Comprehensive sex education is proved to work. It acknowledges that since some students will start having sex in high school (or earlier) that they might as well know how to do so safely. The national median of high school students having sex is 34.5 percent. In New York, where students receive progressive sex education the rate is 32 percent, while in Arizona, a state with conservative sex education, 35 per cent of students are sexually active.

Earlier this month, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention released a study showing that the percentage of public schools teaching key topics related to sexual education did not increase in any of the 45 states surveyed. The study didn’t ask why schools were not teaching the topics, just what topics they were teaching. There are 11 recommended sex education categories, ranging from information about HIV/AIDS to the benefits of staying abstinent.

So where are teens turning for their sex ed information? For many it’s the internet. You know, that thing for porn. A survey done by a resident at the University of Western Ontario showed 40 percent of teens thought the internet was a more useful way to get information about sex ed than talking to their parents. The problem is, especially for teenage boys, that there is a lot of overly sexist information (take Tucker Max for instance) that is replacing good sex ed.

But, it doesn’t have to be this way. In my hometown of Calgary there’s a new program called WiseGuyz targeted specifically at teenage boys to both teach an updated version of sex ed while also teaching about healthy relationships and non-destructive masculinity. It’s an open forum for teenage boys to talk openly, with the facilitators recognizing that Grade 9 guys “consume a lot of pornography.” I think it’s a fresh approach that should be used an example.

What do you think? How should sexual education be taught in school?

Leah is just waiting on a piece of paper to say she has her Bachelor of Journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto. When she’s not working on the Ryerson Review of Journalism she’s baking tasty cupcakes and hunting for a job (hopefully that pays). Follow her @Elleandbee.

The battle for comprehensive sexual education in New York City is finally over, as for the first time in over twenty years public middle and high school students will be required to take sex-ed classes. The Bloomberg administration has decided it’s time to implement new initiatives in an attempt to improve the lives of the city’s black and Latino teenagers. City statistics show these groups are more at risk than their white counterparts for unplanned pregnancies and contracting sexually-transmitted diseases.

This is just an another example in the move away from abstinence-only education. Between 2006 and 2008, one in four American students was only taught about abstinence, without receiving education about any other form of contraception. At the start of this year, 20 states and the District of Columbia mandated both H.I.V. and sex education.

Students in New York will now take a semester of health classes in sixth or seventh grade, and then another in either grade nine or 10. The education will include how to use a condom as well as discussion on an appropriate age for sexual activity. Parents who do not want their kids learning about contraception can opt to have their students removed from lessons on birth control.

Though since 1987 New York has had education from kindergarten to grade 12 on H.I.V. awareness, a push for a sex-education curriculum was defeated by religious groups in the 1980s.

As far as people go, I am rather intolerant.  I am intolerant of people who do not clean the coffee maker after they use it.  I am intolerant of couples that walk too slowly together on the sidewalk and therefore block all of the people behind them.  Mismatched outfits and too much eye makeup make my blood boil. And don’t even get me started on people who don’t know how to parallel park.

However, I’ve always felt that I exemplify a very accepting society when it comes to the bigger issues. Things like racial inequality or sex discrimination. I’m all about equal rights for everyone, regardless of race or gender. In fact, when my professor made me argue for school segregation and against gay marriage last week as a class exercise, I started laughing because I literally had nothing to say.

Why wouldn’t we want everybody to be happy?
Doesn’t everyone feel this way?
Doesn’t the law basically say just live and let live?

Yeah, apparently not. The events of the past couple of weeks have informed me that I am completely wrong about the world and the people living in it. Turns out, my tolerance isn’t the rule, it’s the exception. And minority groups, especially the gay population, have to put up with way more than I realized.

As a University of Michigan student, my local news is recently headlined with the story of Chris Armstrong, our student body president who is being harassed by Andrew Shirvell.  An Assistant Attorney General for the state of Michigan, Shirvell has gone out of his way to harass Armstrong online, accusing him of using his presidency to advocate a “radical homosexual agenda.”  Shirvell has not only shown up at student government meetings to criticize Armstrong, but also seeks him out at home.  While Shirvell claims he has freedom of speech to say whatever he wants, as someone who has actually studied Supreme Court cases, I was always under the impression that government officials were the ones trying to limit hate speech despite the First Amendment preserving its existence.  Wrong again.

And then I heard about Tyler Clementi jumping off of the George Washington Bridge forty minutes from where I live.

In an effort to not turn this into a rant about cruel people or bad judgment, I’ll just sum it up again.  Clementi’s roommate had a WebCam in their dorm room that taped Clementi having sex with another man.  His roommate took this footage and streamed it to the Internet.  A couple of days later, Clementi jumped off the bridge.  Coincidence?  Highly doubt it.

Though the Civil War ended in 1865, it took about a hundred years for real laws to come in place giving African-Americans their rights.  And in the middle of all of this, there was still persecution and murder and violence.  I can no longer speak for what the rest of the world thinks, but I do not think it is appropriate for a group of oppressed people to have to wait one hundred years before they can stop worrying about being bullied on a daily basis.

While America may allow everyone to have his or her own belief, this freedom does not entitle us to be cruel.  As a society, we see stories every day about our neighbors going out of their way to make others’ lives a little more difficult. For what? What’s the point? If Shirvell or Clementi’s roommate are experiencing higher quality lives after what’s gone on during the past two weeks, then someone please alert me.

So just stop.  Stop being difficult just for the sake of being difficult.  Stop ruining other people’s lives just because you can. I don’t think that being a little more accepting really ever hurt anyone.

The latest figures show that “the number of cosmetic surgical procedures performed on youths 18 or younger more than tripled over a 10-year period, to 205,119 in 2007 from 59,890 in 1997.” That is an astronomical number!

I know I shouldn’t be surprised being I can name more than a few people who have been offered a pair of silicone implants wrapped in a red bow come graduation day, but that number really shocks me.

I understand that beauty and perfection have been something that women have constantly strived for and I also understand that cosmetic surgery has become more acceptible in our society. I mean, just turn on the television and I bet you can find at least three makeover shows on right this minute, and at least one re-run of Dr. 90210. Still, maybe we should be wondering why young girls are inceasingly begging and pleading for new noses, breasts, chins, teeth, ears, tummies and every other resize-able, reshape-able body part.

Self esteem is a huge argument for teens when trying to convince families to take the life-changing plunge into cosmetic surgery. I don’t necessarily say life-changing in a postive light either. Not only are there serious risks associated with these surgeries, but sometimes they require upkeep, which means a life under the knife.

It makes me sad to think that girls think they need to look a certain way to fit in. The media may not show it, but noses have bumps, girls have bellies (we have organs in there!), breasts are big and small and pointy and round, and ears stick out – that is what is normal. At one time or another we were all part of the itty-bitty-titty committee… it’s part of growing up. Eventually your body changes, and if it doesn’t, at some point you start to love it for what it is. If only we all had Oprah on speed dial; I think we would remember this more often.

What do you think? Should we do anything we can to feel better about ourselves, or just learn to love what we have?

The mysterious half-brother brought the cast on quite the roller-coaster this week, and it seems that Gossip Girl has achieved Mafia status, as she has the power to order a “hit” on Dan Humphrey. Instead of sleeping with the fishes, however, Dan merely has to deal with the humiliation of the entire school learning about his hankering for tuna. Meh.

As usual, the Bass family stole the show tonight, and Uncle Jack is truly an evil, despicable human being. Since Blair’s had a change of heart, what with coddling the grieving Chuckster and all, we need a new villain that we absolutely love to hate, and Jack sure makes a splash after, what? Two episodes?

Not only does Old Man River have a giant boner for the totally illegal Blair (everyone who commented on the ‘New Years’ references last week wins ten points), but he’s also lusting for a stake in Bass Enterprises, which, much to everyone’s surprise, has just been left to Chuck Bass. What? These minors can drink their faces off, ride around in limos, globetrot for the weekend, but they can’t run billion-dollar companies?

While Gossip Girl and the Queen Bee Wannabes search for Dan’s secret and Lily and Rufus search for their long lost son, Jack sets out to ruin his nephew’s life. And you thought your family reunions were torture. Chuck blows off Blair in favor of a gaggle of hoes and an eight ball of coke, and boy did he make the wrong decision. I’m not talking about being caught out by members of the Board, either. Leighton Meester looked PHENOM in the dress she was wearing when she got the “I’m working late” text from Chuck. Day-am.

The surprise congratulatory brunch for Chuck was this week’s host for the usual drama, with Chuck snapping at Blair and GG sending out a blast outing Dan and Serena’s shared half-brother. And surprise, Chuck! Jack didn’t mention that the board had the ability to replace you for poor behavior, did he? Poor Chuck is out of a hot mama, a huge corporation, a family… and he’ll never have the opportunity to live up to his father’s posthumous expectations. If you need a new shoulder to cry on, you can have mine.

Back to the rollercoaster that is Lily and Rufus’ search for their illegitimate son. First, the lawyers can’t find him. Then maybe they can. Then the new parents don’t want to talk. Then the father will. Then he drops a major bomb: their son died last year. I thought this was just an easy write-off on behalf of the GG writers, to bury (no pun intended) a fairly fallible subplot. But wait- just when you thought you could predict it all, wha-bam! The adoptive parents pull a Jack Bass, lying their way to completely alienate Andrew’s birth parents. This is certainly going to come back to haunt our favorite Upper East Siders in the future.

At the close of the episode, Serena and Dan decide they can work through their “hillbilly”-esque dilemma, Lily and Rufus seem quite cozy themselves, Blair finally washes her hands clean of Chuck, and Vanessa and Nate are celebrating their anniversary. Has it seriously been that long?

Well, fellow GG fanatics, I cannot wait for the supposedly-dead Andrew to shake things up, or for Chuck to wage war on the evil Uncle Jack. Too bad he ruined things with Blair, or he could totally set a pedophile trap for his pervy uncle and take back his company. But hey, anything’s possible in Gossip Girl world.

Angelina is looking freakishly plastic in London.

Check out Justin Bobby’s band on MySpace.

Out of the limelight and into the sunlight: Sarah Palin sunbathing.

Wacko sports traditions!

The perils of fashionable footwear.

Some really creative answers to the question, “What have you been smoking?”

Instant bug killer and other unconventional uses for your shampoo.

A cup size bigger for just $19.99?

Scarlett claws back at Lindsay.

Gag gifts for the holidays!

Blair is still hell-bent on going to Yale, even though her little tiff with S. a couple of weeks ago may have maimed her chances. The solution? Serena gets Blair to babysit the Dean’s niece to earn brownie points. Only problem (and who didn’t see this one coming?) is that little Emma is on a mission to lose her virginity.

Gossip Girl put it quite poetically: Lady B…outsoxed by a young fox. Because, of course, if there’s a young, horny virgin on the prowl, she’s bound to get intercepted by the one and only Chuck Bass.

Favorite line of the night, courtesy of Mr. Bass: “The only thing I like aged is my scotch.” LOVE it.

However, Mr. Bass laments to Blair that he holds very few things sacred, and one of those things is humping in the back of a limo. How sweet, in a pervy Chuck Bass kind of way. Needless to say, the jailbait bounced and hit up a club in search of Mr. Right Now.

Meanwhile, Little J. is planning her big, risque fashion debut… at a charity gala being thrown in honor of Lily and Bart. Like that doesn’t have “disaster” written all over it. She pulls the “Do you care about me?” card with Nate…isn’t it a little early to try to whip your new boy toy, Little J.? Nonetheless, Nate takes the bait and the next thing we know, GG is loading Jenny and Nate’s second kiss into an RSS feed.

Gossip Girl actually played quite the role in tonight’s episode – as everyone was running around trying to figure out who was where (and with whom), they all kept going back to GG, and finally, Chuck managed to lure Emma (the young virgin) back to Blair by getting GG to post some fake story about Emma’s rival, Muffy. If you’re lost here, don’t worry. It was all just some filler material, though it did raise the question of how the hell Chuck can pull even the mysterious Gossip Girl’s strings.

My favorite part of the night? Blair tries to have a heart-to-heart with Emma about how her first time should be special, and finally mutters the L-word, in reference to Chuck. I squealed a bit here, though I don’t know if I believe that Blair knew she loved C-Bass during the limo trysts. Oh well, B. Saying it once opens the flood gates for more confessions in the future.

BTW, Blair got some juice on Emma’s mom, but decided not to blackmail her, and karma came back around: it looks like B’s going to Yale after all. Jenny’s fashion show was a success, though Rufus tried to get her arrested for her shenanigans, which prompted Jenny to flee (and it looks like she’ll be getting in way too deep in the coming weeks); Dan kicked Nate out of the house; Vanessa threw a temper tantrum over Jenny and Nate; Jenny dumped Nate out of respect for V (though she promptly bounced anyway); and Aaron the art dude may or may not have a harem of girlfriends. We’ll find out when he takes S to dinner next week.

What to look for next week: Dan finally grows some balls (or thinks he does), and it looks like his Chuck Bass story is going to press…which can’t be good for anyone on the Upper East Side.