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critical mass
The Not-So-Secret, Pro-Life Message Of The Secret Life Of The American Teenager
Babies having babies! Seriously, have you had your fill of this subject yet? As most of you know by now, tonight heralds the premiere of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, a one-hour drama created by the same woman who created 7th Heaven and has nothing to say on the issue of teen pregnancy. The plot is fairly standard after-school special fare: a good girl (Shailene Woodley) gets pregnant after her first sexual experience at band camp (I know) with her school's would-be Lothario (Daren Kagasoff) and she can't tell her fetus' father because she barely knows him. Molly Ringwald plays the good girl's mom. All caught up? Good, check out the reviews after the jump. More »
critical mass
The Baby Borrowers Shows Dumb Teens That Parenting Is Hard
It sure seems like a lot of teens are getting pregnant these days, and seeing pictures of Jamie Lynn Spears cheerfully roaming around Wal-Mart isn't really sending a message that baby-raisin' is hard to do. Seeing an education possibility (and by "education" we mean "ratings and profit") in this new "trend," NBC has created a reality TV show, The Baby Borrowers, based on a BBC program in the UK. The show follows five couples in their late-teens, all of "varying social and ethnic backgrounds", who want to experience the process of raising a child. Each week, the couples are given a new person to care for, ranging from infant to old person, and a major message is communicated: parenting is really hard! But did we need a TV show to tell us that? The critics weigh in, after the jump. More »
leftovers
Yogurt Locks In Grey Sweatshirt Female Demographic • Study Says Virginity Pledges Help Teens Wait
Video looks at yogurt's advertising for women: "Yogurt eaters come from every race, but just one socio-economic class: the class that wears gray hoodies. It's that 'I have a Masters, but then I got married' look!"• A man has been accused of running an Asian prostitution ring in Seattle, citing that he bought 14,000 condoms in less than a year. • Diddy is back to being called Puff Daddy in an effort to revive career success that occurred with his former name. • McCain does "a Google" to research his potential veeps, you know, because the internet is full of so much reliable information! • Same-sex marriages could give the wedding business in California a big boost. • The portrait of Jane Austen's supposed "lost love" and the inspiration for Mr. Darcy is up for auction. • This one ought to help calm paranoid mothers everywhere: A mom finds a snake in her daughter's crib. • A female U.K. Army major who was given "a hug instead of a medal" after she helped Iraq negotiations settles her case with the Army. • A new study says taking a virginity pledge may delay teen sex, although it should be used with a comprehensive sex education. • A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has approved for trial a case of a woman suing her ex-husband for giving her HIV after claiming he was virus free. • A mentally ill woman who killed her pregnant friend, cut out her unborn child, and drowned her friend's living children has been sentenced to life in prison. • A look back at the last 15 years of BUST magazine, here's to 15 more!
leftovers
Cheesy New Abstinence Magazine For Teens • Laura Bush Has Brain, Defends Michelle Obama
A new abstinence magazine promotes archaic waiting-for-marriage message with glossy pages and tips on how to "keep your wardrobe and still be modest."• Booze-delivery company targets messy lady-lushes in newest "drunk women are gross" ad campaign. • HuffPo blogger blasts McCain for selling gear for the sport of the dilettante sons of the elite (or golf) yet mocking Obama for "eating arugual" [sic, assuming she means arugula]. • Laura Bush defends Michelle Obama by saying her so-called "anti-American" comments were misinterpreted. • With gay marriage approval in CA, a new energy was injected into the Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood. • Indian swingers use the internet to find new partners in a judge-free (yet virtual) environment. • A woman deliberately abandons son in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Friday before being picked up by authorities and taken in for a medical examination. • Is buying "investment" clothing really more ethical than buying cheap throw-away fashion? • A 70-year-old mom of a toddler is happy with her life as a mother, despite what her critics say about her lifestyle choice. • NPR essayist's daughter watches ANTM for the artistic inspiration. Tyra: helping young girls, as always.
leftovers
Risque Teen Photos Reach Larger Audience • Maxi Mounds' Breast Augmentation Now Illegal
Teens' embarrassing risque photos no longer local, short-lived lapses in judgment thanks to quick pace and widespread popularity of the internet. • Turkish Constitutional Court is expected to deliver a ruling on Islamic head scarves in Turkish schools on Thursday. • Boob surgery that gave porn actress Maxi Mounds her record-breaking breasts has been banned in the UK. • Grandma's favorite publication, Reader's Digest, says "sexist cliches" are biological! • The NY Times' Barry Gewen tries to prove that a poorly-written, humorless book (his words) on gender equality in sports isn't so ridiculous after all. • German music festival highlights 18th-century female composers and classical musicians whose work has probably never been performed before. • Native American women in the Pacific Northwest go on annual root-digging mission that has both spiritual and edible purposes. • The Cinderella Ball, a prom for disabled students in the Washington D.C. area, brings teens and families together for a night of glam and glitz (and a performance from American Idol winner, Ruben!). • The Swedish Tax Board tells couple that "Elvis" is not an appropriate name for a girl. •
leftovers
Pork Producers Try To Win Over Women • Gang-Banger Girlfriends More Likely To Get Pregnant
How do you sell pork to women? Liken it to clear nail polish! • A heartbroken man in Taiwan climbed into a morgue freezer in an attempt be with his deceased girlfriend. • A group of Moldovan woman accidentally trespass in a "no girls allowed" Greek monastery after being abandoned by human traffickers in Mount Athos, Greece. • Shortage of Indian women leads female duo to dupe desperate single males out of cash by pretending to be matchmakers. • Teenage girlfriends of gang members are more likely to get pregnant than their peers. • Female judges are perceived as rude by a group of predominately male lawyers. • More female entrepreneurs are reaching for the $1 million revenue mark. • Getting catcalled by pervy doofuses or getting shot by jilted pervy doofuses: these are a young woman's options? • Guardian writer talks to stay-at-home moms about the benefits and repercussions for choosing to be a "full-time mom." • Woman who inspired "Mommy" in the "Family Circus" comic strip has died at the age of 82. • Omega-3 PUFAs may help those with perinatal depression.
girls, interrupted
More Than One In Ten Teen Girls Will Suffer From Depression
Almost 13% of teenage girls have experienced a bout of serious depression in the past year, according to a new federal study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. There is a marked difference among genders when it comes to depression, Reuters reports, as only 4.6% of boys reported a major depressive episode in the past 12 months (though the disparity might be because this survey was self-reported, and lots of boys are unwilling to admit their unhappiness). For the purposes of the survey, a "major depressive episode" is defined as "two weeks or longer of depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure, and at least four other symptoms such as problems with sleep, energy, concentration or self-image." More »
Teenage Wasteland
Marche Taylor, like many teens around this time of the year, showed up at her prom in Houston, TX dressed to impress. The party was being held in a ballroom at the Sugar Land Marriott, but Taylor only got as far as the lobby. A school official told her that her dress did not meet the dress code; Taylor argued and then tried to get her money back. Someone called the cops. Taylor was escorted from the establishment in handcuffs. Really? Was that necessary? Don't forget about that Human Rights Watch report that says black people are disproportionately incarcerated. On the one hand, girls can be mentally damaged from sexualization in advertising; on the other hand, should a prom dress land a young woman in handcuffs? [KHOU]
leftovers
Cliques Push Brand-Obsessed Teens • Queen Of Hip Hop Soul Starts Foundation For Girls
Tween Clique books link popularity/boys with brand name items. Prepare for disappointment, 7th graders of America! • Texas graverobbing teens and one adult make bong out of child's skull. • Professional British wedding planner doesn't believe in marriage. • People spend almost $2,000 a year on "pissed-off purchases," one women suggest couples kiss instead. Uh, okay. • Columnist Kathleen Parker says we should "save the males," oooh because they can lift heavy things? • Reporters without Borders asks Iran nicely to stop harassing "cyber-feminists." • Meanwhile in the Mid-East, Saudi women campaign against inconvenient late-night weddings. • Pro women's boxing comes to Japan. • An antidepressant may help teens with IBS. • Being breast-fed may lower a woman's breast cancer risk. • Penelope Cruz is set to become a stunning blonde. • Mary J. Blige starts foundation to help girls with careers and self-confidence.
leftovers
Brigitte Bardot Is A Racist; Churchgoing Girls Are Apple Polishers
• Sure, yesterday was Black Day, but it was also Cake and Cunnilingus Day! • A blind man stabbed his fiancee for not wearing her engagement ring. • Mothers experience less eating problems than their drunk and childless peers.• The "D.C. Madam" was found guilty of prostitutin'. • Famous Muslim-hater, Brigitte Bardot, is on trial again for racist slurs. • The girls involved in a playground beatdown of a 10-year-old girl may face expulsion from school. • Gay couples are having trouble obtaining divorces. • Saudi female students and housewives plan Olympic dreams with controversial basketball team. • Social Darwinism? Girls who attend church religiously, are (possibly) harder workers.
Girls are joining organized sports in record numbers, but their participation (and performance) in physical activity outside of organized sports is declining. A recent study by the University of Minnesota finds that while more and more girls are joining teams and reaping the physical and mental benefits, the girls that have higher risks of obesity, diabetes, and poor academic performance (namely: "girls of color [in] lower socioeconomic groups") have little access to organized sports. In addition, "stereotypical standards of femininity" and the physical education's focus on the "motor elite" rather than developing skill has led to young women participating less and less in physical activity outside of organized sports. Maybe that has something to do with the popularity of frail-thin celebrities over "mannish-looking" toned women that these girls look up to? [Eureka Alert]
clips
Tyra Talks To Teens Who Have Sex At School
Today on Tyra, teenagers as young as 13 discussed how they have sex on school grounds, sometimes even giving BJs in the classroom while the substitute teacher is sleeping. As one can imagine, Tyra was appalled and gave some of the kids a stern talking-to, but perhaps more disturbingly, she also went into unnecessary detail with some of the parents on hand, pointing out repeatedly that their kids are sexual beings. It was definitely a big cringe-fest for everyone. Then Tyra asked a teenage lesbian to discuss the specifics of her trysts in the back of the classroom during movie days. The kid did such a good job, it sounded like she was reading a Penthouse Forum letter out loud. Clip above.
clips
Teens Today Think Coats Are Tres Uncool
We're always curious as to what's hot and what's not among American adolescents, and this morning, we learned something shocking: Midwestern teens don't much like coats! In a Today Show segment titled "Leonard's Look", Mike Leonard took to the streets of suburban Chicago (high temperature yesterday: 27 degrees) and found a flurry of kids walking around in the cold without benefit of coat or jacket. It was both amusing and inexplicable (says one kid: "I think [coats] are losin' it a little bit".) Clip above.
kids today
Teens: Virginity Is Really Overrated
A new study says that teens who abstain from sex report positive benefits... at first. According to Science Daily, Scientists at UC San Francisco monitored 600 high school students from the fall of ninth grade to the spring of tenth grade. Among teens who remained sexually inexperienced during the study, the percentage reporting only positive experiences from refraining from sex fell from 46 percent to 24 percent. In other words: The longer you stay a virgin, the more being a virgin sucks? Breakthrough! But wait: Some of the kids became "sexually experienced" during the study. At the beginning of the ninth grade, 40% of them said not having sex resulted only in positive experiences. By the end of tenth grade, only 6% said that. So the benefits of not having sex decline with age. Then again, the students who'd been around the block, so to speak, actually valued refraining from sex: More »
weighty matters
Social Standing, Familial Relationshps Affect Weight Of Teenage Girls
Two new studies have just been released which shed light on some social and cultural causes for teen eating patterns. The first shows that teenage girls who thought of themselves as unpopular gained more weight over two years than teens who considered themselves well-liked. According to the Associated Press, "Those who rated themselves low in popularity were 69 percent more likely than other girls to increase their body mass index by two units, the equivalent of gaining about 11 excess pounds." Girls who considered themselves in the upper echelon socially only gained 6.5 pounds. Clea McNeely of the Johns Hopkins school of public health tells the AP, "[This study] has broader implications beyond weight gain...subjective social status is not just an uncomfortable experience you grow out of, but can have important health consequences." Tina Fey noted this unfortunate phenomenon when she wrote in Mean Girls, quote : "I don't hate you 'cause you're fat, you're fat because I hate you." More »
clips
Is Your Kid Having S-E-X? Dr. Ruth Has Some Telltale Signs
Dr. Ruth Peters, not to be confused with Dr. Ruth, went on the Today show this morning to give parents of teens a little "reality check" in the ways of teen sexing. The new rule, she explains in this clip, is that teens these days six to eight weeks before doing it, so you have to monitor the fluctuations in their MySpace Top Friends carefully to figure out whether that's going on. Condom wrappers in the underwear drawer are the smoking gun — "sometimes this is actually happening in your house," she explains — but if you have a "little lawyer" who knows how to be "sneaky" you must amass a lot of "evidence." And if he or she refuses to stop doing it and you have a "Romeo Juliet situation"? You remove the kid from that school. Um, lady, did you ever read till the end of Romeo & Juliet? It's required reading for most kids in the virginity-losing demo, and it ain't pretty...
teens
Teen Vogue Readers On Getting h0rny: "I Just Think Of That Episode Of Sex & The City..."
Teen Vogue message board readers may not be big fans of food for consumption purposes, but that doesn't mean they have no use for the stuff, according to a recent thread we'll have you guess the topic of:i do it all the time it just feels so good and ou cant get and sexualy transmitted diseases by doing so just have fun this is TMI but i used a zucchine once o wow it was so goodMore tips from the fingers of Teen Vogue readers (Ex: "just dont go around doing it in public like a crazy homeless new yorker! lol") after the jump.
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