Watson, 16, set sail yesterday from Sydney Harbor hoping to become the youngest person to sail around the world solo, non-stop, and without any assistance. If all goes according to plan, she will spend 230 days at sea on her yacht, named Ella's Pink Lady, and travel 23,000 nautical miles. Good luck, Jessica!

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Hong Kong Teens Sell Sex For Shopping Money

TresSugar — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0700

"Compensated dating" is a growing and frightening trend among Hong Kong's teenage girls. The term refers to the practice of requiring a man to pay a fee for a date that more often than not includes sex. Shockingly, many teenage girls engaged in "compensated dating" are not selling themselves just to get by - they're reportedly doing it for extra shopping money.

CNN tells the story of Sze, a young woman who would charge $350 for dates when she was 16.

Sze said she started compensated dating because many of her classmates at an all-girls school were doing it. She says she became jealous when she saw the designer clothes, bags and cosmetics they bought with the money they earned through compensated dating.

This story - which sounds a lot like, well, prostitution - is especially troubling because the girls are so young. But, assuming that a woman is of age and that everything is consensual, do you see anything wrong with women using dates, and potentially sex, as a means of income?