"One of the most important tools we can give young people — boys and girls alike — is the reminder that their sexuality belongs to them. Pleasure is a deep and profound good, and for all of what we imagine to be their self-indulgence, young people today don't have nearly as much healthy pleasure as they need. This is about more than teaching young people to masturbate without shame (though that's never a bad idea.) It's about giving them the time and space and privacy to reflect on their sexuality as something that belongs to them. With young women, it's about teaching the difference between the desire to be desired and desire itself. (I'll deal with young men in another post.) It only takes a girl a few seconds to realize what someone else may want from her sexually. It often takes her much longer to figure out what she really wants, to discern the pleasure she gets from bringing pleasure to another from the pleasure she wants for herself. And once she's figured that out, it's vital to work to create a culture where she can articulate that want without shame. That's part and parcel of what it means to stand up for sexuality — and stand against sexualization."

Read more: http://hugoschwyzer.net/2010/11/09/the-paris-paradox-how-sexualization-replaces-opportunity-with-obligation/#ixzz16TKruGiW