A small article in the New York Times caught my eye. “One in Four Women in Teens Have S.T.D.’s, Study Finds”. I was immediately struck by the juxtaposition of “women” and “teens.” I always thought that teenagers were boys and girls, not men and women. To be fair, it isn’t entirely obvious when one makes the jump from girl to woman (although Neil Diamond had an answer), so I suppose getting an STD is as good a criteria as any. I wonder, however, whether a Times headline would ever read “One in Four Women in Teens have used Marijuana?” If I’m right (and, as usual, I suspect I am), then the Grey Lady (Experienced Woman?) is saying that the doorway to adulthood is opened by sexual activity, but not other behaviors generally associated with being an adult. The alternative—that engaging in any despicable adult behavior gives the bump in status—is just too difficult to comprehend. It would only a matter of time that we would read about “Alcohol Consumption Increasing Among Pre-school Men.”
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Added postscript: As I mention in the next blog entry , the Times changed the title of the article, so if you click on the link above, you won’t find the original headline. But if you Google “Women in Teens” you’ll find plenty of sites quoting that headline.