New Study: Abstinence Programs Have Weak Effect
8/9/2008

New research released by the University of Washington asserts that parents and teens are not communicating effectively to each other. Shocking, I know. The study says that parents and teens define abstinence differently. The parents treat "abstinence and sexual activity as opposites," while the teenagers do not consider them opposites.

Communication is critical, and it's your job as a parent to clear things up. Talk to your teen. If you are trying to encourage abstinence in your family, make sure to clearly define it. Don't just assume that your teen's version of abstinence is the same as yours. They are immersed in a culture that is telling them, louder and more often than you, that sex is intercourse and everything else is fair game. They are constantly bombarded with the message that a person can be sexually abstinent and at the same time engage in everything save sexual intercourse.

The author of the article at Science Daily goes a bit off topic and blasts our "Abstinence-Only" government funded programs. Please don't be distracted from the important findings of the study: that we need to communicate better with our teens. And better communication starts with us as parents.

FULL ARTICLE:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806152436.htm

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The Sexualized Childhood
8/6/2008

MSN.com has an article discussing a new book titled So Sexy So Soon.

There is a lot going on in children’s lives around issues of sexuality and sexiness that is important for the caring adults in their lives to recognize. The following stories from parents and teachers make it very clear that if we are to understand and deal with the sexualization of childhood, we must begin our efforts with very young children.

They also have a poll you can participate in.

At what age should you talk to your kids about sex?

ARTICLE:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26037851?GT1=43001

POLL:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26044418/

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U.S. ISPs Announce Anti-Child-Porn Agreement
7/18/2008

A large group of internet providers (aka ISPs), such as cable companies, have collaborated with state 45 attornys general to make efforts towards stifling distribution of child pornography.

Specifically, the cable companies have agreed to use NCMEC's list of active websites identified as containing child pornography, to ensure that no such site is hosted on servers owned or controlled by those companies. The companies will also report these instances to NCMEC's CyberTipline and where appropriate revise their policies around other potential sources of child pornography, such as, for example, newsgroups.

What this means is that an organization has been formed to keep a master list of websites to block, and all ISPs have agreed to block access for any site on the list, for all of their customers.

This is controversial in "freedom of speech" circles, because it is, at its core, censorship. Not government-to-citizen censorship, but corporation-to-consumer censorship.

Here are the companies that have chosen to follow the agreement.

The cable operators that have agreed to execute the MOU within 30 days include: Comcast Corporation; Cox Communications; Charter Communications; Cablevision Systems Corporation; Bright House Networks; Suddenlink Communications; Mediacom Communications; Insight Communications; Bresnan Communications; Midcontinent Communications; Broadstripe; GCI; Harron Communications; US Cable Corporation; BendBroadband; Eagle Communications; and Sjoberg’s, Inc. Time Warner Cable has already signed the MOU.

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.slyck.com/story1715_ISPs_Nationwide_Unite_in_Attack_against_Exploitation

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