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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Sex and technology

Happy Hump Day!

I thought it would be fun this week to talk about some recent stories about sex and technology that have caught my eye over the last couple months. Here goes!

 

An Interactive Condom Map?

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As smartphone users know well, many businesses are now producing scannable QR codes that link users directly to their website, Facebook page, or to a product or service online. So what does that have to do with sex?

This week, Planned Parenthood launched a new website (www.wheredidyouwearit.com) that allows condom users to scan QR barcodes on the wrappers and “check in” with other users on where they wore the condoms–just as someone would check in from their favorite restaurant on Foursquare. You can even rate your lover after checking in with your condom’s code.

Only some 4,000 users have “checked in” post-coitus so far, but regardless of whether or not the site catches on, it’s definitely a unique approach to encouraging safe sex.

 

The Stats on Sexting

A recent study by The National Campaign of thousands of “adolescents” aged 13-26 fleshed out the stats on sexting. Considering the recent increase in technology use among youth, as well as the recent trend towards adolescents engaging in sexual activity earlier than ever before, the results of the study, though disappointing, were ultimately predictable. The study found:

  • 33% – young adults sending or posting nude or seminude images of themselves
  • 59 % – young adults sending or posting sexually suggestive messages
  • 64% – young adults who have received such messages
  • 40% – young adult men who say they have had nude images originally meant for someone else shared with them
  • 29% – teen boys who “agree that girls who send such content are ‘expected to date or hook up in real life'”

What’s the lesson here? Even though it may seem like “everybody’s doing it,” think twice before pressing send.

 

Sex and Sesame Street

Last October, Internet hackers “broke in” to Sesame Street’s official YouTube channel–which has over 140,000 subscribers–and uploaded “hardcore” pornographic videos to the site. Although the site’s overseer caught the hack and pulled the channel just twenty minutes after the porn was uploaded, it’s uncertain how many children may have viewed the pornographic materials.

Can you imagine logging in, expecting to see Bert and Ernie and seeing a really “Big Bird” instead?

‘Til next week!

Send Mary some suga at [email protected].

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