Kids Gone Wild, by Joel Best and Kathleen Bogle

I have 3 kids, ages 15, 13, and 12.  So don't you think I'm a little bit interested in protecting them from the insidious influences that surround them?  But wait, what's really out there?  In Kids Gone Wild: From Rainbow Parties to Sexting, Understanding the Hype Over Teen Sex, Joel Best and Kathleen Bogle examine the much-publicized trends of sex bracelets, rainbow parties, and sexting.  Their bottom line: these media-driven artificial crazes should be taken with a very large grain of salt.

Playing on the fears of parents of teens, who assume the worst and are easily convinced that kids these days are much more sexual active than prior generations, the media takes isolated stories, runs a few uncritical "news" stories, and creates an artificial crisis.  Best and Bogle review media coverage, which becomes news stories reporting on news stories, repeating each other without adding to the body of information.  They also review social media and other internet sources to determine attitudes and occurrences of teen sexual behavior.  Despite the breathless, titillating news reports, Best and Bogle conclude that although there may be isolated examples of kids participating in sexual behavior due to the sex bracelet game and rainbow parties, there is no basis to believe that it is as widespread as the media hype would suggest.

The media has more basis for reporting on sexting.  However, the media would have adults believe that every teen with a smart phone is sexting.  Again, the media reports what other media reports, repeating the same stories again and again.  They couple "the most extreme examples to statistics indicating that sexting was widespread" creating a misleading picture.  Although it is a problem when teens do it, "the problem of teen sexting was not nearly as dire as the media's portrayal suggested."

When you think about the implications of these so-called teen sex trends, it makes sense that they are overblown.  Do they happen?  Sure.  Teens are interested in sex, and sometimes act on their interest.  Does the media help by airing these stories?  Yeah, they give ideas to kids, creating self-fulfilling trends.  Yet, as Best and Bogle demonstrate, many demographic studies show that kids today are no more sexually active than teens in the past, perhaps less so.

Their arguments ring true, although their writing is unnecessarily repetitive and their tendency to dismiss a concern about teen sex as completely unwarranted.  Parents should not be sucked into the hype about these supposed trends, but that doesn't mean they should not be concerned, as parents of teens of every generation ought to be, about their teens' sexual knowledge and activities.  I do like their admonition for parents not to assume the worst about their kids: "The younger generation deserves better than how we talk about them."

Kids Gone Wild is more about analyzing media coverage of sexual trends than it is about being a parent of a teen.  I'm glad to know that these trends are not as widespread as the media would have us believe. No matter how widespread they might be, I am no less convinced that I have a tough job as a parent hoping and praying that my kids will reach adulthood with their innocence, morality, and virginity intact.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!