The Abstinence Clearinghouse Blog

AMES, Iowa — The Ames Library Board is considering whether to limit access to a magazine that some parents said exposes their teenage children to sex at an early age.

Sex, Etcetera is a magazine created for teenagers that’s all about sex education. It’s currently available in the teen section of the Ames Public Library, which allows teenagers to take a copy home for free.

“The journal is written by teens, for teens,” said library director Art Weeks.

The magazine deals with a range of topics, including contraceptives, abstinence and homosexuality.

Parent Joyce Bannantine said she did a double take when she first came across it.

“I first turned around to start walking down the steps and then I went, ‘Wait, I was just in the teen section and there’s this Sex, Etcetera magazine there,’” Bannantine said.

She said that when she started to flip through the pages, she couldn’t believe her eyes. “I thought it was too graphic for the age,” she said. “Most of the kids that use the teen section are 12, 13 and maybe 14.”

She started a petition and collected more than 100 signatures. The petition asked the library board to do away with the display and to stop giving out free magazines to teenagers. Bannantine said she is OK with one copy staying on the magazine stand.

Weeks said he’s urging the library board not to limit access to the magazine. “It’s our mission to provide information on a variety of topics, especially ones that are most important to people’s lives,” he said.

As a parent, Weeks said he has no problem letting his teenage son read the magazine.  “It’s a window of opportunity to have important discussions with both my son and daughter,” Weeks said.

Bannantine said the library shouldn’t be a place for children to access something so racy.  “It encourages kids to look into things they shouldn’t be at that age,” she said.

The Ames Library Board is expected to respond to the petition on Thursday.

Source: KCCI.com.

As a footnote,  the Ames Library Board voted 6-1 to keep the Sex, Etcetera magazine in a prominent place in the library.

This magazine is written by and for teens under the oversight of Answer, a national sexuality organization at Rutgers University.  If you are the parent of a  12, 13 and maybe 14-year-old child, you need to check out the content of this magazine and limit your child’s exposure to possible access to a copy.