chapter 1

Sex, etc. is a magazine “by teens, for teens” published by the Answer/Rutgers University Foundation in Piscataway, N.J., which, with generous support from well-known foundations, has been distributed to high school students all over the country. On the title page, it is stated that the magazine has an advisory board of “health experts, including teachers, doctors and social workers, to ensure medically accurate, balanced and honest information about sexual health.”

The idea of a magazine for teens by teens about sex, love and relationships strikes us as innovative and smart. The magazine has colorful graphics. The photos of students in the editorial staff show a diverse cross section of guys and girls of different races. They look like bright and conscientious students.

In the Letters section of the Winter 2007 edition, a teen single mother from Philadelphia named Tiffany writes “I also like that Sex, etc. tells you to protect yourself when you have sex. Safe sex is the best! Now, I always protect myself. People always talk about how to prevent having kids, but they don’t talk about how to prevent STDs. I will continue to do whatever it takes to have safe sex.”

Tiffany’s intentions are admirable. She wants to be “responsible” and has been led to believe that using condoms would make her responsible and keep her safe. Tiffany is also not informed that she is “more likely to get HPV if [she has]: sex at an early age, many sex partners, or a sex partner who has had many partners.”

Federal and state health officials survey high school students about sex every two years. They've found that black youth do in fact report more active sex lives than their peers -- they're more likely to have ever had sex, to start by age 13, and to have multiple sex partners in their lifetime. Despite their “responsible” efforts to use condoms, nearly 50% of black teenage girls are infected with one or more STDs. Clearly the reluctance of publications like Sex, etc. to talk about the issue of limiting the number of one’s sexual partners or delaying sexual involvement has hurt teens like Tiffany.