02/9/11

The Joy of Teen Sex

Upon the recommendation of youth work magazine I’ve been tuning in to several episodes of Channel 4′s ‘The Joy of Teen Sex’; a TV show which aims to discuss teen sex problems and experiences using a team of experts in an open an honest way using their ‘sex shop’.

If you haven’t seen it then the chances are as you watch it you’ll suddenly feel like you’ve become Jeremy Kyle and be shocked at it…that or you’ll wonder why your teenage life wasn’t like that!

Statistics

The statistics on the show feel very biased. As a youth worker I know that a lot of the stats they use have probably been produced by asking a very select group of young people. To top that off if you apply the American Pie ‘rule of 3′ to the statistics then I suspect you’re far closer to the facts.

Approach Of The Show

To an extent I think it’s important that we’re coming out and saying ‘yes teenagers are having sex’ and addressing some of the issues in the show such as being uncomfortable with aspects of your body and practicing safe sex…addressing the issue of drugs and alcohol in sex are also important however I can’t help but feel the show is a little to flippant and casual.

The general feeling of the show is that young people are taking part in sex…but not just sex but in drugs and alcohol around sex and also having multiple partners, threesomes etc. My problem with this is that it feels like it’s just too accepting and in particular for ordinary teenagers watching I think it can create an unrealistic expectation of sex and also encourage young people to feel pressured into having sex earlier on and with more people.

Teen Journalist ‘Billie’

One aspect of the show which I think has been positive is features with teen journalist Billie who whilst isn’t a gifted interviewer (or especially engaging for that matter) is very honest and perhaps more realistic in her approach. For example Billie has explored glamor modeling, pole dancing and drugs, alcohol and sex. Unlike the rest of the show the young journalist has talked to people who use them, had some experiences (where appropriate) and made a very honest and open opinion about them…often saying that she wouldn’t do it or just doesn’t get it and in my opinion for young people watching the show this is the most useful section…Billie makes it acceptable to not like what everyone else is doing.

Overall…

Overall I think ‘The Joy of Teen Sex’ is a scary programme. I think it’s a risky and potentially damaging programme for young people to watch and probably scary for parents. As a youth worker it does make me aware of some issues facing young people and is certainly worth watching from an informative perspective but the attitude it promotes towards sex is just that little bit too accepting and encouraging for my liking.

Have you seen it? Thoughts? Comments?

01/28/11

Farewell Honda

I’m not a sentimental person. I have a few things I’ve kept such as cards from when I left Peterborough or nice e-mails people have sent me but I don’t really become attached to things…especially cars.

I’m proud to say that I’ve never named a car nor really thought of it beyond something that’s practical and a way of getting from a to b…in fact most people will either refer to my choice in car as ‘grandad’ or ‘very Mark’…neither of which is a compliment!

However last week my trusty Honda Civic which I’ve been driving for over 4 years met it’s end as I managed to drive it into another car…whilst the damage looked pretty minimal my insurance company wrote it off and as I said a farewell to the car yesterday (raiding the tax disc and stereo from it) I started reflecting on it.

Before my Honda I had a Fiat Uno (cheap to fix and a great laugh but ultimately not very good) followed by a Peugeot 306 which led to my hate of french cars and so moving onto the Honda was a step up.

In the Honda I had a car I could rely on…I didn’t have to worry about it starting or breaking down because it was a Honda.

Beyond all the technical stuff the Honda represented some great parts of my life…

For example it was the Honda that me and Jo drove in on our first date.

The Honda saw me cover hundreds of miles between Norfolk & Peterborough, occasionally Peterborough & Sheffield and more recently South Cave and Sheffield as me and Jo drew closer (geographically and emotionally) before getting married.

The Honda took us on a mile round trip to Italy without failing once…and last year it took us to France and back.

The Honda has seen it all and so whilst it’s obviously time for a new car (which I pick up on Tuesday) it’s also sad to see a car with such fantastic memories linked to it go.

So much so it warranted a blog post.

Farewell Honda…you’ve been awesome

01/7/11

2011: Web, Music & Writing

So it’s almost a week since we began 2011 and so far it’s been a pretty good year! For me 2010 was great…beyond the obvious highlight of getting married I was also finally able to put out an album which personally was a huge thing…I don’t really care if people have listened to it but I’m proud that I’ve done it! Alongside that on a work aspect 2010 was great…lots of exciting things happening and all seem to be going well.

So…what does 2011 hold!

Youth Work Resource

My first real aim of 2011 was to give my other website (youthworkresource.com) a much needed overhall and content update. I last did some work to it early in 2010 and just haven’t had the motivation to update it but I committed chunks of last week to it and most of today and finally have loads of new stuff on there including sessions, games and video plus I have the new template working (oh and a twitter account too) – You can visit Youth Work Resource here.

I’m also going to try and make it more of an ongoing project…so I’m going to actually update the blog and add resources on a regular basis!

Music

Just after Christmas I managed to accidentally buy a stage piano which I’m trying to improve with…my piano skills aren’t bad but I’m by no means a Benny Fingers, so in 2011 I’m hoping for a lot of time with hammers and strings (all be they digital!).

On top of that my 1 and only new years resolution is to play at least 1 gig, which might not sound much but for me it’s huge…considering 5 years ago I wouldn’t go near a microphone and the amount of takes vocals on ‘Escape This Town’ took it should be a good but challenging challenge!

Writing

Finally and perhaps more on a musical note I have a new project going on called ’13 months’…the concept is simple…for this year (last December counts) I will write at least 1 song a month with the aim to recording them in January 2012 onwards…it’s an interesting challenge but I love the concept and the idea of capturing a year in music is awesome!

So that’s me and 2011 lined up….let’s begin 2011 week 2!

12/2/10

Snow Photos

Whilst the amount of snow we have in South Cave is a pain (meaning that we have a dead boiler and that I’ve dug my car out numerous times in the last couple of days) it does mean I’ve been able to get some lovely photos. Here’s 3 of my favourites…