by Debra Hyde
(5/3/00)

Earlier this week, I reported that editor Heather Corinna and her website, Scarleteen.com, were profiled by the Moms Online, part of the Oxygen network. The profile itself was a fair and accurate portrayal, but, unfortunately, the feedback to the piece has been overwhelmingly negative.

Why? Because Heather provides detailed answers to teens' questions about sex.

Initially, the MomsOnline message board reacted with a good deal of shock when some of its member looked at Scarleteen's content. Worse, word passed to fundamentalist Christians who, in the last two days, have flooded Heather's email with condemnation, singling Heather out for their proselytizing messages. Needless to say, she feels very overwhelmed right now.

Teens are hungry for sexual information and, in educating my own kids, I know they encounter a lot of misinformation and guesswork about sex before they get to the truth. Today, that's downright dangerous. So I'm glad there's a site like Scarleteen out there. The site gets an average of 3500 unique a day, and each of those kids are reading four or five pages of material each time. Heather also makes herself available for online help and in a recent evening, she received online requests to address the following teen situations:

- A girl seriously considering prostitution at 15.

- Three different kids who thought their hymens were their cervixes.

- A girl whose boyfriend was going to leave her because he was sure she was"being difficult" about not allowing him full penetration during intercourse. (Turns out he was going at her like a battering ram, unconcerned that he was actually aiming correctly.)

- And a girl whose boyfriend has been raping her for three months solid, but whose mother is so wrapped up in her own divorce, she is never home, even for days at a time, so this poor kid can ask for help.

Scary, isn't it?

That's why I respect the work that Heather has done with teens and why I'm particularly moved by the haven she's created for those teens who have nowhere else to go with their concerns. I'm determined not to let her go through this incident without the support of others who agree with her.

So I'm asking you to check out Scarleteen. If you disagree with its content, do nothing. But if you do care about access to accurate information, please show your support. Write to Oprah's Oxygen Network. Tell them you were glad to see Heather's article there and that you're grateful that Oxygen is covering teen sexuality topics in a frank and honest way.

If you have a web page or a weblog, snag one of the banners I've posted. Post it on your site. (I'm open to additional banner ideas -- email me with ideas.)

And, yes, I want to declare a Scarleteen for a Day event. On Monday, May 8th, please feature one of the support banners in a prominent place on your web site and show your support for sex education.

Will we change minds doing this? I doubt it. But our letter and banners will declare our presence. We won't be passive and invisible. Most of all, Heather will know she's not alone.

Please pass the word to anyone who cares about sex education and wants to show support. It's my fondest hope that for every email Heather gets from a fundamentalist, she'll see banner of support and Oxygen will receive a pro-sex education letter. And with enough outreach, people will reach back to Heather and let her know she's doing a good job. No matter how many burn-in-hell prayers she gets.

Thank you for reading. Thank you even more if you chose to show your support.