Teens in Balance - Tara Cousineau, PhD

Text Dirty to Me: Reactions to the Sex and Tech Survey

So the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl joined forces to sponsor a survey of over 1200 teens and young adults on how often they have posted online, or sent messages, with sexually suggestive content. And the results? Fairly often.  

Or is it really? I wrote about this Sex and Tech survey on another blog but have a bit more freedom here to focus on my personal reaction. Surveys like these are very important and hopefully the information derived can influence public health messages, school prevention programming and ideally, the behavior of hormonally raging teens with their cell phones and online profiles. Yet, I must confess that I found the study summary devoid of context and feel conflicted about the sponsorship. Ok, many teens are sending nude or semi-nude photos or sending sexually provocative flirtations with a disregard to the potential of exposure to many unintended recipients (like the whole 9th grade). Yet, the cultural milieu for today'€s youth is rampant with sexual images and the sexualization of ever-younger kids. Children under age five are exposed to dolls with belly shirts and low cut outfits and superhero figures bulked up to the max with exaggerated musculature. TV shows and movies abound for the under 13 crowd that are sexually explicit -- and continue to reinforce the rather boring fairly tale scenarios of the dashing prince rescuing the damsel in distress. Really, nothing much has changed thematically since I was a child; it's just that the sheer amount of media has increased and venues have multiplied. And there is little by way on the value of sexual health, maturity and enjoyment. Instead the public casts a judgmental eye and horrified cry at underage sexual acting out over the web and cell phones. The MSNBC interview about the survey has one of the sponsors remarking, "€œeven the nice girls"€ are doing it. (We'€™ve heard that line before.)  

Sponsors 

The National Campaign holds a very important mission to reach out to youth, parents and communities to educate about pregnancy and prevent unplanned pregnancies. That'€™s a tough calling especially given the recent political climate of abstinence-only educational programming -- a noble but unrealistic effort. Consider that the there was a recent spike in the frequency of unplanned teen pregnancies. I can understand why the Nat'€™l Campaign would partner with CosmoGirl, a savvy teen publication, to sponsor a survey. Kids would be more likely to respond to the slick verses the staid.

With that said, just take a look at CosmoGirl or its online version. It'€™s got sex written all over it. Or, it'€™s online blog called, The Daily Kiss. The daily kiss? What'€™s the underlying message in that title? Nothing against the blog itself -- the post on the Sex and Tech survey was chock full of links. The rest of the site is what you would imagine for contemporary teen fashion, fame and fluff. 

But here's the inherent conflict for me: if you want to reach teens you need to meet them where they are at. That means arriving at the doorstep of hot brands -- like the Abercrombie€™s, with poster size images of young lads with bare chests and girls with pouty lips. It'€™s tough line to tow for public health initiatives. But it has to be done.

Virtual Reality

 When I was a teen I spent a lot of time making collages on heavy board paper. I'€™d spend hours cutting out letters from magazines, pasting in photographs of friends (I had to pay for the development of the negatives with my babysitting money), and drawing in school spirit slogans with heavy marker. I'€™d place the artwork on my bedroom wall or make some smaller versions for friends.I could do this for hours into the night while whispering the latest gossip into the phone with a best friend -- and later, with a boyfriend.

I would have loved the Internet back then. This comes to mind because my daughters are now doing the same thing. Their current venue is the Beacon Street Girls website, based on the book series. Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend both girls spent hours creating their virtual "€œlockers"€ with cool backgrounds and fun stuff to fill them with. My older daughter, 11 going on 16, joined a number of groups; she was completely amused and proud when she gave another member a compliment and then received one back. She has since helped her school friends set up their accounts (she did the same with Skype). It's all very polite and creative. It'€™s pre-MySpace. Even so she had instant “friends” – several of the Beacon Street characters automatically became part of her friend group (which characters appeared depended on a matching of traits and interests at registration). But after a while she asked me for a shoebox and pulled out the paper and scissors. She created her own 3D locker and put her miniature toys inside. Hands on. Tangible. Readily visible. A white papewas recently issued by the MacArthur Foundation, entitled the Digital Youth Project.  It is based on numerous qualitative studies over the past three years with children, teens and young adults about how they perceive and use new media. It confirmed for me that kids are doing what they always have done: connecting, creating and working through identities. What has changed is the landscape. New media offers more tools for children and adults to communicate; it doesn'€™t replace the old ways.

Take it from my third grader. She seems to have struck a balance with real play and virtual play. Time will tell how she will negotiate technology within her intuitive and imaginative sensibilities.