Egon Schiele was thrown in prison,
initially charged with the abduction
and seduction of a minor.
When the case came to court it was his art,
not his actions, that was condemned.
A drawing was even burned by the judge.
There’s no doubt he drew some very
young models among his many nudes.
The subject of his 1910 portrait
Black-haired Nude Girl appears to
be of someone in her early teens.
Forbidden Fruit:
Sex & Religion in the Lives
of American Teenagers
Negotiating
Teenage Sex
Encouraging Young
Girls to Masturbate
At our last meeting one girl told us her boyfriend was trying to coerce her into penetrative sex. The girl was still uncertain and had suggested mutual masturbation instead.
At his refusal she was uncertain whether to end the relationship or bend to his will. The response from the group was a fairly obvious one. ‘If he isn’t prepared to wait he doesn’t respect or deserve you’ and ‘if you aren’t ready, then wait’ –both of which are the correct responses to give a self-doubting and confused young adolescent girl.
The Double Standard
Surprisingly, the overriding opinion was that the teenage girl was only suggesting masturbation as a way to appease her boyfriend. Even going so far as to imply that by making the suggestion, she compromised her integrity.
Absent from the discussion was how her suggestion may have been her honestly verbalising and expressing her own needs and sexual drive. The consensus was that a teen girl would never have come up with such a salacious idea by herself.
Sexual desire is seemingly a one sided thing, coming only from teenage boys. Young girls are purely empty vessels without any sexual curiosity, waiting to be coerced by the explorations of the sexually impulsive men around them.
This sexual double standard short-changes girls when it comes to prepping them for the reality of their sexuality, taking it as given that ‘good’ girls just don’t want it. Of course I am deeply opposed to the idea of ANY ONE, at ANY age, forcing an unwilling partner into sex.
But as the conversation at the workshop continued I began to get the sense that the issue of teen sexual agency was part of a larger and more complex dialogue about gender stereotypes and social denial.
I Want to Possess Her
A girl needs to feel sexually desired before
they’re turned on. So many assume that because
their desire is responsive, rather than
spontaneous, they have ‘low desire’.
Their ability to enjoy sex with their partner
is meaningless if they don’t also feel a
persistent urge for it.
They feel broken because their desire isn’t
what it’s ‘supposed’ to be.
They need a thoughtful exploration of what
creates desire between them and their partners.
This is likely to include confidence in their
bodies, feeling accepted, and (not least)
explicitly erotic stimulation.
