Eight girls from Gloucester High School in Gloucester, MA, have been the talk of the town. The principal of the school claims the girls—none older than 16—made a “pregnancy pact” with each other and planned to “get pregnant and raise their babies together.” The girls haven’t spoken to reporters, so the “pregnancy pact” may simply be an exaggeration. But what makes this story shocking is the fact that 9 other girls at Gloucester High have gotten pregnant—for a total of 17 teen pregnancies this year!

What’s going on in Gloucester that has girls lining up to get pregnant? Is it something in the water? Some people blame the media and think that all the attention pregnant celebrities get makes pregnancy seem glamorous. Others think that the girls just wanted someone to love them and thought that having a baby would fill their emotional needs.

It’s easy to point fingers, but where’s the good sex education and access to health services? Sex education at Gloucester High School ends freshman year. You can’t expect teens to avoid pregnancy by leaving them in the dark! Good sex ed wouldn’t just teach teens about the 9-month birth cycle, but it would also teach teens how to prevent pregnancy. Teens would learn about proper use of condoms and other birth control, and they would get all the facts about options if they do become pregnant.

Gloucester works hard to keep teen moms in school and offers free on-site day care. It’s great to see that pregnant teens are welcome, but what about preventing future teen pregnancies? In a school where day care is offered, why not offer condoms in the nurse’s office, too?

Getting pregnant isn’t a solution to poverty or lack of jobs and opportunities. And having a baby definitely isn’t the way to have someone to love and love you back. Pregnancy only makes life more difficult, especially for teens that have no education, job or people to help raise a child. Even though life can seem tough, having a baby is not the solution. It’s worth waiting until you’re older to get pregnant. You owe it to yourself AND the baby.

It looks like a Utah sex ed teacher is in big trouble. Why? Because she answered some of her students’ questions about sex.

A group of about 50 parents are angry and claim that a health teacher at Fort Herriman Middle School in Herriman, Utah gave their children information about sex that wasn’t part of the curriculum. Now certain lawmakers want to make it a crime for teachers to stray from the state’s sex education laws.

The teacher is a sex ed veteran with over 30 years of teaching experience. She’s in trouble because she allegedly answered students’ questions on topics outside of the curriculum, including gay sex, oral sex and masturbation.

What’s the point of sex ed if we’re not educating teens? It’s time lawmakers wake up and realize that giving teens information is helpful, not harmful. Teens have real questions about sex, and leaving them in the dark is irresponsible. And although there are Web sites like Sexetc.org for teens to get answers to their sex questions, Web sites aren’t substitutes for good, in-class sex education.

Do you have questions about sex, love, relationships or other sex ed topics? Don’t be shy! Just Ask the Experts!

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.