The Healthy Teen Network Conference
Tomorrow I leave for the Healthy Teen Network Conference in Pittsburgh, PA: Lots of great workshops and plenaries, including by Elizabeth Schroeder (Answer), Richard Garland (One Vision, One Life), and Ernestine Heldring (Scenarios USA). The HTN conference is also hosting a “From Pop to Hip Hop” art exhibition/performance at the Andy Warhol Museum.
Together with Veenod Chulani (MD), I’ll be leading a workshop for educators and providers on exploring the new ABCD’s of adolescent sexuality. I’ll also be doing a book reading and signing for Not Under My Roof. Today, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ran an article on my research and conference participation, quoting Pat Paluzzi, CEO of the Healthy Teen Network:
“[The] book is very relevant to the national conversation we should be having in this country,” said Paluzzi. “We have a very schizophrenic view of sex. … It’s everywhere, yet we don’t like to talk about it, especially if it’s involving kids.”
Amy Schalet is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Read More...
Pat Paluzzi uses a strong word — schizophrenic. Is our culture a sick one, then? Assagioli, the great Italian psychotherapist and founder of psychosynthesis, would have answered “Yes.” He believed that our greatest mental anguish comes from the civil war between our disparate and disagreeing parts. Certainly the desire to push the reality of teenage sexual activity out of sight when we live in a culture of unregulated media and artistic exploitation of sex creates the kind of disconnect Assagioli had in mind.