Posted on 04/27/2005 12:37:00 PM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
Ritch Savin-Williams, professor of clinical and developmental psychology and chair of the human development department at Cornell University has studied teenagers for more than 30 years. His new book, The New Gay Teenager, documents new developments in adolescent sexuality, including a level of comfort in diversity their elders could only envy. Today's teens, says Savin-Williams, generally don't require a sexual definition in order to express who they are.
And being oneself might be anywhere on a broad sexual spectrum between having thoughts of attraction toward someone of the same sex to dating to having sexual experiences, with both the opposite sex and same-sex partners.
And teens are getting many of these diversity messages from media models and their parents, says Savin-Williams. Among them, "That same-sex sexuality is not such a big deal - not so much as in my generation, when it was hugely a big deal. In fact, if we gave high school kids the right to vote, we'd have same-sex marriage."
This in itself may not be a surprise because political and social experimentation are also a part of the teen years, "Sometimes when I interview my college students, even they are amazed at what's going on with the younger kids," Savin-Williams says.
"Here's what's intriguing," he continues. "The fact is that high school kids reflect their parents. Issues like racism and sexism are not declining with their cohorts. This is the one 'ism' that seems to have the widest generation gap. Why? I'm only speculating, but somehow, they don't think this will be adaptive for their kids in the future."
And as more and more people disclose same-sex sexuality - including friends, family members and admired celebrities - it can be increasingly difficult and unrewarding to divide into "us-and-them" exclusions.
"There is a reality that even those mammoth differences that used to exist are getting considerably smaller," he says.
Also, the definition of "gay" is increasingly harder to pin down. "For me, the word gay is technically a sexual identity label. What has happened is that it's become a very generic word to refer to anyone with same-sex attractions. I'm referring to a much wider group of things. I'm hoping we can accept a wide range on the sexual spectrum - most of us are somewhere in between [gay and heterosexual]," he notes.
For many people of all ages, love is situational, based on the person rather than gender. "If that were really freed up, you'd find a lot of same-sex couples [who would say], 'That's now what I am, this is who I love.'" Interestingly, these relationships are not an accurate predictor of the person's sexual future. This holds true particularly for young women, Savin-Williams explains. "[Women] tend to be more fluid, not exclusively genitally focused. Increasingly, I'm finding boys who are of the same belief and attitude. That gives me hope.
"I know male individuals who are gay but married and in love with a woman. That's there all along the spectrum - they fell in love with the woman but that's not their primary sexual attraction," he said.
On the flip side, he explains, a straight person could fall in love with someone of the same sex. "In the past, they would never pursue this. Now in the same-sex-friendly youth culture, the straight people could pursue their romantic relationships without being tied to only one sex," Savin-Williams says. "If we could build relationships on love rather than on genitals, that's probably more conducive to what we are or should be as human beings.
Debbie Tennant, a guidance counselor at Ithaca High School for he past 15 years, still sees occasional name-calling. "Kids are more accepting of the differences, but not always - some kids will be quick to label someone and use some labels people used in the 1970s and lash out in very hurtful ways," she says.
At the same time, she adds, "There are wonderful kids in the Gay-Straight Alliance, and they're confident and proud, regardless of who they are, enjoying their friends for who they are."
Di Constantinides, an educator for Planned Parenthood and one of the advisors to Ithaca High School's Gay-Straight Alliance, points out that a lot of the students in the group don't identify as gay but might have gay parents, siblings or close friends.
"I think that in lots of ways Ithaca is really lucky," Costantinides says. "It's very liberal, and people who have liberal attitudes do have an effect on the atmosphere. The right-wing ideology also does - it's not a place free of those. That's definitely in Ithaca and in Ithaca High school but we're a little shifted to the left because of the way politics goes."
The freedom to be oneself - whoever and whatever one is - offers tremendous possibilities to everyone, Savin-Williams says. "I do believe that this opening up of sexuality to acceptance does profit all of us in very significant ways. It allows straight people to have more flexibility, allows people to meet on more equal terms, so I don't keep looking for a person with particular genitalia but the person who is attracted to me as a person."
Ping
I don't believe it. I the kids world, anything that sucks is "gay." They know a line of bull when they hear it. At least the ones we have a chance to save.
A perfect example of "denying the obvious and becoming stupid and depraved." Reality will strike home as soon as these poor dumbed down kids find themselves having to wear diapers due to incontinence from trauma, or worse, being infected with AIDs and facing the death penalty.
LOL famous last words? -- > "I think that in lots of ways Sodom and Gomorrah are really lucky," ...
And I'd wager he spends a fair amount of time looking for them.
He neglects to mention how the 'feces' component of this 'belief and attitude' is sold.
I just figured out why we never see double double hyphenated names. The first double hyphen occurs when a lesbian mistakenly marries a man. She asserts her male self by including her name and her liberal generosity by allowing the husband to share his name with the hyphenated name for the kid. Later she realizes her identity and divorces the man. The kid then winds up with two mommies. The kid figures marriage and children are more trouble then exploring a life of homosexuality. The kid never marries and therefore the double-hyphen name is not affixed and passed on to another.
ping
"What, you think MTV airing all those "real world" eps about three-way sex during the afterschool hours set a bad example?!?!
The DEVIL you say.
[/sarcasm]"
In my opinion, MTV Networks has done more to accelerate the decline of western civilization than anything in the last 30 years. How people can let their kids watch that garbage is beyond me.
Barf! That may be the most quintessentially liberal sentence I've ever read.
OTOH, as conservatives, we should probably feel somewhat honored that the good professor assumes that we build relationships solely on our genitals. Surely, something as important as a relationship can only be (ahem...) erected on a firm and steady foundation!
And to think: the new head of Paramount studios is the FORMER head of MTV.
Anyone for Janet Jackson and what's his name in a rematch?
I prefer love based on genitalia.
bump
Bump for later read.
Egad. Why is this perverted sicko teaching Clinical and Development Psychology and also the head of the Human Development Department at Cornell? Is everybody at Cornell completely nuts?
Why isn't he in jail for promoting homosexual pedophilia, or at least in a sexual rehab program wearing a mandatory electronic bracelet so he is less likely to molest children?
I can't wait for Jesus to return...
....my daughter is in middle school and says there are a few "gay" girls there. ....IN MIDDLE SCHOOL... I told her that those girls are too young to make that decision, they are not even supposed to be having sex. It is so scary that they are taught so young that this is okay.
Homosexual Agenda Ping.
Very revealing article - gives a little window in the mind of a homo-activist, the cutting edge of professorial types whose goal in life is to destroy the natural order. In other words, an enemy of God's creation. He, and many more like him, want to dismantle the laws of nature in defiance of the Author of said laws.
Note that he is admitting that "gay" is NOT really an identity. What he is essentially saying is that any genitals will do, and the main point in life is to get some kind of genitals to do something with yours. It is the grossest, most exploitative and self centered ideology in the world. Whatever and whoever is in your life, maybe they/he/she/it can provide an orgasm - oh, I mean a "romantic" relationship.
To put it another way, the entire world is now a whorehouse. Everyone you meet is a potential sex partner.
Do we want our children and grandchildren living in this world?
Let me know if you want on/off this pinglist.
When I heard that my daughter's high school guidance counselor suggested Ithaca as one of the colleges for my daughter to apply to, I said NO!!!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!
Most of them probably aren't... a couple probably are... if it's like what I remember. I remember talk was cheap in middle school, though you know, there was SOME action. In high school though, whooooeeee... loook out, and katie bar the door. Everybodies do-oo-in the loco-motion.
Anyone else here have a problem with this statement? Is he saying that those of us who are heterosexual aren't really totally heterosexual, even though we are?
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