teens and sex

[joanna bujes]

At 04:58 PM 04/02/2002 -0500, dave cross posted:
>"Teens often seek out sex with older people, and they do so for
>understandable reasons: an older person makes them feel sexy and
>grown-up, protected and special," writes Levine, who had an affair with
>an adult when she was a minor.

Thanks for drawing attention to this book. I do think that the current 
state of denial about children and sex needs a serious overhaul and it 
sounds like the book takes a careful look at the question. On the other 
hand, I am very skeptical about children or teens wanting to have sex with 
grown ups. There are huge issues that materialize when this happens and I 
think it's better to err on the side of restraint.

On the other hand, I think children definitely should have the right to 
enjoy sexual activity that is age specific with each other: playing doctor, 
explorations, making out, etc. with lots of truthful information about 
disease, pregnancy, pleasure, etc.

The difficult part is for grownups to be able to be open and helpful about 
the  subject when so many adults are so totally screwed up about it themselves.

Joanna