Vogue might want to take a lesson in drumming up buzz from its younger sister, Teen Vogue.
While Vogue is getting all sorts of flack from the left for heralding Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid as the poster children for gender fluidity (ha), Teen Vogue has infuriated the right with a candid, health-oriented guide to safe anal sex.
Related: “Teen Vogue” published an exhaustive guide to anal sex, and the Internet is having a tizzy
Among those outraged over Teen Vogue’s sex ed piece is “The Activist Mommy,” who filmed a video of herself burning the magazine in a campfire while decrying that the editors’ brains are “in the gutter.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Now that’s good marketing!
Related: Mother-of-ten burns a copy of Teen Vogue’s anal sex guide in amazing video meltdown
One of those gutter-brained editors, out Digital Editorial Director Phillip Picardi, recently went off on a Tweet storm about the backlash, and it is definitely worth a read.
Scroll down to see what he has to say:
If it's ok with you guys, I'm gonna TALK ABOUT ANAL SEX FOR A WEE LIL THREAD.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
We published a 411 on Anal Sex story on @TeenVogue as a continued part of our sex education coverage.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
I monitor the webmaster email and have been inundated with hate mail saying we promote sodomy and want teens to get AIDS.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
It’s funny, because I went to Catholic high school and had 0 sex education. I also had a teacher tell me gay sex was a sin in God’s eyes.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
Fast forward to frosh year of NYU, me crying at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, bc I’d just slept w someone who I found out was HIV+.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
The kind folks at Callen-Lorde taught me about HIV/AIDS, what it is, and how it’s contracted. They also told me to get tested regularly.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
They also explained the concept of HIV stigma, and that HIV and AIDS are two different things. And that HIV is not a death sentence.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
Then they taught me the importance of safer sex, and what I needed to know in particular as a gay man.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
I left a 40-minute doctor’s appointment with more life-saving information than I ever received in all my years of private school education.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
You see, my Catholic school was guilty of endangering all of us by sheer omission of FACTS. EDUCATION doesn’t equal ENCOURAGEMENT.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
Multiple studies have shown abstinence-only sex-ed is linked to higher rates of STIs and teen pregnancies.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
TBH, it is IRRESPONSIBLE. How can you possibly expect teenagers to practice safe sex if they don’t know what’s at risk?
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
How can you expect young women to not get pregnant without access to reproductive health care?
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
The backlash to this article is rooted in homophobia. It’s also laced in arcane delusion about what it means to be a young person today.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
If I had today’s @TeenVogue and @VeraPapisova when I was a teen, I would have been so much safer and better off.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
Instead, I made mistakes that consisted of quite a few doctor’s appointments! But I’m ok!!
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
But until queer sex, love, and families are included in education, we’re doing a dangerous and potentially lethal disservice…
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
to a growing population. Gen Z will be our queerest and most fearless generation yet.
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
In conclusion, here’s my only reply I’ll be giving to any of the messages. ? pic.twitter.com/KiFjVqLlH3
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) July 14, 2017
JaredMacBride
Agree with him 1000%. People who think teenagers don’t know about and talk about anal sex are dangerously delusional.
oaksong
Just YES!
BriBri
Best book for Anal Sex: Anal Pleasure and Health, by Dr. Jack Morin, PHD. Will turn anyone into a bottom bitch! Enjoy!
CdnGayCouple
This young editor should be your next President of the USA!
gwwhouston
Education is power. Pass the word.
Rex.
JohnMc888
This young man is a true benefactor of humanity, unlike all those inhumane religious zealots ruining our country.
logboy33
I’ve had it with religious zealots and bible thumpers. I took the time to read the entire article referenced here and I thought the subject was presented in a responsible, matter of fact tone that at the same time was sometimes humorous. Kudos to Teen Vogue! Keep up the good work, and to hell with the haters.
tony-e
I like the response to the emails (including the rainbow on that finger), and I absolutely agree with his response to the controversy. When I was in high school (late 80s-early 90s) that’s what Philly public schools taught (abstinence-only). Barely any mention of HIV/AIDS, only my 8th grade health teacher, who showed us a video of a gay couple (literally the only mention of homosexuality in my entire time in public school) that both were dying of AIDS. I literally learned more about HIV and AIDS from TV (the General Hospital Robin/Stone storyline) and movies (And The Band Played On, The Ryan White Story) than I did in school. If people like Activist Mommy don’t want to talk to their kids about sex, and also don’t want them to be taught sex-ed (and this women is home-schooling, so you know those 10 kids of hers aren’t learning anything about sex), how does she think kids are going to learn about it? Friends, social media, magazines, etc.
AmeliaJ
Homeschooling mom of a trans teen here. Please don’t paint us all with the same brush. We’re not all religious zealots. We are very open with our kids about sex. We homeschool because we want our kids to be critical thinkers who do so out of the box. We also aim for them to be resourceful problem solvers. Facts are important to us and I’d never deny my kids any information they are seeking. In fact, when I first heard about this yesterday, my oldest and I had a big discussion about it. This Activist Mommy is an idiot and gives the rest of us a bad name. I don’t condone her actions even a little bit. Abstinent only education goes against biology and is basically putting one’s head in the sand. As mentioned here already, it harms rather than help. I’m not so naive that I’d expect my teens to not possibly be sexually active. That is why I talk to them about it and make sure they have knowledge. Knowledge prepares them and helps protect them.
scotshot
@AmeliaJ
Thank you for speaking up! There are too many parents who are afraid to speak up on issues the right finds distasteful and will slander you if you do.
The louder people speak about this means that’s it’s easier for the next family to speak out.
Good luck to you.
spottydog
I’m a secular homeschool mom of two (8yo and 6yo). We talk about sex when the kids have questions. I answer honestly to the level that they need to know right now. We also have plenty of books around for their level. My parents never once talked to me about sex. My mom gave me a book about periods when I was about 12 and that was the extent of the conversation. I swore it would be different for my kids.
Celtic
Oh, Mommy-Kins does have her drawers in a twist over this one. Anal sex has been around as long as there have been anuses and something to insert thererin. I have known a few ladies who can get into it, so anal sex is not the sole province of gay, bi or straight men who take a wild turn from time to time. Frankly, after 49 years of being out and gay I have grown weary and wary of all these sexual diagnoses. When I was a young Veteran just of out the Air Force, I was dating a woman who I believed at the time I would marry. We visited friends of hers in Columbus, a young hetero couple. The male partner was studying medicine. At that time, the early to mid 1960s, GAY was on everyone’s radar and not necessarily in a bad way. I remember how this future doctor to be explained why the male anus and rectum are “designed almost perfectly” to accommodate a penis.
Yes, anal sex requires — even demands — specific preparation so that one is clean. Gays and homosexuals have known that since the days of Ancient Greece and Rome; and before. As an ordained Christian theologian, I have grown increasingly distanced from “religion”. It solves few problems, creates many including mayhem and murder, and promises there is something better after this life without any proof. I like the Native American God, “Great Spirit”. That “God” celebrates all manner of life and teaches His/Her children to respect all manner of life. Very few “Christians” come even close to that one.
DawnS
It is our responsibility and our duty to educate the next generation. We learn from our mistakes and pass on that knowledge to our children. It is also our duty to keep our children safe. We fail to do so if we insist on keeping information from them that they need to keep themselves safe.
Phillip has already experienced what that feels like, to not have all the information he needed. He’s learned and is passing on that knowledge. He’s a f*cking hero.
It would be irresponsible of me if I only told my children half the story. How can they make an informed decision about what they want when they’ve only been told what they shouldn’t want?
I will be telling my children about safe sex, among other things I was never told as a child/adolescent. What they do with that information is up to them. At least I will know they have all the facts. I hope they will use the knowledge to the good, but as I say, the decision is entirely theirs since I’m presuming I won’t actually be there when they do…whatever it is teenagers do.
o.codone
Pervy Americans. Stealing the childhood of young people by demanding they have a working knowledge of the mechanics of anal sex by the age of what, 10? Really? What 10 year old is getting it in the ass? Or is that just another pervy fantasy you all are having? If you’re having this discussion with a 10 year old, it’s all about you. Check yourselves. Don’t force this on kids. And, since when is the public school the designated instructor for all nature of sexual practices? Something’s wrong here.
Save the name calling about I’m a prude and all of that. Look at my username. You know I’ve done it in both directions. Just check your own perviness and leave the kids alone.
dwes09
All your username indicates is that you are likely drug addled and we should simply laugh at your pitiful mewling posts. And that is what most do.
There is little wisdom to be gleaned from your lack of understanding of how to teach kids about sex, little to be gleaned from your right wing fantasies. Ten year old kids are not reading Teen Vogue, but ten year old kids are exposed to messages about sex (my parents began to teach me about sex and sexua ethics at 10, and that was in 1961) and that needs to be dealt with regardless of what some stupid opiate abuser thinks.
Roan
Children are maturing mentally, emotionally, and physically much more quickly than they did a decade ago. Knowledge will keep them safe and off the path that leads to risky sexual behavior, victimization and drug abuse. Get help for your user name before it destroys you.
werecat
Honestly, what I find truly sad is that our society must rely on a magazine to teach our children about sexual things. I was very lucky in that my parents were very open and honest. My poor mum was so without a clue when she met and fell in love with my father and he wasn’t much better off that they swore that their own children would know what was involved and what was safe and what wasn’t. And they did it all without encouraging anything. I was taught that sex was one of the most loving and intimate things you can share with another person. I was taught that it was never something to be treated as casual. I was given the basics and when I was old enough to be interested in boys Mum took me to a girly doctor and had them show me about condoms and everything. Mum kept a box of condoms in the house and made sure I knew where it was and my dad even came to me and said when I was ready and thought I had found a guy there was no shame in being prepared. it didn’t mean I was going to do anything. it was just good sense and planning since the pill needed to be in your system a month before it was really effective. I was so lucky to have them. What I find is the biggest sin is that parents are not doing their job and are leaving things up to a third party and then throwing a fit if they don’t do what they want. FIne, if you don’t like it. freaking do it yourself, but effin do it! you owe your children their safety!
MichaelNW
Yes yes 100% to everything you just said about the undeniable need for open, honest accurate and comprehensive sex education. Abstinence-only based methods only leave young people ill-prepared for life as adult. I will take, however, one point with exception and ONLY as a means to level the playing-field of your perspective hopefully and fairly. I too went to Catholic school. In Utah, no less. The high-school sex education program delivered in 1989 — the same one still being used today — was embarrasingly comprehensive. Parents’ signatures were required. A whole quarter was dedicated to learning every aspect of both the male and female anatomy along with in-depth symptoms and causes of every known STD. While we were lectured continuously about the beliefs of the Catholic Church and waiting for marriage and the changes that occurred at the Nicene Council to allow unitive properties to be included with procreative properties as reasons for relations between a man and a woman, they also made it clear that it was a big world out there and we would be better armed with the best education possible. I am SOOOO sorry your experience was not the same. My point here is to illustrate that your experience connected with the Catholic Church is not universal. And I hope is an exception to a greater hope for education inside the Catholic School system. Thank you for your strength and passion for important storytelling!
Roan
Picardi followed up with several tweets to say the article wasn’t even in the print edition of the magazine. It was online only.
RIGay
I am sorry, but whatever positive message is trying to be made here is just lost in window after window after window of Twitter feeds; like most reasonable adults living in the Trump era, I tuned out after the first block.
mujerado
The only one you’re denying is yourself, so go right ahead.