Teen-Run Web Site Offers Info
Parents, Schools Often Avoid
Excerpt By Rogene Fisher, ABCNews.com

Remember when you had "the talk" with your parents? You asked them lots of explicit questions and got thorough, honest explanations about a wide range of sexual practices. … Probably not, right?

A generation has passed since the Sexual Revolution, and kids, on the surface, seem more sexually savvy than ever, fueled by a high-octane, hormone-driven pop culture. Yet the issue of sex is still outside most parents' comfort zones, and kids, most likely, are not as savvy as we think when it comes to sexual health.

Sexual health experts warn while our culture saturates itself in sex-laden images, it still couches sexuality in a moral context rather than dealing with it as a health issue.

And the need to help teens approach sexuality as a health issue is becoming painfully obvious. According to 2001 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately 65 percent of all sexually transmitted infections contracted by Americans in a single year will occur in people under 24. One in four new HIV infections occurs in people younger than 22.

Teens Tackle Taboos Adults Avoid

The percentage of high school students who have had sex dipped from 54.1 percent to 45.6 percent between 1991 and 2001, according to an October report from the CDC. But that still means nearly half of high school kids are having sex.

So now, teens are stepping in to fill the information void. A group of them are running a Web site called SEX, ETC. (www.sexetc.org) and writing stores that address their peers' questions about pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other sexual health issues.

Launched in February 1999 by Rutgers University's Network for Family Life Education, the site is one of the main focal points of the network's National Teen-to-Teen Sexuality Education Project. Seventeen high school sophomores, juniors and seniors make up the site's editorial board. Most come from the New Jersey-area, with 60 additional teens from around the country also paid to contribute articles and teen quotes to the site.

The editorial content is reviewed by educators and sexual health professionals, while adult sexual health experts each day answer some 50 questions submitted by teen visitors to the site. Visitors can also check out SEX, ETC.'s "Frequently Asked Questions" for topics they're too uncomfortable to ask their parents or teachers.

Questions on the FAQ page range from "Can you get a sexually transmitted disease from oral sex?" to "Can masturbation hurt you in any way?" to "I'm 15. Am I too young to have sex?"

Responding to Abstinence-Only Programs

The site seems to be developing a good-sized audience. Some 360,000 unique visitors log on to SEX, ETC. every month, according to Ellen Papazian, who oversees the teen editorial board. The editorial staff also contributes its online articles to MTV's sexual health campaign, "Fight for Your Rights: Protect Yourself," and answers teens' sexual health questions for Teen People magazine.

Papazian says the teens really drive the main issues covered on the site. "They brainstorm, and come up with ideas. I help put them in touch with professionals to interview for their pieces."

The result is a sort of stigma-free zone where teens can ask questions they might feel too embarrassed to ask parents, teachers — or even their peers.

The site also sees itself as a response to the abstinence-only message being pushed by the Bush administration to address the problems of teen pregnancy and the rise in sexually transmitted diseases among young people.

Already, there are some 700 abstinence-only programs covering the country, and Bush hopes to increase spending this year to $135 million, up from $60 million, according to published reports.

But Papazian feels the abstinence-only approach could have serious repercussions for adolescents' health.

"We're really in a potentially frightening time," Papazian says. "We're not against abstinence; we cover the issue." However, she adds, "If you're only pushing 'Just Say No,' you're not giving kids all the information they need about contraception and you leave the ones who are already having sex at risk for unintended pregnancy and HIV and other sexually transmitted infections." Kids are going to confront situations in which they have to make a decision about sex, Papazian notes. "If you give teens medically accurate information about sex and contraception, you enable them to make responsible choices, if and when they choose to have sex," she said.

Helping Teens Make ‘Good Decisions’

"I've learned a lot about sexual health. … I feel really proud of myself, because I'm helping other kids make good decisions," says Claire Marchetta, a 17-year-old junior at Princeton High School in Princeton, N.J., who is an editorial board member for SEX, ETC.

Marchetta's first story for the site focused on virginity. She says kids weren't quite sure how to define it. If they've had a sexual experience with a member of the same sex, they aren't sure whether they're still virgins, she explains. Some kids aren't sure if having oral sex "counts" as losing their virginity.

The teen believes schools aren't adequately educating students about sexual health: "Schools shouldn't be saying go out and have sex, but teens should get all the information they need to make the right decisions for themselves."

As difficult as it has been to agree on a sex education program that satisfies politicians, educators, parents and kids, Marchetta is optimistic. "Sex education in schools is getting better."

If teens want to change their school's sex ed program, she adds, they can check out SEX, ETC.'s "Road Map: A Teen Guide to Changing Your School's Sex Ed," which offers teens advice on how to become advocates for effective sex education in their schools.

Marchetta also thinks quality sex education can help counter some of the negative side-effects of a culture that's pumping out a glut of vampy pop idols. She said she sees younger kids dressing and acting in sexually provocative ways. "I'm kind of surprised that littler kids are acting like that. I'm kind of upset by it. I wish they could hang onto their innocence a little longer."

Reference Source 104

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