teen sex

By Dr. Sari Locker

Teen Death Related to Erectile Dysfunction Drug

Joe Loudon, a 16 year old from Orinda, CA, died at a party recently, and the autopsy results found that in addition to alcohol, he also had an erectile dysfunction medication, Papaverine, in his system. It is unknown whether he took the drug voluntarily, or someone slipped it into his drink, coerced him to take it, or gave it to him without revealing the type of drug. His parents said that they had no knowledge of how this drug could have been in their son’s possession. They are looking for leads about how he may have gotten the drug.  

Teens and Viagra: What do we know?

While it’s not known why Joe Loudon had an erectile dysfunction drug in his system, his story raises the question of why some teens may seek out erectile dysfunction medication. While most teens would never be exposed to the infrequently used older medication Papaverine that was in Joe’s body, there are teens who may consider experimenting with a more common erectile medication, such as Viagra.  There is a good deal of info about teens and Viagra…  (more…)

There are too many misconceptions about Plan B, and I’d like to correct some of them.

Yesterday when I appeared on CNN Headline News, I heard many misconceptions about Plan B — also called EC, Emergency Contraception, and The Morning After Pill — and about what it means for our government to allow 17 year olds to buy it without a prescription. Here are the top misconceptions, and then the realities. (more…)

With today’s release of “Sex and Tech” the new study from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmo Girl, we now know the realities of the problem of teens “sexting,” sending sexual content via cell phones. We now have statistics to back up the vague sense that many teens are doing something with their cell phones and online that could create a sexual crisis for them. 

The study found that at least one in five teens (22% of girls and 18% of boys) say they have electronically sent nude or seminude images of themselves. And 39% of teens have sent sexually suggestive text messages or emails to someone.

Moreover, the study found that what teens are doing electronically affects what they do face-to-face, offline. More than a third (38%) of teens say that exchanging sexy content makes dating or hooking up more likely, and nearly one third of teens (29%) believe those exchanging sexy content are “expected” to date or hook up.

Why are teen girls so eager to pose for scandalous photos? To please guys. An overwhelming 85% of teen girls say that sending sexy photos or messages keeps a guy’s attention. Three-fourths of girls 13 to 16 (76%) say sending sexy images is a “sexy presents” for a boyfriend.  Two thirds of teen girls (66%) who have sent sexually suggestive content say that they did to be “fun or flirtatious.”

Many teens don’t seem to understand that sending anything over the cell phone or Internet makes it public. The study confirmed that when sexy content is sent, it is not likely to remain private. More than one in five teen guys (22%) admit to having shared sexually suggestive messages that they received which had been intended to be private. And 39% of boys and 38% of girls have had sexy messages shared with them.

I will be discussing this study on television and I will write more about it here, including what parents can do about this. 

Today at 5:15pm EST, I’ll be on CNN Headline News talking about this news story…

Teen girls sent naked pics and now parents are suing school

By Jessica Blanchard, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Parents of two Bothell High School cheerleaders have sued the Northshore School District, alleging school officials erred when they suspended the girls from the team this year after nude photos of them circulated throughout the student body via text message.  School officials learned of the photos in August after receiving copies from a source they have not named, according to the lawsuits. In early September, the two teens were suspended from the cheer squad — one for 30 days and the other for the entire school year. Both lawsuits, filed Monday in King County Superior Court, accuse school administrators of violating the girls’ due process rights, needlessly sharing the photos with other school staff members and failing to promptly report the matter to police as possible child pornography.  Attorney Matthew King, who represents both families, said it also was troubling that the teens were punished, but football players and other students at the school who sent or received the texts were not.”  This is the link to the full story.

I did a double take when I saw this candy at Walgreens.

I suppose this could provide a teachable moment for girls who are Miley fans, if they have not yet learned the anatomical names of sexual body parts. Hold up candy, and explain: ”This is called a penis. It consists of a shaft and a head, also called the glans. On the underside where the glans meets the shaft is an indentation called the frenulum. At the base of the penis, you’ll see another part of the male anatomy called the scrotum. Can you say ’scrotum’?” Of course, after the lesson I doubt you’ll want your daugther eating this candy. (An aside: you’ll see that they are individually wrapped, to reduce the risk of a sword fight in your mouth.)

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.