According to the modeling industry, the winner of America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) is (drumroll, please) “full-figured.”

Whitney Thompson, the twenty-year-old winner of ANTM, is 5 feet 10 inches tall and wears a size 10. In the real world, her size is completely healthy. But in the cutthroat world of modeling, she’s considered fat, full-figured or plus-sized.

The average American woman is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 163 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means average adult women might be size 12 to 14. Whitney Thompson wears a smaller size than the average woman, but she’s certainly bigger than runway models, who are estimated to be 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall and weigh 110 to 125 pounds. Which would you want to be—a healthy size 10 or borderline anorexic?

It’s great to see Whitney win ANTM. We’ll hopefully start to see more healthy, average-sized women modeling in the future. You go, girl!

SHHH! Listen! Do you hear those crickets? That’s the sound of silence when it comes to real, honest talk about sex. Whether you’re watching MTV’s A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, reading the latest issue of Cosmo or playing Grand Theft Auto IV, sex is there, smacking you in the face. But no one is talking about it!

It’s no surprise that we’re equally silent when it comes to talking about sexual assault. If most people can’t look you in the eye and say “vagina” without blushing, how do you think rape survivors feel when it’s time to speak out about being sexually assaulted? We live in a culture that silences the survivors of rape. And the intense shame and fear they often feel only makes it more difficult to talk about the trauma.

You might say, “It won’t happen to me.” Lots of people think that it won’t, but the truth is that rape can happen to anyone, at any time. And yes, even guys can be raped.

But what if you were raped? Would you keep it secret and live with the trauma for the rest of your life? Or would you break the silence, speak out and refuse to live in shame and fear?

There is power in speaking out, so use your voice and start talking! Because the more real, honest talk we have about sexual assault, the more people will understand that crimes like sexual assault aren’t about sex. They’re about a need for the perpetrator to control and humiliate another person. Breaking the silence is just the first step in putting an end to sexual assault.

If you live in the New York City area and want to take a stand against sexual assault, attend the Sexual Assault Yearly Speak Out (SAY SO!) on Sunday, May 18th from noon to 10 p.m. in Union Square Park. Join survivors of sexual assault, their supporters and volunteers from the local rape crisis community to generate awareness about sexual assault and to celebrate the healing and recovery of sexual assault survivors. For more information, visit the SAY SO! Web site.

A recent photo of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus appeared in Vanity Fair and caused some controversy. In the photo, Miley’s back and shoulders are bare, her hair is damp and a sheet covers her chest. In the accompanying article, Miley describes the photo as “really artsy,” and says, “It wasn’t in a skanky way.” But shortly after the issue hit newsstands, the 15-year-old star of Disney’s Hanna Montana came out and apologized for the photo.

Many of the girls that look up to Miley know her as squeaky-clean Hanna Montana. But this photo doesn’t match her G-rated TV persona. And looking at the photo, you might think that she’s nude in bed after just having had sex. Some people are upset and feel the photo sends the wrong message to her young fans.

But according to Vanity Fair, Miley and her parents “thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait.” She wasn’t naked during the shoot nor sitting up in a bed, and her parents were on the set.

Some people think this photo is no big deal, and they don’t understand the outrage. They argue that the photo of Miley reveals a lot less than some 15-year-olds do in their prom dresses or on their MySpace profiles.

Whether you’d call this photo “artistic” or “pornographic,” our culture sexualizes people—especially young women. And yet, we do an awful job of openly and honestly talking about something as natural and normal as sexuality. If we had real, honest and accurate talks with young people about sex and sexuality, would photos like this cause so much controversy?

This post is a part of a national Youth Media Blog-a-Thon on violence sponsored by YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia and WireTap Magazine.

Did you know that 1 in 4 teen girls has a sexually transmitted disease (STD), and that for the first time in 14 years, the teen birth rate has increased? When will we get a clue? Clearly, teens need access to health services, like clinics, and honest, accurate information, so they can take care of their sexual health.

Stopping the spread of STDs like HIV/AIDS and reducing teen pregnancy rates costs money. But here’s a major problem: Money is tight for everyone nowadays. Maybe you think budget cuts don’t have anything to do with teen sexual health. But in reality, the way Uncle Sam spends taxpayers’ money has a direct impact on YOU:

• The number of teen pregnancies and rate of STD infection would only increase if Medicaid spending is cut. Millions of low-income teens rely on Medicaid for health services, including access to birth control, like the Pills and condoms, and other services, like clinics.
• Ever been to a Planned Parenthood or other Title-X clinic? When these clinics don’t get the funding they need, teens have to pay more for confidential services, such as counseling, gynecological exams, STD testing and birth control. Sometimes, a clinic will have to stop offering certain services altogether because they don’t have enough funding.
• If knowledge is power, then why is sex education so poorly funded? Comprehensive sex education gives teens the information they need to make healthy and responsible decisions about sex, but there’s no federal funding for comprehensive sex ed. Instead, our government funds abstinence-only sex programs, even though study after study shows that these programs don’t work. Isn’t it time the government stopped pumping money into something that’s proven to be ineffective?

If we’re serious about improving teen sexual health, shouldn’t we increase funding for Medicaid and Title X and stop funding abstinence-only programs?

We won’t see the STD rate or teen birth rate decrease overnight. But in the long run, giving teens comprehensive sex education and providing access to safe, affordable and well-funded sexual and reproductive health programs will greatly reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies and help stop the spread of STDs. Let’s hope that the next president keeps teens in mind when he or she thinks about how to spend taxpayer dollars.

Are you a fan of the hit show Gossip Girl? There’s been some controversy over the promos for the new season. Critics argue that the promos are way too sexual and that the ads are sending the wrong message to the show’s teen audience. Take a look at the promos for Gossip Girl in the clip below:

These ads are just another example of sexualized advertisements that specifically target teens. Did you notice the OMFG? Some adults might not know what that means, but ask almost any teen and he or she will know. The teen-friendly OMFG sends a message that clearly says, “Hey teens, watch Gossip Girl! The sex scenes are outta control!” And, just in case you don’t realize how much sex there is on the show, a voice says the word “sex” over and over while sex scenes from the show flash across the screen.

Some people might think, So what? I’ve seen ads like this before. What’s the big deal?

The big deal is that ads like these present a warped view of sexuality that’s all about sexual fantasy and not reality. Important parts of sex—like communicating with your partner and using condoms to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and pregnancy—are completely left out of the picture. With teens and middle-school kids watching, you have to wonder: How are they supposed to learn about the really important parts of sex that we don’t see on TV, like deciding if you want to have sex, communication and condoms?

The next time you’re watching TV and you see a sex scene, take note: Do the partners discuss their expectations of sex? How about using condoms or other methods of birth control? Do they talk at all about preventing STDs? You’ll find that although there’s tons of sex on TV, there are few realistic portrayals of responsible safer sex.