Bright Teen Sex
Parents need to know that All the Bright Places is the young-adult debut of the author of the Velva Jean series, and suicide is the central theme. The message is ultimately hopeful, but the path to finding hope is heartbreaking, and readers should keep a hankie close by. High school seniors wrestle with complex issues, mostly stemming from protagonist Finch's constant thinking about suicide, including the death of a loved one; mental illness; committing suicide and losing someone to it; abuse; and adult attitudes toward drinking, sex, and smoking. Lots of strong language includes frequent use of "a--hole" and "s--t," and a wide variety of other strong language is used once or twice each. Older teens and young adults smoke. Kissing is mentioned a dozen times or so, and making out with hands under shirts is briefly described once or twice. Seventeen-year-olds have sex a couple of times, but it's not described. Some details about different methods of suicide are explored, mostly by weighing the pros and cons of each. The author's note provides helpful websites about suicide, mental illness, bullying, and more.
bright teen sex
Violet and Finch meet six stories up, on the ledge of their school's bell tower. They couldn't be more different: She's popular, with a bright future at a top college; he's an outsider labeled a "freak." When they partner up on a geography project to explore their home state of Indiana, they begin to learn what drove each of them up and out onto that ledge and soon fall in love. Finch starts to bring Violet out of the grief she's been wrapped in for the past year, and with Violet Finch can truly be himself. Can Finch and Violet help each other to stay in this "messed-up world"?
ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES is a heartbreakingly vivid story that ultimately conveys hope while remaining true to the characters. Author Jennifer Niven's believable, relatable voices alternate between high school seniors Finch and Violet, but it's Finch's voice that really drives the novel. Engrossing and compelling, like watching a train wreck, Finch's authenticity and vulnerability keep the pages turning and the reader rooting for him to make his way through this world. Violet's voice is equally realistic and believable, and teens will really relate to her struggles to emerge from grief even if they haven't experienced grief themselves.
There are varying degrees of health risk associated with these behaviors, including pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Additional concerns include teens who may be struggling with sexual orientation, sexual abuse, or rape.
Sexual abuse is the term used to describe the involvement of children or teens in incestuous sexual activities and in sexual activities with others who are responsible for their care. It is a type of child abuse. Sexual abuse can occur as a single event or as multiple encounters. It encompasses a range of behaviors that may begin as touching or fondling and may progress to oral, vaginal, or anal penetration. Physical force may or may not be used.
In one study, 8 percent of all women and 16 percent of women whose first episode of sexual intercourse occurred at age 15 or younger reported that their first sexual encounter was not voluntary (Abma et al., 1997). Retrospective studies indicate that the most likely age for children and teens to experience sexual abuse is between 7 and 13 years (Bachmann et al., 1988).
The provider may encounter teens who have been recently assaulted, who disclose a history of sexual assault days to years after the assault occurred, or who have been victims of long-term sexually abusive relationships. The provider can help teens and their families recover from the harmful psychological effects of these traumas through identification of the problem, assessment of medical and mental health consequences of the trauma, provision of appropriate treatment and referral, and reporting of the abuse or assault to the appropriate authorities. Each state specifies statutory requirements for health professionals to report sexual assault and child abuse.
The provider should be aware of the broad range of consequences of sexual abuse and sexual assault, both physical (e.g., pregnancy, STDs) and psychological (e.g., psychosomatic complaints, depressive symptoms, acting-out behaviors, acute stress disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, dissociative disorders). Questions of abuse may be raised in situations in which there is a great disparity in the ages of partners in a dating and/or sexual relationship. The health care management of sexually abused or sexually assaulted teens should be based on the following guidelines (Parrish et al., 2000):
According to a report from the Institute of Medicine, teens are disproportionately affected by STDs. Approximately 3 million adolescents acquire an STD each year, and many have long-term health problems as a result (Eng and Butler, 1997). However, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, about 42 percent of sexually active teens reported not using a condom during their last sexual intercourse (Kann et al., 2000), thereby placing them at risk for STDs. Many STDs are asymptomatic. Both males and females who are sexually active should be screened for STDs using both physical examination and appropriate laboratory tests.
Teenagers are having less sex these days, and teen pregnancy is down. This all sounds pretty good, right? Susie begs to differ and looks at the real reasons behind the statistics. Seems that this generation of American boys might be nervous and fearful of all the consequences associated with having sex, but they are also more emotionally and romantically involved with girlfriends. A recent article by Amy T. Schalet in The New York Times got Susie thinking about what's changed for boys. What role has religion, abstinence-based sex education, and Internet pornography played in boys wanting love, not just sex?
Have a question? You can call Susie's hotline at 831-480-5110. And you can send your confidential questions - plus requests for free samples and blog banners! - to susie@susiebright.com. [Episode 520, April 27, 2012]
The purpose of the program was to develop sense of awareness among the teens regarding repercussions of having early and unprotected sex. Through this program, educators are trying to teach kids about threat of AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies. With the help of parents, the educators are fighting to turn back the tide of early sexual behavior and convince young people that it can be harmful to their physical as well as emotional health.
ENBL has been successfully applied in schools throughout the United States of America. This program calls for a combined effort by parents, school administration, churches, communities and law enforcing authorities to educate teenagers to them resist peer pressure to engage in sex at an early age. The program teaches kids to fight against peer pressure and exercise their right and will to choose whether to have sex or not.
Moreover, teen sex and pregnancy has become a national health issue in the USA that needs to be curtailed. Doctors at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta view early teen sex as such a health risk for adolescents that they have cited reduction of teen sexual activity as a national health objective.
Susie delves into a thorny issue for parents. "My teenager is having sex.... No way, not my baby!" Many American moms and dads wish their high-schoolers had no interest in sex - and therefore the kids are sleeping together, but not at the family home. Two recent articles from Slate and The New York Times looked at allowing teens to have sex at home, and Susie discusses the pros of letting kids sleep together.
Not only does she represent the teenage voice with precision, but she also makes the story very believable and contemporary by making references to current and existing TV shows, movies, places and people like Facebook, The Vampire Diaries and Emma Watson.
BANNED AND CHALLENGED FOR: rape, incest, teen pregnancyFor many readers, The Bluest Eye is their introduction to Toni Morrison. It tells the powerful and harrowing story of Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl desperate for the blonde hair and blue eyes she believes will make others accept her.
CHALLENGED FOR: sexual content, mental illness, teen suicideFinch and Violet meet at a pivotal moment in their lives, and what unfolds is a meaningful romance between two young people struggling openly and honestly with grief and depression. Billed for fans of The Fault in Our Stars (another banned title).
CHALLENGED FOR: abuse, sexThis award-winning historical YA novel takes place in East Texas, 1937. A young Mexican American girl falls in love with a Black boy in a segregated town. Their relationship gets challenged from every side, and the teens face discrimination, racism, and heartache in their fight for love.
CHALLENGED FOR: LGBTQIA+ content, sexual contentThis book goes behind the scenes and gives readers a peek into the lives of six transgender and gender-neutral teenagers. Photos, stories, hope, and heartache come together on the page, offering a realistic view of the triumphs and tragedies of these real-life teens. 041b061a72