Sexting has blown up all over the news in recent years, but is it really that new of a thing? I really don’t think. Sexting is defined as the act of sending sexually explicity messages or photos electronically, typically between mobile phones. Teens are getting cell phones at a younger and younger age these days. Do you think this could have something to do with sexting becoming a public issue? That they are sending these photos and not understanding what the consequences of it might be, maybe? Or could it be that because of sexting there is no hiding that teens are sexual individuals? There was one article I read that stated, “and while this may raise a few eyebrows when done by adults it raises a lot more concern when the ones doing the sexting are kids”.As many as one in five teens are involved in this activity. Many states have established laws to try and diminish the amount of sexting going on among our teens.
Did this happen in your high school? I know many people who sent messages to their significant other and nobody thought it was a big deal. However, there was a girl who sent a video to a boy and he decided to send it around. I didn’t go to a small school, but still everyone knew.
In your opinion, why is sexting such a big deal? Do you feel punishments for this activity are too harsh? Too lenient? Who do you think is pushing law makers to step and “fix” this issue?
A new trend that is making its way to pregnant couples is placenta ingestion. This is common in many other cultures but the American people are just now catching on. It starts out with a pregnant women requesting that her placenta be saved after the birth of the baby, and be allowed take it home to do what they want with it. The placenta is a temporary organ joining the mother and baby. The placenta transfers oxygen and nutrients from the mother to the baby and permits the release of carbon dioxide and waste products. When the women get their placenta's home they have many options on what to do with it. The options include the making of a placenta print, encapsulation to prevent post-partum depression, or even eat it. Some simply just plant it in their backyard by a tree. Though you can find many recipes or even find people who will come to your house and cook it for you.
First off, I will say I know this is a very controversial subject and I don't mean to state my opinion or make anyone feel that they should state their view on abortion. I know we discussed a lot in class about abortion and adoption, so I tried to find something that we had discussed. I found this youtube video:
Here is an article relating to the same topic (note, some of the language may be offensive and biased-I apologize in advance)Obama born alive bill opposition
I want to bring it to attention because this is something I was completely unaware of. I didn't know that some abortions failed that far along in the pregnancy and babies were being born alive. Did you know about this issue? What message do you think Obama was sending when he refused to sign the bill four times in a row? How do you think Illinois or other states can take precautions so that this doesn't happen or so that if it does, the infants live? How do you think we can stop doctors (like the on in the article) from infanticide? Obama also says that he wants abortion to be safe and "rare" however based on the statistics, we know that it is not rare. What can we do to make it a less often occurrence and keep "born alive" babies safe?
AIDS is a growing problem in the world, and especially in Africa. This makes it even more troubling that education on AIDS continues to be sub-par. Misconceptions of how AIDS is contracted, spread, and treated have spread throughout South Africa, and to some degree the rest of the world as well. They range from the idea that mosquitoes can spread HIV (they can't) to the idea that we talked about in class- that sex with a virgin is a cure for AIDS.
There are efforts to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS and provide support for those who are suffering, but these are so far sparsely populated, donation-funded organizations like this one. Also, large areas in Africa have a low amount of technology, and so it is much more difficult to spread information.
Do you think that education on AIDS in the U.S. is effective? Do you feel confident that you know enough about HIV & AIDS to avoid it? What more do you think should be done in the U.S. and Africa to educate people on HIV/AIDS and how to avoid it?
In class today we debated what is good and what is bad parenting. Many people argued our idea of parenting is very Westernized, influenced by our American culture and institutions. I found some parenting quizzes online that allow people to chose the reaction they would have to their child's behavior, and based upon your reaction in the given scenario, your parenting style is judged. I found it interesting that so many quizzes are out there to tell us what is and what is not acceptable and good parenting. It is sort of disturbing to think that as a society, we are encouraged to attempt to conform to a specific niche of styles.
Apparently, I am an authoritative parent, which I agree with to some belief. I think children need structure and discipline, however, I strongly believe discipline is useless if it offers no learning or understanding. However, I disagree with my results, because permissive parents allow their children to schedule and chose their own activities. I think it is especially important to allow teens to take control of their lives, scheduling activities and weekend plans, then monitoring their choices. If parents plan everything for their kids, then how will their children ever learn to manage time and prioritize by themselves? My mom never made me do anything at a specific time and I learned to manage time well. I would go to school, go to practice, then to work, come home and watch some TV, eat dinner, and relax, then do homework until I was finished with it before bed. Without her demanding me to do so, I always did everything on my own. It was my choice, and I benefited or suffered the consequences.
How do you feel about your score, and how do you think your own parents have influence your potential future or current parenting styles?
Remember the scene from Grease where Kenickie and Rizzo are in the back seat of his car about to get busy when his condom falls apart? In that scene there is a whole row of cars with pairs of teenagers participating in the same activity. Does this really happen? We don’t have drive-in theaters around anymore, or not many, so what’s the deal? Where are teens having this sex that’s leading to the unexpected pregnancy? Here are two clips that mention some of the places that teens are deciding to do the dirty these days.
What do you think the repercussions should be for these teens? Do you think teens find it thrilling to have sex with so many other people around? Is this just another example of teens rebelliously pushing the limits and testing authority? In some of the episodes of 16 & Pregnant the parents talk about how they were uncomfortable with the teens “going behind closed doors” or “having sex in their house”, but we don’t know whether they actually discussed being safe in their actions or not. If the parents do know this is happening, would you say that the parents can then be held responsible for not preparing their teens? Or is it the teen’s responsibility to approach their parents about how to take precautions? In your opinion how common of an occurrence does sex need to be on a high school campus before the school district steps up to deal with it? Since this is becoming more prevalent and there is no question that our teens aren’t abiding by the abstinence method, why is there still debate about sex education?
Having a child when you are still considered a child yourself can be very overwhelming.Let’s face it, women carry the physical aspect of childbearing entirely.When a woman becomes pregnant, they can feel and sense their body changing, which in turn helps them be more nurturing when the baby actually arrives.On the other hand, teenage fathers do not undergo physical changes in preparing for their child’s birth.My belief is that since teen fathers are not the ones physically going through the changes, the reality of a baby does not set in until the baby is actually born.Furthermore, when a child is actually born, the teen father is more than likely not mentally mature enough to comprehend; therefore it takes longer for them to actually realize the need to take responsibility for their actions.
There are not many guys out there that really think about the consequences of having sex.The term, “men think with their penis instead of their head,” really hits on this because a lot of guys, especially in their teen years, are looking for the physical aspect of sex rather than the commitment and emotional aspects.
Because teen fathers are not physically tied to their child, they are more likely to run away from it when things get hard.In reality, it is more common to see a single mom than a single dad.I have seen happily married couples that have children and their lives gets hectic very quick.Raising a baby is a lot of work, and teenage boys are looking for their next girlfriend, or concentrated on their weekend drinking activities, or sports games.The last thing a teenage boy thinks about is taking on the responsibility for another human being.
In this video clip, the reporter asks the boy what he plans to do financially, and his response is “what is financially?”This just proves that children do not have the mental capacity to effectively raise another child.
Do you think MTV’s Teen Mom or 16 and Pregnant gives an accurate depiction of modern teenage Fathers? Or do you disagree and think a teenage father will step up to the plate and take on the responsibilities of raising a child no matter the situation?
I'm sure many of you have heard of the pregnancy pact made at a public high school in Massachusetts, or maybe you have just heard of the Lifetime movie The Pregnancy Pact. Either way, the story is disturbing and raises a lot of concern. The actual high school that the pact was made at (Gloucester High School) offers a clinic to get pregnancy tests and a free daycare for teen mothers to use while they are attending class. Here is an article to read to learn more about what exactly happened at the school and what issues began to rise when the spike in pregnancies happened: http://www.time.com/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html
Do you think the high school (and other schools) should stop sex education after freshman year? Do you think an on-site daycare encourages teenage pregnancies? What do you think schools can do to discourage the intentional and wanted pregnancies in teens? Will offering birth control help this issue? It seems to be more an issue of the girls being uninformed of how hard it actually is to be a young mother than the availability of birth control.
We talked a lot about sexuality this week. Do you think the movie Juno encourages sexual activity as a young teen? Maybe all of the movies (and TV shows) about young moms are glamorizing teen pregnancy a little too much. Here is a video with another perspective on why teens are wanting to get pregnant instead of hoping they won't.
As of 2007, the birth rate of sexually active 15-19-year-olds in the U.S. was almost ten times that of the Netherlands. Also, contraceptive use among the same group was nearly six times higher in the Netherlands than in the U.S., which is falling far behind other modern nations in contraceptive use as seen in this graph.
A crucial factor in whether or not teens use contraceptives is if they are taught how to get them and how to use them. This is where sexual education comes into play. The easiest way to teach teens the information they need to know to make intelligent decisions pertaining to sex is to teach it in schools so that they are required to learn it. Unfortunately, many Americans oppose education related to contraceptives because they think that teens will use them to have crazy sex all the time. That or they have religious views that tell them that it is not okay to have sex before marriage, so teaching how to have sex in a safe way would be wrong. Here's a video briefly explaining the debate in the U.S. over how schools should teach sexual education.
In contrast, the Netherlands has a much more informative sexual education program which not only teaches teens how to use contraceptives, but also tells them how to deal with difficult sexual situations and feelings. It's amazing how far a little useful knowledge will go. This video on sexual education in Holland shows sexual education as a normal, informative, and shameless process where children are encouraged to ask questions and, as far as I can tell, are given all the necessary resources to make informed sexual decisions.
In Holland, as pointed out in the video, not only is sex a less taboo topic in school, but it also seems to be talked about more at home between children and their parents.
With such a stark contrast between the teen birth rates of the U.S. and the Netherlands, when will the U.S. finally reform its public sexual education system to teach children what they need to know to make healthy decisions? When will the U.S. take a more modern view on sex as a nation? Sex is a natural part of life, and trying to contain teen's raging hormones instead of equipping them to make safe decisions hasn't worked in the past.
In cross cultural journalism, we learned how ad companies can appeal to an audience and send the same message with different pictures depending on who the audience is. Marketers create ads to trigger a certain emotional reaction in people, so they must use a certain representation to appeal to different groups. However, it's important to distinguish the message sent as an advertising strategy, not the message the makers stand behind, as illustrated in the Dove v Axe controversy. While the makers of Dove were hailing themselves accepting of all women in their true beauty campaign, ax, owned by the same people, featured sexy models, adhering them to sexist stereotypes and physical idolization.
