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She has friends who are on the pill or the ring, and most of them "double up" with a condom. "I think the reason that we're better at protecting than past generations really has to do with fact that we're more educated."
Unlike Sharanya, Karen Choucrallah says that most of the people she knows have no clue what they are doing, like a friend who recently lost her virginity and spent 20 minutes fumbling with a condom. Karen is 16-year-old junior at a Catholic high school in New Jersey and a Sex Etc. editor. At her school, a quarter semester of anatomy (mixed in with drug prevention education) during freshman year qualifies as sex education. If students have questions about sex, she says, they don't ask.
When Karen heard the term "fingering" for the first time, she had no idea what it meant and wasn't about to face ridicule by asking. So she looked it up online at UrbanDictionary.com. She says it's better than going to friends who get their information from MTV. Sometimes Karen goes to her mom, who is very open, with questions about sex. But she says that because her Lebanese family is socially conservative, Karen, who is first generation, ends up educating her mom about a lot--like what a blow job is.
Teens continue to say that parents--much more than friends, sex educators, or the media--most influence their decisions about sex. However, parents of teens continue to underestimate their influence on their child's choices regarding sex, according to "With One Voice" survey.
"Teens can't make educated decisions if they aren't educated," Karen says. "They need sources they can turn to. My generation is growing up really quickly. Sex is out there and you can't be sheltered from it."
Jennifer Liss is a contributing writer for WireTap and a freelance writer living in San Francisco.
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