Teaching Consent to a 12-Year-Old Boy
The word “consent” has crept to the forefront of national conversation lately, thanks to the #MeToo movement and allegation after allegation after allegation of inappropriate behavior by famous (and not-so-famous) men. Even God, a.k.a, Morgan Freeman, has now been accused of sexual harassment. None of this was on my mind when I received an email […]
What Boys (& Parents) Need to Know About Sex & Consent
It’s not easy to talk about sex, consent & rape. It’s not easy to read, write or think about those topics either. And that’s the real reason why this post is coming a full 2 1/2 weeks after I announced Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, & Consent On Campus as BuildingBoys’ most recent book club […]
BuildingBoys Book Club: Blurred Lines
This month’s book might be an uncomfortable read. But if you have high school or college-aged sons, I recommend joining us anyway. Sex and consent are two topics we can’t shy away from, and they’re the central focus of journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis’ new book, Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, & Consent on Campus. The book is […]
How To Talk to Boys about Dating and Sexuality
It’s hard enough to talk body parts and their intricacies with a fellow adult; discussing them with a teenager who’d rather have his spleen removed by tiny gnawing rodents than hear you say “penis” is a feat like no other. — Heidi Stevens It is not easy to discuss sex and dating with teen boys. […]
Illustrated Guide to Rape Culture & the Importance of Sexual Consent
It can be very, very difficult to talk to our boys about rape culture and sexual consent. In many cases, they don’t want to hear it and we don’t want to talk about it. But it is ESSENTIAL to talk to our boys (& girls) about the importance of consent, and it ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that our […]
Boys Need the HPV Vaccine Too
I’ve had HPV. HPV caused precancerous changes on my cervix, changes which did not resolve spontaneously over time and ultimately required surgical removal. That procedure scarred my cervix, as removal of tissue always does, which led to a much longer and more uncomfortable birth when my 4th son was born, because the scarred portion of […]
Stop Sexual Abuse With These 6 Steps
1 in 6. 1 in 6 boys will be a victim of sexual abuse before the age of 18. The stat is scary — scary enough that most of us push it out of our minds. We push it out of our minds because it’s uncomfortable and scary and, I believe, because we know, on some […]
Talking to Boys about Sexually Aggressive Girls
I think I pressured a boy into having sex with me. I was 16 at the time. So was he. It was our first date — and my first date, ever — after weeks and months of talking in study hall and passing notes. We went to see a movie (Twins, with Arnold Schwarzenegger). He […]
Boys & Birth Control
Photo by robertelyov via Flickr 1 out of 5 sexually active teenage boys does not receive info regarding condom usage or birth control from their parents, doctors or teachers. That’s according to a report by the Center for Advancing Health. The report, which looked at sexually active teens between the ages of 13 and 19, […]
Best of the Blogs: Self-Care, Sex & Age Sixteen
Sure, I write a lot about boys. But as a mom of boys, I’m also aware of just how stressful parenting boys can be. And I’ve learned from personal experience that I have to take good care of myself if I want to take good care of my boys. After all, it’s pretty hard to […]