Some teens in inner city barter with sex

[Muddleoftheroad]

THE VOICES OF POOR, black, inner-city teen-agers are largely unheard, especially in the public debate over adolescent sex. And their faces are unknown to us.

A new report by Motivational Educational Entertainment (MEE) Productions and a devastating companion video may change that. "It is depressing, but you can also see great resiliency," says Ivan Juzang, president of the research group he founded in Philadelphia in 1990. "These young people have great insight. But somebody has to listen to them."

MEE tells media, advertisers and entertainment companies how to reach urban young people, but this project was different. This time, the researchers listened to what 16- to 20-year-olds had to say in 2,000 surveys and in 40 focus groups in 10 cities, including Baltimore. It was an unprecedented private undertaking, supported by grants from The California Endowment and the Ford Foundation.

The questions were about sex and the bold, raunchy answers should frighten any adult - even those who have written these kids off as a lost generation. Why? Because urban kids don't just set standards in music and fashion. "We cannot assume that baggy jeans are the only things that kids in the suburbs will decide to copy," the report says.

http://www.sunspot.net/features/bal-hf.reimer25jan25,0,6975535.column?coll=bal-home-columnists

This is as disturbing as anything I have read this week. I don't know how to contend with the problem. Any ideas.

[teach1st]

1. Scary stuff

Abstinence education alone won't scratch the surface here. As the article points out: "Any teen who postpones sex knows that he or she will be ridiculed. And you can't sell abstinence as a way to protect the future to kids who don't believe they will have one." The kids in the article suggest earlier, realistic sex education and I agree. The kids also suggest that media clean up its act and that grown-ups and parents have failed them.

Any efforts to address this situation will have to societal as well as educational. Society may not be ready to address this.

[SoCalDem]

5. Parents don't have to scare kids.. just level with them

I told my boys (3 of em) that yes sex was fun and they would want to an I knew that they would.. BUT.. and here's the BIG BUT..

Several things CAN happen:.. None of them MAY...but

A pregnant teen girl, to whom you will write a check for 18+ years..whether or not you EVER see the kid.. A kid who will "complicate" your life if and when you meet someone you want to marry..

An early marriage to pregnant teen girl, which will most likely GUARANTEE that you will live in a "COPS" style life.. Get used to low wage jobs (due to lack of schooling, due to having to work 2 minimum wage jobs to afford the apartment, food, etc)These "marriages" often end in dicorce a few years (and maybe another kid) later.. Get used to writing at LEAST one check every month for child support/alimony..

An STD that you may not even notice until it's done permanent damage to you.. You may also infect someone that you really DO love. That's a difficult conversation to have..

An STD that can actually KILL you, and someone that you might infect unknowlingly..

They must have listened.. they are 30 (married, no kids)...26 (girlfriend..no kids).. and 25 (fiancee..no kids)

[Muddleoftheroad]

7. Damn fine job

Congratulations. Please help raise your grandkids as well.

[Gman]

10. That's a great way to put it to them

I hope they listen because teens, and we were no exception, think they know so much more than their parents.

[DarkSim]

2. Abstinence is a waste....

Abstinence will not solve anything. Being a teen myself i know that this idea in it's self will most likely be rediculated. I think the only real answer is realistic sexual education and non of this "politically correct" bullshit we get fed in school.

As for the issue of girls having sex with older guys... That has virtually nothing to do with how much cash they have. In my experience it just is their preference for some reason. Most (80%) of the girls i know are dating guys much, much older than them (sometimes around 7 years, may not see like much but for a high schooler that is a lot) and it is not looked off as. Why is sex bad the only reason any of us are here is just beacause of sex.
I don't think people should be stopped from having sex they should be educated in the (as i mentioned before) non bullshit manner that we seem to be bombarded with in school.

In my home country of Finland sex is an open issue and is one of the things that people have normal conversations with. when i lived there i talked about sex with my teachers, my parents, my parents friends and they talked about it with each other. In Finland we go naked into a hot sweaty room called a sauna with all our friends and family.

SEX IS NOT WRONG.

The only real answer is proper education.

[Muddleoftheroad]

3. Well...

There is no other guarantee to avoid either pregnancy OR STDs. Yep, that's right. Even if a condom works perfectly, you can still get STDs.

I work with high school kids some and when that subject comes up, they are stunned.

So, personally, I'm for teaching both. Make sure everyone understands the ramifications of their actions.

[DarkSim]

4. agreed (to a certain point)

you haven't read my update just yet.

[Muddleoftheroad]

8. Sex is different culture to culture

We have a more obsessive view of it and that plays out in our media as well.

It is hard to change that in a culture without a great amount of time.

[daveskilt]

6. so we should only care..

if the kids in the suburbs copy this? It's disturbing enough on its own.

[RapidCreek]

11. I get tired of this troubled black youth crap...

I lived in Chicago for many years....and it ain't just black kids bartering their asses....plenty of Caucasian and Hispanic kids do it as well....and they ain't all poor either.

Kid's in the suburbs already do....they just do it a little differently....it like most other things in the suburbs, with the exception of ostentatious displays of wealth, is done with a bit more discression. None the less it occurs.



RC

[daveskilt]

14. Hey hang on!

I was just responding to the original statement

"The questions were about sex and the bold, raunchy answers should frighten any adult - even those who have written these kids off as a lost generation. Why? Because urban kids don't just set standards in music and fashion. "We cannot assume that baggy jeans are the only things that kids in the suburbs will decide to copy," the report says."

which implied that it wasnt a big deal if the only kids doing it were not middle class kids in the suburbs. dunno where you get the black/white/hispanic division from because that was no where near what i was saying.

and yes you are right I am sure it goes on in the suburbs too.

[Muddleoftheroad]

13. Amen

Yes, I caught that BS as well.

[markses]

9. I wonder what the actual study looks like

Sex as a commodity in settings other than traditional prostitution?!? You don't say!

Now tell me something that I didn't know when I woke up this morning.

The panic stricken tone in the article (it might even reach the suburbs, like that "urban" rap music - eeek!) would of course look a lot different if the study was on the use of sex as a commodity within "suburban" married households.

As for the "urban" angle, all this stuff has been going on for years; everything they said reminded me of things I saw in my own youth in NYC. And while I agree that sex education should come earlier (the only seemingly cogent point in the column), I think we can drop the panic-mode. This is not restricted to "trend-setting urban youth," nor is it a new phenomenon.

[radwriter0555]

12. Oh only the kids in INNER cities eh? TRY THE ONES IN PACIFIC PALISADES too

!!!

This whole sex thing is all over. It's not just "those" kids.

2 years ago, at THE FINEST private schools here in los angeles, namely the west side, girls were charging for blow jobs. There is one school here, Harvard Westlake, that's known as the blowjob school.

The boys LOVE going there.

[Cleita]

15. Muwahahaha.

Now that makes me laugh. I once had a freeper boss, whose daughter went to that school. He was so certain that his little Muffy would be safe from all that perverted sex that goes on in Public schools.

[Muddleoftheroad]

16. It makes you laugh?

You have an odd sense of humor.

Our children are indeed the future. To see things like the poster described doesn't make me want to laugh at all.

[Cleita]

17. I wasn't laughing at the situation.

I was laughing at my old boss, who if you ever met him, you would agree with me that he was an old fool with money. As a matter of fact he and Dumbya have a lot in common. They have what they have because of privilege not work and talent. He was also a racist old bigot, if you feel like feeling sympathetic. I don't know if his daughter gave blow jobs or not, just that if it were happening he wouldn't have seen it because of the blinders he wore so he wouldn't have to see reality.