Sex Sex Sex

A number of sex-related claims crossed my news radar this weekend...

• Kylie's bum is no longer to be used as a marketing tool.


• The post-feminist generation of teenage girls put out incredibly mixed messages in the way they act and behave. This is causing a crisis amongst teenage boys, who are even turning to steroids to pump up their look because they just can't handle the pressure, the poor guys.


• Online etiquette is in many ways very old-fashioned, and the rise of online relationships (over the next five years, 50% of singletons are expected to meet their partner online) is leading to a return to old-fashioned courtship.


• The current age of consent is out of step with current teenage lifestyles. It should be lowered to 12, and far more explicit sex education should be provided. The government, on the other hand, is going to make the situation worse by making all forms of sexual contact, from kissing on up, illegal for under-16s.

...All of which, I think you'll agree, adds up to a pretty schizophrenic picture. The news about Kylie's bum is, of course, the most startling of all; frankly, I thought we'd never see the back of it it would be with us until judgement day. And the claim made for online relationships is, hearteningly, accurate (although they don't mention how much easier it is to make that one ill-judged comment that kills the mood dead).

The other two claims come from a world I don't recognise. I don't think the one about the poor teenage boys is accurate (although I'm sure there are a few grains of truth in it), since, y'know, we can think for ourselves; but even if it's all true, the article as written strikes me as contributing to the problem, rather than helping in any way. And as for the teenage sex thing - well, when I was 12 I was more into Dragonlance, Games Workshop, the local young ten-pin bowling club and, occasionally, a trip to the cinema with my friends. For most of my teenage years, going out on Saturday night was a foreign idea, as evidenced by my detailed knowledge of Casualty plots and characters c.1993-1997. I didn't have anything so advanced as a girlfriend until university (hell, or even a first kiss; there were 40 girls in my sixth form of 200 or so, and the gawky nerd with the Asimov books didn't rank very high up the eligibility scale).

But you know, I don't feel the least bit bitter about it. Well, maybe slightly bitter that I've never had the stereotypically torrid teenage romance, but in general, I'm ok with it. In fact, I liked having the age of consent there - it gave me an excuse, on the rare occasion that I needed one, for not having made any inroads into that field. Which is not to say I support the idea of making teenage experimentation illegal; it wasn't for me, then, but to outlaw it is clearly ludicrous. Similarly, more comprehensive sex education would be unambiguously A Good Thing. I just get slightly concerned on behalf of all the kids like me that society could move, from a position that is arguably too restrictive, a little too far in the opposite direction.

Backsun

So, I'm off on holiday until next tuesday. I have the following things planned:

- A once-in-a-blue-moon trip to the RSFG meeting (now);
- A trip to Panic (tomorrow, and I'll deliver West Wing to tinyjo whilst I'm in town);
- An evening watching new 24 (thursday);
- A jaunt to Birmingham to see immortalradical, danmilburn, wg and Emmylou Harris (assuming my train and gig tickets arrive on time);
- An excursion to London for the not-housewarming of greengolux.

Somehow, I'd been operating under the impression that I was going to have a quiet week off work. Guess not.

My net time will, however, be reduced or absent. Play nicely without me, everyone. :-)