Going downt the tubes.

[Golden_Cross]

I just graduated two years ago... and while I was in school everything was fine. The kids that went there had morals.

Recently there has been a trend in schools around my area where girls are taking pictures of themselves naked and texting them to the boys. These kids are not high schoolers either.. most of these girls are 12-14 yrs old.

IT amazes me how I've only been out since 2006 and my old school is going down the tube quickly. Not only that.... I find that people that are my age, even some of my CHRISTIAN friends are doing things that are shocking.. My one friend hops from one guy to the next and lets them take advantage of her. Her answer for it is that everyone else is doing it.... My response can only be not me.

This world is going down the tubes quickly. I feel like I'm a 40 year old in a 21 year old's body. I see these teenagers out there and my peers doing things that I wouldn't even know of at there age or even my own. Everyone better get right with God because it's gonna happen soon.

 

[Chajara]

I graduated a year before you and I distinctly remember in high school seeing a girl at lunch wearing a shirt proudly proclaiming "I ride bareback" in big bold letters, with a cowboy on a horse underneath. I don't know if you know what else "riding bareback" can mean, but it has less to do with riding horses and more to do with unprotected sex.

I remember thinking that she might as well be wearing a shirt saying "I have herpes", and wondering how her parents let her get away with it. Trust me, it's not just you, and it's not going to get any better, and you know what else? It's not just young people. I work in a grocery store, and the sheer number of adults who are 2 or 3 times my age who lie, steal, treat the employees like crap, and bully the managers into getting their way is an absolute travesty. Every time some random baby-boomer tells me "Young people today are just so rude!" I want to slap them, and then make them work retail so they can see how people their age are outdoing the young'uns by far.

Maybe I'm just jaded because I'm stuck in a retail rut and have to put up with this sort of thing every single day with no end in sight. :/

 

[OphidiaPhile]

I went to High School in the 80s and those things were all common then, maybe you just did not notice them when you were in High School.

 

[TeddyKGB]

The hidden assumed equivalency in all this is that naked cellphone pictures = more actual sex. When I was in school we didn't have instant-image technology, but that doesn't mean we weren't showing off. Until such time as someone determines that pixelated boobies are fueling an increase in teenage boinking, I would ask those screaming mimis among you to stop mongering fear.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

I think you either went to a very unusual school at an unusual time or, more likely, you just didn't notice what was going on under your nose at the time. I finished secondary school about 18 months ago, and there was just as much behaviour you would call 'immoral' then as there is now. Even if they weren't talking about it to you, I can assure you many if not most of the kids there were having sex, not to mention drinking, smoking, taking drugs, committing various crimes, skipping classes and disobeying their parents.

We all have different perspectives on what 'most people' are doing depending on the circles we move in. I could count on one hand the number of over-15s I know who don't drink or the number of students who haven't smoked weed or had sex, but I realise they're out there somewhere. I just don't spend much time with them...I mean, what on earth do we have in common to talk about? Last year I read in the student paper that 1/3 of undergraduates at my university had taken class A drugs. Depending on your group of friends, you might be surprised it was that high...I was surprised it was that low.

I work in a grocery store, and the sheer number of adults who are 2 or 3 times my age who lie, steal, treat the employees like crap, and bully the managers into getting their way is an absolute travesty. Every time some random baby-boomer tells me "Young people today are just so rude!" I want to slap them, and then make them work retail so they can see how people their age are outdoing the young'uns by far.

Stealing and treating fellow human beings badly aren't in any way equivalent to having freedom over what you consent to do with your own body and not being ashamed of it. I'll agree with you that the former is wrong and has been around forever, but I don't see what's so bad about the latter.

 

[Polycarp_fan]

The hidden assumed equivalency in all this is that naked cellphone pictures = more actual sex. When I was in school we didn't have instant-image technology, but that doesn't mean we weren't showing off. Until such time as someone determines that pixelated boobies are fueling an increase in teenage boinking, I would ask those screaming mimis among you to stop mongering fear.

It's way past time for mongering fear: http://www.webmd.com/sex/news/20080311/1-in-4-teen-girls-infected-with-an-std

1 in 4 Teen Girls Infected With an STD

Researchers’ ‘Alarming’ Find: 25% of Teen Girls, Half of African-American Teen Girls Have a Sexually Transmitted Disease
By Todd Zwillich
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD



March 11, 2008 -- One in four teenage girls in the United States is infected with a sexually transmitted disease, according to data released Tuesday by the CDC.
The figures, based on research conducted in 2003 and 2004, show that nearly one in five girls between 14 and 19 years old is infected with human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause of cervical cancer and genital warts. About one in 25 girls carries chlamydia, a sexually transmitted bacterium.
"What we found is alarming," says Sara Forhan, MD, a CDC researcher who conducted the study among 838 girls nationwide.
"These numbers translate into 3.2 million young women aged 14 to 19 who are infected with an STD," Forhan says.
The study also showed that nearly half of adolescent African-American girls are infected with an STD. Researchers say poorer access to testing for sexually transmitted diseases contributed to the increased STD incidence in that group.
"This does not mean that African-Americans are taking greater risks individually," says John Douglas Jr., MD, director of the CDC's division of STD prevention.
Screening Falling Short

The CDC recommends regular chlamydia screening at least yearly for all sexually active women and for females 25 years old and younger. All pregnant women should also be screened because the infection can pass to the baby during delivery. But only about one-third of females get proper screening, Douglas says.
Experts recommend regular screening primarily because most women with chlamydia infections don't have noticeable symptoms. That means women can carry the infectious for years without knowing they have it, putting them at risk for pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.
The CDC also recommends HPV vaccination for all women and girls between 11 and 26. The vaccine comes in three doses and covers four strains of the virus.
Still, Douglas says STD testing is rife with "missed opportunities." Another study unveiled by the CDC showed that only 40% of female patients who go to a doctor for emergency contraception, such as the "morning after pill," also receive advice and testing for STDs.
Both studies were presented at the National STD Prevention Conference in Chicago.
"An emergency contraception prescription is a missed opportunity because by definition that was unprotected sex," Elizabeth Alderman, MD, director of adolescent medicine at Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York, tells WebMD.
Alderman says many clinics don't have easier-to-use urine-based testing for chlamydia.
Douglas says abstinence is "the surest way to prevent getting an STD." The agency also pushes monogamous sexual relationships and the consistent use of condoms, he says.
Alderman says the majority of sexually active teens in her practice use condoms. If you ask, "some of the time, all the time, or most of the time,' you'll usually get a "most of the time," she says.

 

[katautumn]

I graduated almost ten years ago. I think the reason we didn't have nude picture texting was because we didn't have cell phones. At least not cell phones like kids have today. We didn't have the type of internet access then either. Kids were still having sex, though.

 

[Polycarp_fan]

I graduated almost ten years ago. I think the reason we didn't have nude picture texting was because we didn't have cell phones. At least not cell phones like kids have today. We didn't have the type of internet access then either. Kids were still having sex, though.

Influence of the Humanist Manifesto.

 

[TeddyKGB]

It's way past time for mongering fear: http://www.webmd.com/sex/news/20080311/1-in-4-teen-girls-infected-with-an-std

That's a misleading article. Not all HPVs are sexually-transmitted. And you have fallen woefully short of my request to tie this data to cell-phone photos.

It's good that you're concerned, though. Perhaps you can inspire your fellow Christians to find a better way to spread your message. After all, abstinence-only curriculum hasn't worked out, and you can't legislate your faith.

 

[TeddyKGB]

Influence of the Humanist Manifesto.

What's funny is that I couldn't recite two sentences from the Humanist Manifesto. Oh, but I'm sure they read selected passages during 4th grade faculty meetings.

Actually, you'll probably tell us that it pervades American society much more insidiously, being a philosophical tool of the Democratic Party. And you'll cite Hugo Black's dictum in Watkins as evidence of something-or-other. Courts have consistently denied accusations that governance is informed by humanism, but that's only because they're in on it too.

How's my crystal ball working?

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

Influence of the Humanist Manifesto.

Yeah right. I'm a Humanist and I can't even recall any of the specific clauses of either of the two Humanist Manifestos.

In fact, I've just had to check wikipedia, and apparently there are three Manifestos, plus the Amsterdam Declaration.

Go to a school and see how many 16 yr olds have even heard of the Manifesto, or Humanism for that matter. Then compare that with how many can recite the Our Father precisely or give you a biblical timeline of Jesus' life and death.

 

[SallyNow]

I graduated almost ten years ago. I think the reason we didn't have nude picture texting was because we didn't have cell phones. At least not cell phones like kids have today. We didn't have the type of internet access then either. Kids were still having sex, though.

Yup, when I was in school, those who had cell phones didn't have cell phones capable of taking photos or texting or any other sort of thing like that.

But there were still sexual goings-on in schools. Yes, it wasn't as public, but it still went on.

I doubt today's kids are more immoral, but they are less protected: a girl taking a naked picture of herself at 15 in my day would be seen by those who saw the actual picture, unless someone was rich enough to have a decent scanner, in which case it might be emailed around. Might. Today, kids have more access to technology.

That increased access to technology allows for small teenage mistap, such as taking nude photos, to be published around the world in seconds.

Technology has increased the methods of bullying, too. Before, rumours had to be spread by word-of-mouth or phone. It took actual effort to spread them. Emails made rumours faster in the 1990's because one only had to type them out, or even easier, just fwd them. IMing, around 2000, increased the ability to spread rumours and pictures. Now bullies can click a video of a victim in the washroom and have it sent to everyone in the school in minutes.

 

[Washington]

My one friend hops from one guy to the next and lets them take advantage of her.

Err . . . are you certain it isn' mutual, or possibly that it's she who is taking advantage? Most such situations are pretty mutual.

 

[flicka]

I just graduated two years ago... and while I was in school everything was fine. The kids that went there had morals.

Recently there has been a trend in schools around my area where girls are taking pictures of themselves naked and texting them to the boys. These kids are not high schoolers either.. most of these girls are 12-14 yrs old.

IT amazes me how I've only been out since 2006 and my old school is going down the tube quickly. Not only that.... I find that people that are my age, even some of my CHRISTIAN friends are doing things that are shocking.. My one friend hops from one guy to the next and lets them take advantage of her. Her answer for it is that everyone else is doing it.... My response can only be not me.

This world is going down the tubes quickly. I feel like I'm a 40 year old in a 21 year old's body. I see these teenagers out there and my peers doing things that I wouldn't even know of at there age or even my own. Everyone better get right with God because it's gonna happen soon.

You would never have survived the '70's.

 

[Bobfr]

Err . . . are you certain it isn' mutual, or possibly that it's she who is taking advantage? Most such situations are pretty mutual.

I think they don't know what they are doing. With the influence of pornography, it seems that more and more male teenagers considers their female counterparts as sexual objects, that you can lend or give to a friend.
Moreover, it seems that the only way for a girl to be "cool" now, is to take nude picture of herself.
Pretty disgusting.

 

[TheBear]

I went to High School in the 80s and those things were all common then, maybe you just did not notice them when you were in High School.

The hidden assumed equivalency in all this is that naked cellphone pictures = more actual sex. When I was in school we didn't have instant-image technology, but that doesn't mean we weren't showing off. Until such time as someone determines that pixelated boobies are fueling an increase in teenage boinking, I would ask those screaming mimis among you to stop mongering fear.

I graduated almost ten years ago. I think the reason we didn't have nude picture texting was because we didn't have cell phones. At least not cell phones like kids have today. We didn't have the type of internet access then either. Kids were still having sex, though.

I concur with you all.

I graduated high school almost 35 years ago, and sex was on the forefront of the minds of most of us. The only thing new here, is the technology. Nothing more.

 

[TeddyKGB]

I think they don't know what they are doing. With the influence of pornography, it seems that more and more male teenagers considers their female counterparts as sexual objects, that you can lend or give to a friend.

More compared to when? When was this fleeting age of male enlightenment during which women were universally appreciated for their philosophizing or joke-telling?

I have to say, and I am not proud of this, I was something of a bastard to women 15 years ago. I didn't own any pornography; I barely had any exposure save for the requisite dad's stash and the wavy shower scene in Porky's on scrambled-HBO. And my preferences for the opposite sex have matured immeasurably even through the pronterweb years.

Moreover, it seems that the only way for a girl to be "cool" now, is to take nude picture of herself.
Pretty disgusting.

Disgusting? Really? Maybe we're concerned that sexuality is becoming more objectified, but "disgusting" is an awfully Puritanical assessment of boobie pics.

 

[cheese007]

http://www.anxietyculture.com/antisocial.htm
I think this sums up my opinion on this matter quite nicely.

 

[Chajara]

Stealing and treating fellow human beings badly aren't in any way equivalent to having freedom over what you consent to do with your own body and not being ashamed of it. I'll agree with you that the former is wrong and has been around forever, but I don't see what's so bad about the latter.

Well, regardless what you think about sex I think we can both agree that unprotected promiscuity can lead to disaster. I believe that humans are very sexual creatures and therefore it doesn't really surprise me that kids want to get it on young. We go through pubery young, don't we? I just wish people would use protection. I've heard so many guys insist on not using condoms beacuse "it's no fun". Well, neither is herpes, and neither is finding out that girl you hooked up with last week is pregnant. Lack of foresight is a problem, and raging hormones can certainly contribute to lack of foresight. I should know, my hormones were terrible when I was still a teenager and I'm lucky things didn't turn out much worse than they did.

 

[cantata]

To be fair, Chajara, if you have sex with someone who has herpes, you're pretty likely to get it whether you're using protection or not, so it's not the best example