pictures of Sari

Today, I was on Your World with Neil Cavuto. We were discussing “Getting Through Tough Economic Times” a new web page posted by SAMHSA, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. The web page has some great resources for people who are coping with stress or depression because of the economic crisis.  Also, this organization oversees the free 24 hour suicide hotline, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK.

We had so much fun!

Today, my segment on Mike Galanos’ show on CNN Headline News focused on a story from Glades Middle School in Miramar, Florida, where children and teens may have been involved in some sort of sex related misconduct in a classroom – while the teacher was present. It was a very unusual story, and details of the situation have yet to be fully disclosed. The school did not state whether the students were touching others, or whether the misconduct involved touching themselves or revealing themselves with no contact.

The story I discussed on Jane Velez-Mitchell‘s terrific new CNN Headline News show comes from Detroit, where a teenager’s mother was arrested for allegedly holding a party to prostitute her daughter and another teen. Of course, the headlines about this story in print and on television read “sex party” instead of “sex crime.” 

My appearance yesterday, as seen from the control room …

I just got off the air from the appearance during which I discussed the MTV Video Music Awards. See the photo below of me standing in front of the camera. Host Mike Galanos is based in Atlanta, so I was on via satellite from CNN’s gorgeous studio in NYC. In two segments, Perez Hilton and I discussed Jordin Sparks’ remark defending purity rings. Also on the air for the first segment was Joanna Weiss who wrote about this story for the Boston Globe. I agree with Perez Hilton that Jordin was right to say something, and given the fact that her remark was unrehearsed, she did fine. However, it is wrong to classify people — as she did — as either virgins or sluts. It’s the myth of that dichotomy that often keeps us from discussing the reality of most teens’ and young twentysomething’s sex lives. Most teens and twentysomethings have sex in the context of relationships, and at least 87% use birth control. Perhaps teens could feel more comfortable talking about sex with mom and dad if their parents understood that when teens have sex it is not always harmful or ”bad.” Perhaps teens would also feel more comfortable reaching out to get sex education if they knew that our culture would not categorize them as a “slut” if they responsibly choose to have sex.