UPDATE: Gay ‘Teen Vogue’ editor unleashes incredible Tweet-storm amid anal sex controversy
Last week, Teen Vogue published an exhaustive primer on anal sex, and not everyone’s pleased. We are, though. Good on them.
Written by sex educator Gigi Engel’s, the essay is a great, chatty read that demystifies a few common misconceptions about anal sex and teaches Teen Vogue readers how to do it the right way:
“Obviously there is a lot of stuff on the Internet about anal (we don’t suggest you Google it),” she writes, “but most of what you’ll find is either porn or advice for experienced sexual persons looking to try something new.”
“What about the teenagers? What about the LGBTQ young people who need to know about this for their sexual health?”
What follows is a step-by-step primer for curious beginners that starts with the basics: go slow at first, lube is your very best friend in the whole wide anal-sex world, and maybe expect a little bit of poop but don’t totally freak out:
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.
“I want to personally assure you that that you will not poop on anyone during anal sex. Sure, there are horror stories, but aren’t there always?
That being said, yes, you will come in contact with some fecal matter. You are entering a butthole. It is where poop comes out. Expecting to do anal play and see zero poop isn’t particularly realistic. It’s NOT a big deal. Everyone poops. Everyone has a butt.”
Related: The Ins and Outs (and Ins and Outs) Of Prostate Pleasure
Unsurprisingly, criticism is coming from all corners, mostly written by people who seem to think teenagers are too young to know the ins-and-outs of anal play. Which, also not particularly realistic.
There’s plenty of by-the-numbers outrage on Christian site The Stream, and editors clearly worked overtime on the histrionic headline: “The Predator in the Fashion Magazine: Teen Vogue Coaches Teenagers in Sodomy.”
Here’s an excerpt:
“Wake up, Moms and Dads! A magazine produced for your teenage daughters is giving them explicit instructions on how to be sodomized.
It is teaching them to be used by a guy, in a very dangerous way, for his pleasure and satisfaction. It is giving the clear message to every teenage boy that it’s perfectly acceptable to sodomize a girl, to use her, even physically hurt her for the sake of an orgasm.
“It is glorifying as good, normal and healthy, the harmful practice of homosexual sex.”
Smug, stomach-turny YouTuber Wild Smile also published an interminable video on his channel that surmises “this is a bit creepy to push on teenagers, if I am being honest.”
Someone over at The Independent is also jolly cross:
“Our responsibility as adult women influencing the next generation is to raise them up to be confident in their self-worth, and fighting against a culture that seeks to define them by their sexuality and what they can do for men,” author J.J. Barnes writes.
Regardless of whether they consider their vulva to be part of their woman’s body, their clitoris exists, and they are more than just a hole for a penis.”
Teen Vogue’s target audience is not non-prostate owners seeking to provide sexual satisfaction to men through their anus. Teen Vogue’s target audience is teenage girls, most under the legal age of consent, who are deserving of adult women to teach them to value themselves for who they are, not by what they are in relation to men.”
Of course, the magazine’s audience isn’t just teen girls. Readers include gay men, older women, and trans people, too. And in recent history, the magazine has been building a respected name for itself with incisive political articles and thoughtful commentary like “Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America.”
Sexual health is important, and since sexual health in high school so rarely covers anal sex, Teen Vogue’s article is needed. As gay men, think if we had something in high school other than Queer as Folk DVDs to teach us in the ins and outs of anal. We may have been a bit better informed and less scared of the sexual act.
The article, worth reading in its entirety, is a great read and emphasizes the fact that at the end of the day, anal sex is just good clean fun — even if it occasionally involves poop.
Ummmm Yeah
I don’t blame the internet for having a fit. Teen magazines shouldn’t be teaching any kind of sex.
Charlie in Charge
But Teen Vogue has a sex editor so if people have issues with teens receiving any sort of good information about sex then the issue is that they talk about it at all, not that they are now discussing anal. But I didn’t see any protests about whatever was in last month’s issue of Teen Vogue.
Also… teens really do need goo information about sex as that is when most people get started.
dfwenigma
I totally agree with you. If we teach teenagers about their bodies, their emotional well being, how to make responsible choices, about anal and vaginal sex they might just have an alternative to abstinence so that they could help combat the highest teen pregnancy and STD epidemic this country has ever seen. And that wouldn’t be good would it? We couldn’t possibly empower young people to THINK could we. Because then they might THINK and decide for themselves that they’re not ready for the complexities of sex, or that they are ready and need to be prepared or that they might want to try something other than missionary vaginal sex. And they might just find ways to not get pregnant because they don’t feel loved or don’t understand the physical aspects of sexual contact and the risks involved. No we should leave that all to chance – or to parents – who are often uncomfortable with the whole idea.
Ummmm Yeah
And you are relying on Teen Vogue to do all of that correctly in 1,500 words or less. You don’t see any flaws there? Maybe a book, written by a professional would be oh much much much better.
tdh1980
Considering that nowadays “Teen Vogue” is doing more actual journalism than “Time,” “Newsweek,” and other major news outlets combined, the answer is yes. I would trust the professionals at the magazine.
JoeyRamone
yeah, right, a book, written by a professional. (Yawn.) And who do you think will read that. Go to the audience and Teen Vogue will reach that audience. Not a book.
For most of these young people, a magazine article of truth and facts is more than they will ever get at school, home, or from their religious leaders.
One thing does perplex me: no mention of douching or keeping the hole nice and clean. (Need to review article to see if it, umm, touches on that.) Been an ass lover for almost a lifetime, and all of my long-term partners kept it fresh!
Nancy Kaposi
Heh, heh- he said ‘goo information’.
Brian
When do you want people to learn about sex? When they’re 20?
In my opinion, people should understand as much as possible about sex before they do it. Knowing information beforehand is what will minimize risks of infection and unwanted pregnancy. Most teens are having sex. So the teenage years are a time to be talking about sex, and it might even be too late.
Chris
If someone’s on the internet, they have access to everything that was written about in Teen Vogue, and then some. What people are in a tizzy about is that when Teen Vogue publishes something, they can no longer pretend that their children aren’t reading/watching this stuff. Well guess what: children whose friends have older siblings are getting access to this stuff, younger and younger.
Francis_NG
This. Thank you
crowebobby
When I arrived in Berlin in 1996, I saw a photo of a beautiful young girl on the cover of Bravo Magazine (target readership of 13 to 18) with the caption: “Should I Blow Him?” (in German). I wasn’t exactly shocked, but I was “taken aback” as they used to say.
Xzamilloh
I lived in Germany back when I was in the Army in the mid 2000s. It was a definite culture shock, to say the least, with how open they were with nudity and sex on TV. Nothing tawdry, just indifference.
radiooutmike
Wait a second… People are upset about an article that informs teenagers about sex correctly versus, say, porn on the web?
I’m a parent; I’m grateful that Teen Vogue has the balls to inform young women (and men) that sex is normal, enjoyable and no shame attached to it.
tony-e
Especially considering how many school districts preach abstinence only for everything, including HIV/AIDS prevention (if they talk about that at all), I’m sure glad kids can get this information somewhere.
OzJosh
Before all you prudish Americans go all shock-horror at the prospect of teaching teens about sex I suggest you google the teen pregnancy and STD rates for the US then compare them with countries where people are more open about sex and there is sex education in schools.
Richard 55
Go and worry about getting gay marriage in Australia before worrying about other countries.
Xzamilloh
Teenagers can watch porn whenever they want, and in some sad cases, make porn themselves. These people need to realize that kids of today are not as we were and are exposed to much much more at younger ages, so they need to know how to be safe. We were teenagers once, so it would have been nice to have tips on having sex that didn’t result in intense pain for days later, wonder who finds this satisfying, and why I want to do it again lmao!!!!
Cedar
I’m more upset that the infographic at the top of this article conveniently left the clitoris out of the diagram. If we’re giving teens healthy lessons about sex, maybe let’s not leave out one of the most vitally pleasurable elements of female sexual anatomy.