A kindergarten class in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan, uses dolls with lifelike parts – including genitalia with pubic hair – to teach children about sex. An agency, Imagine China, provided photographs of the dolls to the Huffington Post. The photos were taken in April at Yaolan Kindergarten.

The Shanghaiist, reported that a typical conversation in a Yaolan classroom involves a 4 or 5-year-old student asking if babies fell from the sky only to be corrected by another student who explains: “Daddy’s sperm finds mommy’s egg, and then a baby grows inside mommy’s stomach!”

The graphic dolls used to teach kindergarteners about sex have produced debate and concern among parents. “I am worried that it’s not good for the kids to know sexual knowledge so early,” a parent said, according to The Shanghai Daily. Yaolan has “managed to transcend traditionally retrograde attitudes on sex education, having reportedly taught 4 and 5-year-old children sex-ed since 2008,” The Shanghaiist said.

Discussion on whether or not to teach sexual education to children of various ages is taking place in many places in China. According to CNN, a report in a local Beijing newspaper about a new sex education textbook for elementary school students has spurred much debate on this issue online and beyond.

The Beijing Times, a popular local tabloid, said that the textbook titled “The Steps of Growth,” uses images that are too graphic for young children. “Is it for elementary school students? That’s way too early for them…unacceptable!” a person wrote on Sina Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.

According to CNN, authorities in China said the textbook is only an experiment in some schools but claimed that the teachings of the textbook are important.  In a fax statement to CNN, they said, “it’s very important to carry out health education, including sex education, to elementary and middle school students.”

Those in support of teaching sexual education point to China’s abortion rates to prove the need for early education on sex. China has one of the highest abortion rates in the world – a number which is growing. According to a government tally, 9.2 million abortions were performed in 2008, up from 7.6 million in 2007.

But the count only includes hospitals, and state media report the total could be as high as 13 million. The Huffington Post said that many blame the high abortion rate on liberal attitudes toward premarital sex, as well as a lack of sex education.

According to a report by China’s National Working Committee on Children and Women under State Council in 2010, 60% of young Chinese aged 15-24 were open to pre-marriage sex, while 22.4% actually had sexual experience. Among those who got pregnant before marriage, 91% had an abortion, while only 4.4% of unmarried people aged 15-24 had the “correct knowledge” about reproduction.

It also added that only 14.4% of that group understood the risks of HIV, CNN reported. Deciding on the right age to teach children sexual education remains a heated, ongoing debate. “Children still need sex education when they’re little,” opined Li Yinhe, a sociologist who specializes in sexology studies in China.

“They need to know basic knowledge such as gender differences. What matters is that the teachers should also tell children what is right and what is wrong in terms of sex morality, and teach the children to protect themselves from sexual assaults.” China is not the only place where opinion is split on the issue of sexual education.

On August 31, The Vatican referred to New York City’s new sexual education classes as “useless, and even harmful.” The curriculum involves teaching middle school students how to correctly use condoms.

 
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The sexting phenomena increases as the days go by. According to a recent survey done by the University of Rhode Island faculty in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, 56 percent of 204 college students have received sexually suggestive images by text messaging; nearly 80 percent have received suggestive messages.

The survey investigates the impact of technology use on physical and mental health, as well as interpersonal relationships in college students. It has revealed that while most of the messages (73 percent) were sent to a relationship partner, 10 percent were sent without the permission of the person who originally sent the message.

Nowadays for most of the students, texting is a primary communication tool used both for maintaining existing friendships and establishing new ones. However, using it in a bad way can lead to some negative effects.

As Tiffany S. Kisler, one of the professors who led the study, pointed out, “the danger for many students is that they don’t realize the lack of control they have over who is seeing their messages.”

Kisler thinks that it is vital to help students, understand the importance of using technology in moderation.

The issue of younger people sending explicit suggestive images and messages via cell-phone is getting worse every day.  In March, the New York Times about covered the story of a student named Margarite, who sent a message to her boyfriend with a picture of her naked. In in less than 24 hours, the picture spread through the rest of her colleagues and unknown people.

Everyday, hundreds of thousands of kids unconsciously open themselves up to not only ridicule, but also the threat of being labeled a sex offender.

On the other hand, the research has found that texting and cell phone usage is affecting important aspects of students’ physical health.

Out of the 236 colleges junior and seniors sample, 47 percent always answered the text messages even when they receive them while they were sleeping. In addition a 40 percent of students answered phone calls while sleeping.

The research stands out because all students who use their phone during the night lost around 44 minutes of sleep per week. These night interruptions can affect the sleep quality and also cause some serious issues such as depression and anxiety.

As a consequence, Sue K. Adams, another professor that participated in this survey, said “more often than not, the interruptions caused by texting come with the first few hours of sleep, which is the most important time for restorative sleep. If students are constantly interrupting their sleep cycle, they place themselves at risk for sleep debt, which can impact multiple areas of their life, including academic performance.”

Texting while driving

Text messaging while driving is banned throughout 34 states in U.S. However, many students have passed their own distracted driving bans. According to this survey more than 93 percent of students surveyed reported texting while driving, and more than 82 percent reported they had sent messages while at the wheel since the state law banning texting and driving was passed. In addition, as Adam stated “it is possible that students do not believe that they will get caught, or that the penalty is minimal enough to risk texting while driving. Many students are also confused about the definition of the law. They are unclear if it includes sending or reading a text while driving or stopped.”

In today´s society texting has converted in a fundamental tool to communicate with each other not only among young people but also among adults. Accordin to the online media outlet AARP plenty of older adults also send spicy messages on their cell phones, but it´s usually a private matter.

Transmission of sexually explicit images of individuals under age 18 is also a serious legal issue that may subject those who are guilty to child pornography charges. Regarding this aspect Kisler pointed out the importance of setting boundaries around technology, both in terms of what people share and how often they are sharing it.

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XXX news: “Student sex work (prostitution, escort, striptease and other sexual services) is gaining more and more public attention,” reported a group of four scholarship holders at the Studienkolleg zu Berlin (Berlin Centre of Studies) on May 18th at the Berlin Branden-burgische Akademie der Wissenschaften.

According to their international research project, called Nebenjob: Prostitution (Second job: prostitution), one out of three among the 3200 university students surveyed in Berlin would be seriously considering doing sex work. This is much more than those in Paris and in Kiev respectively by around 4 and 15 percentage points, although it is worth of remark that final figures will be available by the end of August 2011. Similar numbers have been published by the German tabloid Bild, which recently announced 5000 of the 140,000 Berlin students to be ‘XXX’ workers, with one in 27 (3.7%) of those living in the red-light district actually already engaged in the sex industry.

For the overall 3500 students who filled in the Studienkolleg’s questionnaire, main motivating factors to sell sexual services would be excessively high university fees and financial hardship in general. Prostitution is widely acknowledged as a ‘simple’ means for quick alluring incomes: “It’s possible that because educational reforms have increased student workloads, they have less time to earn money. Coupled with higher student fees, in this instance, leads students into prostitution” Eva Blumenschein, one of the survey’s authors, said. As a matter of the fact, 30% of those declared pro-sex workers appear to be already stricken by debts, almost double the percentage of those not willing; moreover only 50% of them get financial help from relatives, compared to 65% of the rest of the student population. Eventually, important but less immediate concerns for starting such a career seem to be the need for admiration and searching for adventure.

It is true that prostitution wages can reach £2000-5000 a week, but they entail severe health hazards such as sexually transmitted infections and violence, as well as social and psychological drawbacks, the study pointed out. In fact, even if it apparently seems to be an easy “job” to make money quickly, conversely it might become a dangerous threshold from which you might not bounce back in your life. And often even the so-called normal common people are most likely to be trapped in: open-mindedness, appeal or seriousness have amazingly revealed not to be trenchant distinctions at all, a psychological test linked to the present research carried out.

Another astonishing outcome of the German review concerns gender, since both men and women’s student prostitution rates were revealed to be almost the same: ‘we were expecting a higher female percentage’ therefore “we have prejudice as well”, admitted the Studienkolleg researcher Felix Betzler.

According to another study, the vast majority of those considering a sex job are 26-years-old, often in a steady relationship (52.3%), with heterosexuals as the largest group, accounting for 49% of the total, followed by bisexuals (37.8%) and homosexuals (19.3%); most of them mainly use internet to find their clients.

If you are tempted to relate these figures to the fact that prostitution in Berlin is legal, also being such a famous city for its red-light areas, you might be underrating that, conversely, it deals with a fast-growing very global trend. For example, much before the findings in question, an English 2007 pioneer research project called Sex work and students (Roberts et al) had provided extraordinary evidence of the association between students participation in sex work and pitting economic pressure related to university fees, carrying out over 10% of a 130 undergraduates sample in the south of England to be privy of other students involved in the sex industry in order to support themselves financially. Even not going so far, just a few days ago the University of Arkansas in US claimed to have found that more and more highly educated and affluent women are increasingly entering prostitution. They are not forced, rather choosing it ‘for many reasons that people enter the conventional job market – money, stability, autonomy and even job satisfaction’ said Jennifer Hafer, a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Business at that University.

It deals with numbers alarmingly ever more similar to those in some African countries such as Zimbawe, though with the fundamental difference that there, sadly, many do not have any real alternatives. Thus, once people decide to study in order not to be on the streets: now it seems to happen the exact contrary due to new unendurable educational policy. However, it could be also because today sex business appears far more close and ‘trendy’ than in the past. For example, being an ‘escort’ or a gigolo, and using a webcam while staying comfortably in your home maybe does not sound too much as prostitution. Anyway, it is an activity that is emerging as one of the distinctive choices of freedom made by the future ruling class of the so-called developed countries. What about you? Post your precious comments!

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When sex slavery comes to mind, most people think they cannot relate. What you should relate to is that it is happening a lot closer than you think. Sex slavery is one of the biggest and less noticed issues in the United States; even though it’s a billion a year enterprise and composed of mostly teen girls. Known for occurring overseas, sex trafficking is a commercial form of slavery a person under the age of eighteen is forced into. It is led by fraud and force. Thriving each and every minute, sex slavery is becoming more and more common in the United States, which has grew into over a twenty-eight billion dollar enterprise. Even though the sex industry is one of Americas booming industries, the consequences and downfalls of the industry are ignored. There are over one million slaves worldwide and about 17,000 end up working in the United States. Trapped with no way out, sex slaves have little hope, but is there hope? Celebrities and founders are known for helping charities, organizations, and finally there is someone who took on the war against sex slavery.

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher launched their own non profit foundation against child sex slavery in 2007. DNA’s, the Demi and Ashton foundation, purpose is to hopefully abolish sex slavery by raising awareness through award shows, events, and communication with sex slave survivors. Phrases such as “Freedom.. its in our DNA” and “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” are raising attention to not only the government, but celebrities. Bradley Cooper well known from the Hangover, just recently joined the Real Men Don’t Buy Girls campaign by creating a video on what real men do. Music Superstar Drake, Justin Timberlake, and even Eva Longoria have joined the fight against sex slavery. Sex Predators use social media and the internet on about 77% of deals made within sex trafficking. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher hope to use that against them by using Social Media to raise awareness and hopefully prevent it from happening. Getting to the “heart” of sex transactions is where DNA will try to take a stand.

Appearing on Regis and Kelly, CNN, and the Pepsi Research Project, Demi and Ashton’s goal was to reach out to as many people as possible. With Facebook and Twitter created for the organization, DNA hopes to use social media as a backfire to all sex traffickers. They are working and combining forces with other sex slavery projects, such as the Polaris Project in Washington D.C., to help Americans understand the issue of sex slavery and how it can happen to anyone, no matter your location or gender.

Most Sex Slaves are enticed by fake ads and job opportunities, such as housekeeping and dressmakers in papers in countries like Ukraine. Once arriving at there fake job, women are enslaved and forced to have sexual encounters with over twenty men a day. Most of this happens in rural areas where there is nowhere to escape. Most sex slaves are women, but the scary part is most of them are under the age of 18, with the average age for a sex slave in the United States being thirteen years old.

Every ten minutes another sex slave is trafficked into the United States, so what can you do about it? Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher provided a three step process for people to help take a stand against sex slavery on demiandashton.org. First, join the “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” campaign by creating a video on what real men do instead. Justin Timberlake showed the men shave instead of buying girls on his video. The Real Men videos can be viewed on the website. Next, reporting any sex slavery seen on the internet or suspicions can help end sex trafficking online. This can be done by reporting to Craigslist, Facebook, and cybertipline.com. Finally, you can help raise money and awareness by doing it in style. The DNA t-shirt can be found online at stevenalan.com and all funds go to the DNA foundation. All of these actions can finally help put an end to sex slavery in the United States. Raising awareness is the first step to stopping the traffickers. So, go out and help put an end to sex slavery by showing that Real Men Don’t Buy Girls.

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