After hearing Lynn Ponton on the radio and subsequently writing this, I read her book and wrote a brief comment about it (originally on June 14, 2005):
I recently finished reading The Sex Lives of Teenagers by Lynn Ponton. This interview is probably the best introduction to the book.
As parent of soon-to-be teens, I found the book useful to some extent. It is a series of case-studies - the kind of chatty book so often written by psychologists - a format that makes it easy to read, but leaves one deeply unsatisfied.
My interest is in sexuality of American society and how it affects politics. This book is not it - it rarely, and very obliquely touches on the broader culture. After being impressed with Dr.Ponton when I heard her talk on the radio, I was expecting and hoping for an academic read, full of statistics, and focusing on the Big Picture. I hope she writes one. Soon.
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sex and politics eh? I suppose if I just start in reading somewhere, enough links have been provided to find out if you have found any patterns, any direction in which influence flows between these two great obsessions.
Shokai has a series of posts in which he disconnects the presummed [by conservatives] one-way causal influence of rock-n-roll [and rap] on teenage sexuality. You might find it interesting.
http://shokai.blogspot.com/2006/08/here-we-go-again.html
http://shokai.blogspot.com/2006/08/reuters-is-reporting-that-report.html
http://shokai.blogspot.com/2006/08/teen-lust.html