"Lads in Pubs," or Kids in the Cafeteria?

A press release by Juniper Research predicts that: "The mobile adult content market is forecast
to grow from its 2006 level of $1.4 billion to over $3.3 billion by 2011." However, the majority of that share is going to come from Europe and Asia, where the more "well-developed" markets reside.

According to Bruce Gibson, Research Director at Juniper Research: " The mobile channel will provide a different way of presenting adult content to traditional delivery channels and will reach new audiences. Mobile is about fun and instant gratification. I think the biggest opportunity is at the casual and "softer" end of the adult market - lads in pubs sharing a video clip after a few pints and people looking for a bit of fun when they have spare time to kill."

Hmmm. "New audiences?" "Spare time to kill?" If that doesn't scream teenager, I don't know what does.

Adina's Deck

Gotta support fellow Stanfordites! As a SUSE alum, I was happy to see that Debbie Heimowitz is getting a lot of praise, awards, and recognition for her Master's Project Adina's Deck, a video about cyberbullying.

A brief assessment of the video's impact shows that after watching the 30-minute video, youth understand the seriousness of cyberbullying -- both the effects on the victims and perpetrators. They also report being more likely to tell someone about cyberbullying instead of simply hoping it will stop.

Check it out!

Age of Consent

An article in the Edmonton Sun reports on online grooming by sex traffickers who find victims in Canada and then bring them to Las Vegas under the guise of being wined and dined by good-looking high rollers. Instead, these women (and sometimes men) end up being forced into sex work as "high priced call girls" after being beaten and raped. These sex traffickers tend to target young persons who have MySpace and Facebook profiles and state they are 18 years old "in order to avoid detection by authorities looking for predators after underage kids."

More stupidity, showing that teens really DON'T know better

In a small Ohio town, a 19-year-old cheerleading coach is fired after she posed topless with one of her prototges (a high-school freshman). The photo, shock and surprise, made it through the email circuit.

News from Down Under

According to Austrailian newspaper, The Age, a survey conducted through Girlfriend! magazine (think Aussie Comso Girl) found that "one-third of girls had been sent sexually inappropriate material via the internet; 70 per cent had accessed pornography sites by accident and 21 per cent on purpose; 41 per cent had been asked to post naked pictures of themselves."

What I find interesting about this is its focus on girls. A similar study done in the US found that about 5% of girls reported "wanted exposure" to pornography. That's a far cry from the 21% cited above.

So, what accounts for this huge difference? Are the girls on the other side of the planet that different? Was it in the way the question was phrased?

I'm looking forward to a more "official" release of this data. Because although 21% sounds OK to me, especially given the sampling source (asking girls who read about sex in teen magazines. I checked out Girlfriend! online. Lots of pics of sexy boy buns featured), another article in The Age makes me question the validity of the reporting of these survey results. In this second feature, the headline blares:

Sex acts copied from online porn sites

But the article itself doesn't really address the issue. Just a sentence that reads: "Dr Carr-Gregg said large numbers of teenage girls had engaged in behaviour such as group sex or anal sex, which they wouldn't have done without seeing it online." Uh, exactly what is "large numbers?" No stats here like in the other article. Just a shocking headline and no meat. Maybe it wasn't suitable for printing?

Sexual Health in Second Life

Researchers at Plymouth University in the UK have received a grant to build a free sexual health resource center on Second Life. Features of this island include an HIV education/awareness video, a news stand with refreshing headlines of the top sexual health stories on Yahoo! news, and even a counseling center. Check out this informational video to learn more: