...but this is not the case with All About Sex. On the contrary, the success and popularity of this site since 1997 has been nothing short of phenomenal and we appreciate all the positive sentiment - it should be clear to any sex educator or parent familiar with this site that kids want and need open, honest and non-judgmental answers to their sex and sexuality-related questions, and that if such a forum is provided to them, they will flourish with it and ask questions they wouldn't be comfortable asking anywhere else. Rather than the days when talking about sex was only done in whispers and biology class, today's kids have so many more options for exploring the subject of sex, and, frankly, their own sexual interests. When AAS started, there was only one other site that had anything positive to say to kids about sex, but now there are many, many sites with excellent, open and honest information about sex.However, being so successful has a negative side as well, and keeping up with the popularity of the site and the work involved in maintaining the site and providing regular, fresh content, has become more than we can handle along with our obligations to our own families and employers. Expense has been another factor, although our host, Advances.com, has always worked with us to bring bandwidth expenses down, and this site has never been a profit-making site, and has never even taken donations. So, for a combinations of reasons, we are closing the site and hope everyone will understand. It has been a fantastic 7 years and we have been touched by so many of the fantastic regulars and kids who have poured out their hearts and souls talking about their sexual dilemmas, their happy and exciting first experiences, and their traumas and disappointments. Judging by the comments we frequently get, it seems that we've touched a few people's lives and been a positive force in general, and for that we are thankful.
Below are links to many other excellent resources for parents and for teens.
Very Sincerely, The owners and volunteers of All About Sex.org
RESOURCES FOR TEENS AND PARENTS :
Advocates For Youth - Calls for politicians to "Respect Young People's Right To Be Responsible". Excellent site that has a section focusing on responsible sexual rights of adolescents, with excellent reading material about sex education elsewhere in the world and how it compares to the U.S.
gURL.com - A truly fantastic website created for girls that has an extensive area on sex and sexuality. They give honest, factual answers to girl's questions without pushing any ideology. They also have an excellent set of books for adolescent girls called the "Deal With It" series.
PFLAG Talk - Parents & Friends of Lesbian And Gay Youth - One of the most well-known and solid organizations available to gay, lesbian and bisexual youth - http://www.critpath.org/pflag-talk/
Being Girl.com - A really cool website created by the Tampax Corporation that talks about many sex-related issues (and has a sex-positive attitude), with a focus, of course, on the female body.
SexPedia - From the Discovery Channel's website, in the section focusing on sexual health, comes a 'encyclopedia' of sorts of sexual facts, from A to Z
The Coalition For Positive Sexuality ~ This site was the ONLY other site when we started that promoted a POSITIVE approach to adolescents and sex, and they helped make the AAS website so popular by being the first site to link to us! They have excellent instructions on condoms and other safe sex practices.
Go Ask Alice! - Now one of the most established and well-known resources available to people of all ages dealing with health, in general, and more specifically, sexuality and sexual health. It is run by Columbia University in New York and is very well done.
Like It Is! - The Brits Do Exactly That... They Truly Tell It Like It Really Is! No Political Agenda, No Religious Dogma, Just Honest And Open Conversation About Teen Sexuality, Discussed The Way It SHOULD Be In America (but isn't)
The Joys Of Teen Sex - Obviously, This Website Is Not In America... But It Is No Parody... It Is A Non-Politicized View On Teen Sex In The U.K., Where Adolescent Sexuality Is Considered... NORMAL (gasp!)
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Condoms!! - A Fantastic Resource From The People At CONDOMANIA!
SIECUS - The Sexuality Information Education Council of the United States - A resource geared toward sex educators and parents.
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SOME ADDITIONAL FACTORS...
To be perfectly honest, there are other factors in our decision to shut down, and although those factors are a little embarrassing to admit, they are important enough that others need to know about them. Speaking now just for myself as the creator of this site and primary owner, I have had other things to consider in keeping AAS open the last year or so including the fact that I now have a wife to consider and a family of my own to start, and negative opinions about this site (even though we rarely hear any) no longer affect me alone. Also, sadly, the political climate in America has changed so dramatically since the Bush Administration and the Tom Delay Congress came to power that people no longer feel that they can speak out freely on controversial issues - especially if one is daring to disagree with the current political forces.
[snip]
Only a few weeks after No New Money went live last August, 24 House Republicans, led by Joseph Pitts, R-Pa., jotted off a letter to HHS Secretary Thompson asking that both SIECUS and Advocates for Youth (which was listed on the site along with more than a hundred other 'supporting organizations') be investigated."
And that is just one small example of what the political climate has become... SIECUS is now under further vicious attack by Republicans in Congress and a score of Religious Right groups. Keep in mind that SIECUS has been writing the sex education curricula for public and private schools in America since 1964 and is hardly a "controversial" group. To get a better idea of exactly what is going on, you can read the complete last article posted on the AAS site in December 2003. You can also visit the SIECUS website for the latest news.
[snip]
What's your problem exactly?
That you deal with the facts instead of averting your eyes?