Teens and Sexual Assault, Part 7: Changing the Culture, One Teen at a Time
This is my last post on the topic of teens and sexual assault. I’m going to start with another story from my adolescence that will always stay with me. I was 15, and had lied, finagled, and faked my...
View ArticleTeens and Sexual Assault, Part 8: The Media’s Response to the Steubenville...
I thought Part 7 was my last post in the series, but the media response to the sentencing of the two rapists in the Steubenville case has been so outrageous that I’m going to tack on a postscript here....
View ArticleJust A Click Away: Talking To Your Teen About Internet Pornography
Teenagers encountering and viewing pornography is not a new phenomenon. When I was 13, my friend found a pornographic movie in her parents’ closet. We watched it with a mixture of fascination and...
View ArticleSexually Transmitted Infections: Part 6 Syphilis
I started this series on sexually transmitted infections in teens with a post on how to approach the topic of sexual health with your teen. It can be awkward, but it is important that teens have...
View ArticleJust a Click Away: Talking To Your Teen About Internet Pornography, Part 2
This was originally scheduled to post on April 8th.. and I’m not sure why it didn’t! Anyway, this is the second part of my post on how parents can talk to their teens about internet pornography. Here...
View ArticlePlan B Emergency Contraception: an update
We’ve blogged about Plan B, a form of emergency contraception, in the past to discuss what it is and why we feel it should be available over the counter, but there have been some important updates on...
View ArticleMiley Cyrus, music videos, and parenting
Celebrities and parents in the US are talking about the MTV Video Music Awards that aired Sunday night. Most of the award show was a fun concert showcasing the latest popular artists like Justin...
View ArticleTaking Sexuality into Your Own Hands
Guest Blogger: Tracy Whittaker, BSN, RN University of Washington School of Nursing Let’s face it; no one wants to talk about masturbation. It is a taboo topic that may cause you to feel uncomfortable,...
View ArticleThanks Birth Control November 12th
Birth control in medicine is often used not just as a means for preventing pregnancy, but also as a life saving treatment option. For nearly 2/3rds of the teens I prescribe birth control to, we’re...
View ArticleThe 1990s were 20 years ago but condoms are still important
I was talking with colleagues last week about a recent article that discusses the decline in condom use amongst adolescents and young adults. We were thinking back to our own adolescence in the 1990′s...
View ArticleWhat is the Band Playing Now?: Adolescents, Young Adults, and HIV
I don’t remember when I first heard about HIV, it was just sort of always present in my world view. When I was very young, I remember overhearing a woman explain that she had left off training to be a...
View ArticleMiddle School Teens and Sexting: The Survey Says…
In a recent issue of Pediatrics, researchers studied a group of seventh-graders to see how prevalent sexting was in that age group (ages 12-14), as well as whether sexting is associated with sexual...
View ArticleDoes the HPV Vaccine Lead to Risky Sexual Behavior?
A current study in Pediatrics say: No. The argument that the HPV vaccine will somehow encourage teens to have risky sex has always seemed strange to me. It brings to mind a teen thinking, “I wanted to...
View ArticleTeen Girls and the Normalization of Sexual Violence
An article was recently published in the journal Gender & Society that is enlightening, sad, and for me, brought back memories. The researchers interviewed a hundred adolescent girls referred for...
View ArticleA project to prevent unplanned pregnancy
The Centers for Disease Control shared an update that the teen pregnancy rate dropped by 8%. This was exciting news, but teen births for young women ages 15-19 are still exceedingly high in our nation...
View ArticleEight Ways Families Can Help End the Normalization of Sexual Violence
In my last post, I discussed sexual violence and sexual harassment, and how common it can be in a teen environment. This week, as promised, I want to discuss how parents can try to help their teens...
View ArticleSexting and cellphones
We’ve posted about online safety as well as the dangers of sending sexually explicit text messages in the past, but a recent study in the journal Pediatrics, highlights the importance of making sure we...
View ArticleWhat is a LARC?
With nearly half of teens initiating sexual activity by the time they graduate from high school, discussing pregnancy prevention is extremely important. Abstinence is the only way to 100% guarantee...
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Having The Talk with Your Teen
Recently a friend described how she’d had ‘the talk’ with her teen son. She felt it was time to sit down and talk specifically about relationships (including sex) because her son has a girlfriend and...
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Consenting to intimacy
The recent trial of a Stanford undergrad has stirred up conversations about justice, consenting to sex, alcohol consumption, and unequal treatment in judicial proceedings this week. These are not light...
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