It’s a new month full of some new stuff…

1) Due to the fact that an overwhelming amount of people who write us are *physical virgins*, I am going to enclose a link to a story that I read about a girl who grew up a believer who actually regrets (yes regrets) waiting until marriage to have sex (you can read it here). I’m not sharing it because I advocate her resolve *at all* but because it’s one more reminder of why we must do a better job of sharing *the purpose of sex* rather than talking only about the consequences of fornication (I Corinthians 6:16-20-Message). Her story is just as tragic as mine (in a lot of ways) and that should not be.

2) Speaking of tragic, did you read about the 18-year-old Minnesota cheerleader who was also a part-time pimp? She would hook up a 16-year-old with sexual engagements for $60 a pop. If there is anything “good” that came from this it’s that it’s bringing more and more attention to sex trafficking. You don’t have to be overseas or a man to be a victimizer in these kinds of activities. (News.Yahoo)

3) I also found it to be interesting that there is a new internet porn study that claims we actually don’t know how porn affects a teen’s mind. I mean, really? Just on a basic level, we know that it over-stimulates them, that it poorly educates them on sex and that it iundates them with more information that a lot of us adults shouldn’t even know about. *Did they really need to conduct a study for that?!?* (Slate)

4) Oftentimes, we talk about men’s issues (and preferences) with porn. I did happen upon a piece that talked about what women like. First, let me say that according to the article, men, women and teenagers all prefer these top five things: “youth, gays, sexy mothers (aka MILFs), breasts and cheating wives”. Hmph. I must admit that the counselor in me wants to dig deeper on that. For now, I digress. What it also said was that women preferred “romantic porn” (cough, cough) and so a part of me wonders if that’s the case, why watch porn at all? Lord knows there’s enough chick flicks with sappy story lines and pseudo nudity. Thoughts, anyone? (Tango)

5) And finally, I’m sure most of us are more than aware (by now) of Michael Douglas and his “oral sex gave me cancer, um, kinda” declaration. The clarification is here: “It was discussed that oral sex is a suspected cause of certain oral cancers as doctor’s in the article point out but he did not say it was the specific cause of his personal cancer.”  Either way, I ain’t mad at him. I know a guy who got an STD from *receiving* oral sex and being that so many kids (yes even in the Church) feel like it is the ultimate “fun form of birth control”, I applaud him for even bringing the issue up. Bottom line, any kind of activity that has “sex” in it IS SEX and CAN BE DANGEROUS. Tell the kiddies. And the single adults. And the cheating spouses too. (USA Today)