If anyone is still reading xanga, here's something that may interest you..

Sexual Lyrics Prompt Teens to Have Sex By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer Sun Aug 6, 11:51 PM CHICAGO - Teens whose iPods are full of music with raunchy, sexual lyrics start having sex sooner than those who prefer other songs, a study found. Whether it's hip-hop, rap, pop or rock, much of popular music aimed at teens contains sexual overtones. Its influence on their behavior appears to depend on how the sex is portrayed, researchers found. Songs depicting men as "sex-driven studs," women as sex objects and with explicit references to sex acts are more likely to trigger early sexual behavior than those where sexual references are more veiled and relationships appear more committed, the study found. Teens who said they listened to lots of music with degrading sexual messages were almost twice as likely to start having intercourse or other sexual activities within the following two years as were teens who listened to little or no sexually degrading music. Among heavy listeners, 51 percent started having sex within two years, versus 29 percent of those who said they listened to little or no sexually degrading music. Exposure to lots of sexually degrading music "gives them a specific message about sex," said lead author Steven Martino, a researcher for Rand Corp. in Pittsburgh. Boys learn they should be relentless in pursuit of women and girls learn to view themselves as sex objects, he said. "We think that really lowers kids' inhibitions and makes them less thoughtful" about sexual decisions and may influence them to make decisions they regret, he said. The study, based on telephone interviews with 1,461 participants aged 12 to 17, appears in the August issue of Pediatrics, being released Monday. Most participants were virgins when they were first questioned in 2001. Follow-up interviews were done in 2002 and 2004 to see if music choice had influenced subsequent behavior. Natasha Ramsey, a 17-year-old from New Brunswick, N.J., said she and other teens sometimes listen to sexually explicit songs because they like the beat. "I won't really realize that the person is talking about having sex or raping a girl," she said. Even so, the message "is being beaten into the teens' heads," she said. "We don't even really realize how much." "A lot of teens think that's the way they're supposed to be, they think that's the cool thing to do. Because it's so common, it's accepted," said Ramsey, a teen editor for Sexetc.org, a teen sexual health Web site produced at Rutgers University. "Teens will try to deny it, they'll say 'No, it's not the music,' but it IS the music. That has one of the biggest impacts on our lives," Ramsey said. The Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the U.S. recording industry, declined to comment on the findings. Benjamin Chavis, chief executive officer of the Hip-Hip Summit Action Network, a coalition of hip-hop musicians and recording industry executives, said explicit music lyrics are a cultural expression that reflect "social and economic realities." "We caution rushing to judgment that music more than any other factor is a causative factor" for teens initiating sex, Chavis said. Martino said the researchers tried to account for other factors that could affect teens' sexual behavior, including parental permissiveness, and still found explicit lyrics had a strong influence. However, Yvonne K. Fulbright, a New York-based sex researcher and author, said factors including peer pressure, self-esteem and home environment are probably more influential than the research suggests. "It's a little dangerous to just pinpoint one thing. You have to look at everything that's going on in a young person's life," she said. "When somebody has a healthy sense of themselves, they don't take these lyrics too seriously." David Walsh, a psychologist who heads the National Institute on Media and the Family, said the results make sense, and echo research on the influence of videos and other visual media. The brain's impulse-control center undergoes "major construction" during the teen years at the same time that an interest in sex starts to blossom, he said. Add sexually arousing lyrics and "it's not that surprising that a kid with a heavier diet of that ... would be at greater risk for sexual behavior," Walsh said. Martino said parents, educators and teens themselves need to think more critically about messages in music lyrics. Fulbright agreed. "A healthy home atmosphere is one that allows a child to investigate what pop culture has to offer and at the same time say 'I know this is a fun song but you know that it's not right to treat women this way or this isn't a good person to have as a role model,'" she said.

 Hilo...
GUESS WHAT..
Well it seems my family and I are one step closer to a new house.. Our home is being put onto the market as we speak, AND we get our For Sale sign Sunday.
Wootles!
Sad thing though, we're not moving into Waukegan, and instead are thinking about "Old" Gurnee, a section of Gurnee that was built before all the newer homes, I'm sure you caught that. Kinda like downtown Waukegan.. with the Older homes.. (Joey's house). And yeah. It's either there or an area called Greenwood, it's suposadly near Grayslake.. so my father tells me.... Yeah..

So I just may end up going to Warren, possible, unless I get into Greenwood where I believe it is Grayslake school district..
Hm..
I like the idea that I will no longer be in gangster/VIVA LA MEXICO territory, but I will also be taken away from my friends that I love to death, and of course Joey... Who is.. Joey.. and I love Joey.

...I guess that's it from me.
CYA ROUND.

Yeah..
I need to be home more often don't I?
Teehe..

Well here's something for you, I think there's a ghost following me around my house all of a sudden.. I walked past a pile of cans in the living room and they made a sound as if someone was trying to pick one up out of a box.. then I walked by again and it happened again..
Interesting,
but now I feel like a maniac.
Talking to most likely nothingness when I said "Quit it" to the "ghost" who "was messing with the cans"

Wow. I'm a lunatic...

Yeah so.. When ever someone else get's back from away.. I'll be sitting here waiting...
I MISS YOU TOO CARTER..
Hehe.

WOO..
Long time no speaky my friends..

Hm.. what's new..
Well as most people now know I'm getting the chance of owning my own beautiful corn snake. As long as I get the funds myself and etcetera.. Which means I will be needing a job..
Sad to say not too many places are asking for a 15 year old to work, even if doing so will mean less money to spend on a worker (but then you have to worry about a less experienced one). So that may just mean I'll get one next year, if I'm lucky..

Anywho..
I now completely despise Gurnee Mills in that more actual real gangsters are showing up there and in that area, AND that more attention whores are showing up to harrass people.
And this is aside from the slutty little whores and the slow walking assholes who block up the whole hallway.
Bitches..

..Yeah..
Hows about them White Sox...

Noice job they're doin, eh?

I suppose.. I don't really watch sports so..

I can't wait to move away from Waukegan.. just not too far away...
then I would be forced to live with Joey.. or Krystal.. or Robby..

Someone..

..Possibly..

..Hi.

Sooo..
about this "let's have a food fight thing"
You people are bloody pathetic. One, your wasting food in which some people around the world are dying just to find, two, your selfish, ignorant morons. What is the point of having sa food fight in the first place? ITS FUN.. or is it really just because your a jackass trying to show something off, or your a jackass looking for attention, OR your an asswhipe who wants to just be a "rebel" and go against everything your told NOT to do.

Smart..
I use that term wisely, and its appearant that this school of ours, at least the Nineth Grade Center, is full of babbaling shitheads.

Yay! I talked to Carter yesterday, the busy butt. Even if the conversation was short and the main topic of the whole thing was about a little event that happened yesterday, no not the food fight.

Heeey.. how come megan gets the little paper thingy to put on her back.. I want one tooooo.. But I don't need it... bwhaha.
Stupid never-going-to-work-communism..
Yeah, we started talking about Communism in History today.. Marx... Wierd guy.. His ideas, nice, but they'll just never work.
And I know most of you can rant on and on and on about how communism doesn't work, but I've heard most of it already..
But feel free to leave comments..
Since I haven't had any at all in what feels like an eternity.

..Why doesn't my computer go this fast..
Damn.. I want a Vaio
..Ahem, yeah I'm on Joey's computer.. thingy.. and I'm jealous..

....I have a nose.
Hehe.. I love you Megan, just don't think retarded like about it.. I'm sure you understand.
..Now.. Who wants to see a picture of Joey sleeping..
Awww..
Too bad some of you can't
That's okay.