Teen Health Books

Hyde and Forsyth try very hard to present an even and unbiased view on teenagers and sex, but unfortunately seem unable to report the facts without coming across very heavy handed. It is clear that these women both feel that teenagers should not be having sex at all, and they perpetuate gender stereotypes in regards to teenagers and sexual activity. They present several different scenarios of girls being pressured into sex, sexually abused, or damaged in some way physically and emotionally due to a sexual encounter, whereas the boys in each scenario escape relatively unscathed. And while the authors clearly do not support abstinence only education, and do encourage teens to talk to an adult to learn about safe sex, they use a book full of scare tactics to encourage teens to avoid all sexual activity. There is not one example, in a book full of possible scenarios, of a loving young couple enjoying safe sex (of any type) without consequence. The authors never impart their own judgment in their own words, but we see scenario after scenario of young women feeling "guilty and ashamed" (page 55) of themselves because of their sexual encounters and the consequences.

While a large portion of the book is a discussion of sex and abstinence and safe sex practices, the other major section of the book is a more factual display of information about reproduction, sexually transmitted diseases, and contraception. Unfortunately, this section is riddled with inaccuracies and limited information. The term STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) is continually used throughout, while the more current term STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection) is not once used or explained. The term STI is the term used by leading sexual health organizations, and the term that teenagers will find in many of the materials and websites that this book refers them to. On page 51, the authors use the term PID to explain a symptom of Chlamydia in the middle of a chart of information. However nowhere in the book do they explain that PID stands for Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, nor can the term PID or Pelvic Inflammatory Disease be found in the Glossary or the Index. AIDS is referred to as a "death sentence" on page 43, in a quotation, without further explanation of HIV, AIDS, and how it may or may not lead to death. This same quotation links teen pregnancy to AIDS, again with no further explanation. On page 77 we learn that "a girl is considered a virgin if her hymen has not been stretched or torn by sexual intercourse". While trying to show that virginity is not affected when the hymen is torn in other ways, this is not an entirely accurate sentence as a girl's hymen has nothing to do with whether or not she is a virgin. On page 90 the reader gets the branch name for the Transdermal Patch (Ortho Evra), but on page 89 there is no similar name given for the Vaginal Ring (NuvaRing). And lastly, on page 95, the reader learns that Emergency Contraception is available only by prescription, making it difficult to obtain. In California (and some other states), Emergency Contraception is available at many pharamacies (including Walgreens) without a prescription.

For a book that does so much to discourage teenaged sexual activity (and especially unsafe sexual activity), there's an unfortunate lack of vital information. Early in the book teens are told that they "will not become a parent" and they "will not get a sexually transmitted disease" if they choose abstinence. It is not, however, until many many pages later that the authors explain that abstinence includes abstinence from ALL sexual activity, and that oral sex, anal sex, and certain touching can, in fact, spread some disease and infection. A teenager who skims through this book, or only reads to a certain point to find certain information, could walk away with some dangerous ideas about how to protect his or her sexual health.

Far too many pages spent discussing abstinence. Remember "Just say 'No' to drugs?" Yeah, that didn't work either. And there are three sentences on abortion that are not really informative. There are plenty of resources that are NOT this book where people can get free, accurate, non-biased, non-judgmental information about sex.

AMAZING AS I RECALL IT JENNIFER WAS THE ONE GIVING THE DRUGS TO THE TEENAGERS.

After reading ms youngs book A teen's guide to living drug free, I would think that she would have named it a teens guide to being a drug-e, this book realy had good points but I dont think a book can do the work to keeping teens sober they need more drug education class's in schools.

this book consisted of a group of questions or topics which were one page long with no valuable content. it was like a group of introductions with short common sense statements. It took me all of 10 minutes to read the entire thing and I got nothing out of it.

this book was a complete waste of the five minutes it took me to read this book.

'Don't Let Your Elevator Get Stuck on Stupid' is the worst book I've ever read. Firstly, its title is utterly misleading: there is no advice for teenagers in this book; it is - at best- written for parents who feel their kids are out of control. Parents, not teenagers, might get back some of their self-esteem by reading about how a frustrated mother sought to 'avenge' herself on her teenage children.
Secondly, the rare pieces of useful advice have all been heard before. Moreover, the book has not been edited properly : it is full of mistakes (spelling, punctuation, etc.), which strips the advice given of the last bit of credibility it might - but just might - have had otherwise.

Author Cynthia L. Winfield begins her book, Gender Identity with a retelling of the story of David Reimer, a boy (one of a pair of twins) whose penis was completely destroyed in a botched circumcision. Reimer's grief stricken parents sought a solution to this horrific situation by attempting to raise him as a girl. As the world now knows this gender experiment failed miserably. Reimer's story was first used to suggest that gender is malleable until a certain age; but after David expressed how miserable his imposed female identity was, gender theorists have used his story to support the opposite theory, that gender is innate.

I give Winfield full credit for naming the "doctor" Jean-Marie Huot who burned David's seven month old penis to a crisp, and she goes into a fair amount of detail retelling Reimer's story, but she gets an important detail very wrong. Winfield dutifully reports, "When the twins were seven months old, they both developed a condition called phimosis, which caused the foreskins on their penises to close, making urination difficult and painful." The fact is phimosis is the natural condition of every infant penis, almost every male left genitally intact grows out of this condition as he ages and the foreskin retracts and becomes mobile as it naturally should. It does not make urination difficult or painful. Phimosis that persists into adulthood can be treated by far less invasive measures than circumcision, but it has often been used as a pathetic excuse for circumcision of children, to gullible people who do not know about natural genital development.

My criticism goes farther because Winfield doesn't stop there. In a sidebar titled, "Circumcision: Who Decides?" she proceeds to blandly discuss infant circumcision without ever asking the question, is it ethical to cut off part of a child's natural sex organ? In the context of David Reimer's horrific story this omission is palpably vapid.

Recognizing this book is attempting to be a feel-good book about gender for teenagers, I think the author is underestimating the abilities of her intended audience. Some serious areas are glossed over and for teens, who are in all likelihood in a questioning state, this oversimplification could be very harmful. Everything here is la-de-dah, no serious introspection. Parental reaction to homosexuality in their children is never discussed, for teen agers questioning their gender and sexuality this is imperative. I have personally know several young questioning males rushed through MTF transition and surgery, sometimes with their parent's financial and emotional support, because having a recognized medical condition, (transsexuality) and treatment (hormones and surgery) was preferable for the parents than having a gay child. Some young people may benefit from gender transition and some of those may benefit from genital conversion surgery, but not all.

Adults who have expressed regret about social and surgical transition, (ranging from mild to suicide) are never mentioned in these feel-good type books. For a young person contemplating permanent gender altering body modifications consideration of possible regret should be acknowledged.

Winfield closes her book saying, "This book is meant to provide an introductory overview of gender issues for any inquiring mind. To learn more, venture beyond the covers of this book." I couldn't agree more. To any young person questioning their gender I would say, Yes by all means question it and question it hard. Don't forget to also question the society you grow up in and what that society does to condone or condemn your expression of gender.

I ordered this book with the hope of using it at the school where I work (at-risk high school) and was very disappointed. Almost every topic is presented in exactly the same manner with exactly the same `art' assignment. I could have easily thought this up on my own and certainly didn't need to pay $39 for it. I returned the book and hope to save you the postal costs of having to do the same.

You received a one star rating only because they made me put one
they wouldn't except a zero.
I'm not interested in a book or books I can't even find out what they are about.
Seems to me you don't want anyone to see. Which is a shame. Especially for our troubled teens.
I'm looking for help for a teen and you don't make it one bit easy.
what is it going to hurt to be able to read the table of contents or the back page of ur book???
Think about it. I'm very disappointed