Teen Make-Out Parties in Chile

Dr. Sari Locker — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:20:18 +0000

In today’s New York Times’ article, “In Tangle of Young Lips, a Sex Rebellion in Chile,” it was revealed that teenagers in Chile are using social networking sites to arrange huge make-out “poncea” parties. Well, actually, the NYT is a little late to the party: Newsweek covered the same story six months ago. Also, the NYT story did not emphasize that the subculture of teens who call themselves “Pokemones” — the majority of those at these parties — do not represent the majority of Chilean teens. Chile has been known as a country with conservative policies, little sex education, and high priced birth control. Recent research has shown that Chileans are striving to improve sexual issues in their country. Much help is needed. The average age of first intercourse in Chile is about 17 — but studies have found that adolescents in Chile do not have the sexual knowledge or attitudes to help them use contraception and condoms for HIV prevention. It would be great if the widely read NYT story brings attention to teens in need of education and health care. Yet my concern is that the style of the article seems highly exploitative. They describe the hot action at the parties as follows, “boys and girls ages 14 to 18 are stripping off their shirts, revealing bras, tattoos and nipple rings. A tangle of lips and tongues and hands, all groping and exploring.” Plus, a sexy slide show accompanies the online version of the article. Rather than promote the need for sex education in Chile, the NYT’s sexualized images of topless Chilean teens titillate and exploit an adolescent subculture. That slide show could even potentially do harm by alerting American “sex tour” operators to add these Chilean teen make-out parties to their itinerary.

New York Times – Dr. Sari Locker: Sex Educator and TV Personality

Teen Make-Out Parties in Chile