So there's some discussion going around about the AP story on the newest government study to show that young people are having less sex.
The thing I noticed about the article, though, is it's yet another example of the all-too-common media pattern:
1. Social scientists discover a trend.
2. If the trend says anything about females, the reporter must leave readers with the impression that it says something good.
3. If the trend says anything about males, then it must say something bad about them.
This survey found that, compared to 2002, rates of sexual experience among young men and young women have fallen. So that's a good sign, right?
Well, it is if you're a high school girl. Learn from the AP's example:
"It's not even on my radar," said 17-year-old Abbey King of Hinsdale, Ill., a competitive swimmer who starts her day at 5 a.m. and falls into bed at 10:30 p.m. after swimming, school, weight lifting, running, more swimming, homework and a volunteer gig working with service dogs for the disabled....
She is on the junior board for Robert Crown Center for Health Education, a nonprofit organization that teaches sex ed to students in the Chicago area.
She sees sex, alcohol, smoking and drugs as distractions to her goal of getting a college scholarship in swimming, she said.
What a stellar example we have in Miss King, no kidding.
On the other hand, if you're a guy, the reason you aren't getting laid is, likely, because you're too busy playing video games:
[Washington, D. C. based sex educator Yvonne Fulbright] suggested that some young men aren't making time for relationships.
"Some guys, at the end of the day, they'd rather channel their energy into music, playing their guitar or playing computer games," Fulbright said. "That's immediate gratification. People forget it takes work to woo somebody and keep her happy."
Yes, that's it. Teen boys and young men aren't having sex as frequently because they prefer immediate gratification.
I wonder why they didn't give us a concrete example of a young man who exemplifies the trend, preferring to speculate about stereotypes. Pattern recognition, I mean.
I also found it interesting that the girl from Hinsdale is held up as your typical American girl who's just too busy to have sex. Hinsdale is an EXTREMELY rich suburb of Chicago...I am talking gigantic mansions and mini-castles. I'm just wondering how those statistics play out across economic lines.
Posted by: Barbara C. | 06 March 2011 at 04:57 PM