ANY Saturday night, teenagers are doing it in the dark places — parks, garages, backyards, beaches, schools, the backs of cars. Partying, drinking, drugs and sex, even in trees, according to 17-year-old Tania*, who lost her virginity at 13.
She knows of a girl, 15, and her 14-year-old male lover who had sex in a tree in a park because lying on the grass made them itchy. "My advice to everyone is they should not walk through a park on a Saturday night or a teenager might fall on their head," says Tania.
The Matthew Johns scandal, involving Cronulla rugby league players and a woman, 19, in Christchurch, New Zealand, seven years ago, has lifted the lid on moral outrage and raised deep questions about consent, power, vulnerability and responsibility. The footballers are required to atone and the woman's behaviour in apparently giving at least limited consent remains a sad puzzle to many.
Shocked as older Australians may be at those sordid details, however, events under their noses are more likely to shake them. Many teenagers and young adults have turned the free-sex mantra of the 1970s into a lifestyle, and older generations simply don't have a clue.
Group sex may still be fringe, but a fair proportion of sexually active teenagers and young adults interviewed last week have been involved in threesomes, or know of friends who have.
Oral sex is no longer the exotic addition to the normal repertoire of their parents' generation. For the young who do sex, oral is the norm. For them, it's the equivalent of their parents snogging during courtship. They get pornography, advice and pick-ups over the internet and alcopops, which appeal to younger women drinkers, evaporate inhibitions.
"I've had threesomes and foursomes," says Lisa, 19. "It's usually at a party and everyone's had a bit to drink. It started with girls kissing girls because that's a hot thing. After that you're just kissing everyone and it goes on from there."
'Generation sex' as norms shift | theage.com.au <----The rest of the story
She knows of a girl, 15, and her 14-year-old male lover who had sex in a tree in a park because lying on the grass made them itchy. "My advice to everyone is they should not walk through a park on a Saturday night or a teenager might fall on their head," says Tania.
The Matthew Johns scandal, involving Cronulla rugby league players and a woman, 19, in Christchurch, New Zealand, seven years ago, has lifted the lid on moral outrage and raised deep questions about consent, power, vulnerability and responsibility. The footballers are required to atone and the woman's behaviour in apparently giving at least limited consent remains a sad puzzle to many.
Shocked as older Australians may be at those sordid details, however, events under their noses are more likely to shake them. Many teenagers and young adults have turned the free-sex mantra of the 1970s into a lifestyle, and older generations simply don't have a clue.
Group sex may still be fringe, but a fair proportion of sexually active teenagers and young adults interviewed last week have been involved in threesomes, or know of friends who have.
Oral sex is no longer the exotic addition to the normal repertoire of their parents' generation. For the young who do sex, oral is the norm. For them, it's the equivalent of their parents snogging during courtship. They get pornography, advice and pick-ups over the internet and alcopops, which appeal to younger women drinkers, evaporate inhibitions.
"I've had threesomes and foursomes," says Lisa, 19. "It's usually at a party and everyone's had a bit to drink. It started with girls kissing girls because that's a hot thing. After that you're just kissing everyone and it goes on from there."
'Generation sex' as norms shift | theage.com.au <----The rest of the story
