ACADEMIA—Oh, to be young, sexually curious and under the watchful eye of nosy researchers determined to label your sexuality. If you are a teen these days, the odds are great that you are a part of some study being conducted by some academic from some university you may never have heard of. At any point in time, at any place, you might be asked to answer an array of probing questions that delve into the minutiae of your private life: while online, visiting a health clinic, as part of a school research program or maybe even while taking a bus or subway to class. The researchers are everywhere, ready at a moment’s notice to get to the bottom of you as a sexual being.
After all, you are who you fuck, or so one might be tempted to believe as one survey, study, analysis and research after another presumes to get to the bottom of teen sexuality. At the root of this almost alarming resurgence of interest is, of course, the internet, and right behind that porn, but behind all of it can also be sensed a lingering paternalism that seeks to control these young adults.
Just this week we saw two wildly different headlines the result of two different surveys. From the New York Daily News: “Teen girls who engage in group sex are often coerced, study says,” and courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com, “Teen Girls Having More Same-Sex Contact, Fewer Pregnancies: U.S. National Survey of Family Growth.”
So which is it? Both? All of the above? Each to their own?
Of course, this is just a tiny sampling of the studies that have been done and will continue to be done on the subject of teen sex. In reality, what we are seeing is the therapy industry hard at work, seeking grants to study why you do what you do. At some point down the line, another researcher will take all of the relevant studies and research and do his or her own study based on the other studies. And then someone will use the results from that overview to argue for money to do more necessary studies.
Then a generation will grow up and the whole shebang will start over again. Maybe someone should look into doing a study on the studies.
Photo: A black hole
