The Cuddle Puddle of Stuyvesant High School (Kids in same-sex/bi-sex encounters at school)

New York Magazine ^ | 2/4/05 | Alex Morris

[XR7]

Researchers find it shocking that 11 percent of American girls between 15 and 19 claim to have same-sex encounters. Clearly they’ve never observed the social rituals of the pansexual, bi-queer, metroflexible New York teen.

Alair is wearing a tight white tank top cut off above the hem to show her midriff. Her black cargo pants graze the top of her combat boots, and her black leather belt is studded with metal chains that drape down at intervals across her hips. She has long blonde curls that at various times have been dyed green, blue, red, purple, and orange. (“A mistake,” she says. “Even if you mean to dye your hair orange, it’s still a mistake.”)

Despite the fact that she’s fully clothed, she seems somehow exposed, her baby fat lingering in all the right places. Walking down the sterile, white halls of Stuyvesant High School, she creates a wave of attention. She’s not the most popular girl in school, but she is well known. “People like me,” she wrote in an instant message. “Well, most of them.”

Alair is headed for the section of the second-floor hallway where her friends gather every day during their free tenth period for the “cuddle puddle,” as she calls it. There are girls petting girls and girls petting guys and guys petting guys. She dives into the undulating heap of backpacks and blue jeans and emerges between her two best friends, Jane and Elle, whose names have been changed at their request. They are all 16, juniors at Stuyvesant. Alair slips into Jane’s lap, and Elle reclines next to them, watching, cat-eyed. All three have hooked up with each other. All three have hooked up with boys—sometimes the same boys. But it’s not that they’re gay or bisexual, not exactly. Not always.

Their friend Nathan, a senior with John Lennon hair and glasses, is there with his guitar, strumming softly under the conversation. “So many of the girls here are lesbian or have experimented or are confused,” he says.

Ilia, another senior boy, frowns at Nathan’s use of labels. “It’s not lesbian or bisexual. It’s just, whatever . . . ”

Since the school day is winding down, things in the hallway are starting to get rowdy. Jane disappears for a while and comes back carrying a pint-size girl over her shoulder. “Now I take her off and we have gay sex!” she says gleefully, as she parades back and forth in front of the cuddle puddle. “And it’s awesome!” The hijacked girl hangs limply, a smile creeping to her lips. Ilia has stuffed papers up the front of his shirt and prances around on tiptoe, batting his eyes and sticking out his chest. Elle is watching, enthralled, as two boys lock lips across the hall. “Oh, my,” she murmurs. “Homoerotica. There’s nothing more exciting than watching two men make out.” And everyone is talking to another girl in the puddle who just “came out,” meaning she announced that she’s now open to sexual overtures from both boys and girls, which makes her a minor celebrity, for a little while.

When asked how many of her female friends have had same-sex experiences, Alair answers, “All of them.” Then she stops to think about it. “All right, maybe 80 percent. At least 80 percent of them have experimented. And they still are. It’s either to please a man, or to try it out, or just to be fun, or ’cause you’re bored, or just ’cause you like it . . . whatever.”

With teenagers there is always a fair amount of posturing when it comes to sex, a tendency to exaggerate or trivialize, innocence mixed with swagger. It’s also true that the “puddle” is just one clique at Stuyvesant, and that Stuyvesant can hardly be considered a typical high school. It attracts the brightest public-school students in New York, and that may be an environment conducive to fewer sexual inhibitions. “In our school,” Elle says, “people are getting a better education, so they’re more open-minded.”

That said, the Stuyvesant cuddle puddle is emblematic of the changing landscape of high-school sexuality across the country. This past September, when the National Center for Health Statistics released its first survey in which teens were questioned about their sexual behavior, 11 percent of American girls polled in the 15-to-19 demographic claimed to have had same-sex encounters—the same percentage of all women ages 15 to 44 who reported same-sex experiences, even though the teenagers have much shorter sexual histories. It doesn’t take a Stuyvesant education to see what this means: More girls are experimenting with each other, and they’re starting younger. And this is a conservative estimate, according to Ritch Savin-Williams, a professor of human development at Cornell who has been conducting research on same-sex-attracted adolescents for over twenty years. Depending on how you phrase the questions and how you define sex between women, he believes that “it’s possible to get up to 20 percent of teenage girls...”

LINK TO FULL STORY: http://www.nymetro.com/news/features/15589/

[XR7]

Do you suppose that when they take a nostalgic look back at today's high school days they will title it "Happy Days?"

[acsrp38]

I had John Lennon glasses (and a hat too) way back in the old days when John Lennon did.

[johnny7]

Cuddle Puddle

The 'wet spot'?

[Deo volente]

EXCERPT:Alair is one of the lucky ones whose parents don’t mind her bisexual tendencies. Her dad is the president of a company that manages performance artists and her mom is a professional organizer. “My parents are awesome,” she says. “I think they’ve tried to raise me slightly quirky, like in a very hippie little way, and it totally backfired on them.”

“ ’Cause you ended up like a hippie?” Nathan asks.

“No, ’cause I went further than I think they wanted me to go.”

....“I can’t say I was pleased,” her mother tells me about first learning of Alair’s bisexual experimentation. “But I can’t say I was upset either. I like that she’s forthright about what she wants, that she values her freedom, that she takes care of herself...




Definitely NOT a candidate for Mother of the Year.

[USNBandit]

pansexual, bi-queer, metroflexible

That's funny.

[Texan5]

This is too disgusting for words-our now-grown kids went to Catholic school until their last two years of high school-but if they were still school age, they would graduate from private school or be homeschooled to keep them from being exposed to garbage like this.

[Ohioan from Florida]

Totally bizarre.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks again, President Clinton! Your legacy lives on.

[Evie Munchkin]

I guess this is what our tax dollars are funding. Just another reason to homeschool.

[NativeNewYorker]

Her dad is the president of a company that manages performance artists and her mom is a professional organizer.

One of the reasons I chose NOT to raise my kids in "the Village" or "downtown" was the rational fear that the offspring of my neighbors would be Bad Influences on my kids.

The Upper East Side is dull and white bready, but it's worth the tedium when I see the kinds of kids raised hereabouts.

Not that there're no risks in my neighborhood -- far from it -- but the odds of a positive outcome are clearly better.

[auboy]

Probably so. Evidently they consider sex a toy to play with. These people are nutz.

[robertpaulsen]

"Their friend Nathan, a senior with John Lennon hair and glasses, is there with his guitar, strumming softly under the conversation."

I picture the scene in Animal House when Bluto is walking down the stairs and that guy is playing the guitar and singing "I gave my love a cherry...

[NativeNewYorker]

BTW, Stuy is THE crown jewel of the NYC public school system. Chuckie Schumer's daughter was enrolled there on 9/11, when they turned its gym into a triage center.

[elcid1970]

The end times are here. To think of such as this is to weep. Yet another irrefutable sign. Pray that God may yet be merciful.

[Gritty]

We badly need to bring back the stocks and whipping post.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Yep, here in ultra-liberal Montgomery County, Maryland (Washington D.C. suburb where 1 in 30 is a lawyerscum (i.e. money grubbing, self centered, liberal), the government school system teaches kids starting in 8th grade that two men or two women being in a "relationship" is just as good, if not better, than one man, one women. They also implemented lessons on how to put condoms on cucumbers for 10th graders but that has been temporarily struck down by the courts because part of the "curriculum" taught kiddies that Baptists are intolerant bigots because they think homosexuality is a sin (where the heck could they have gotten that kind of idea... God's word, maybe? Nahh.... they must be making it up because they are hate mongers).

Yes, the pro homosexual, spread AIDS with abandon, people have taken over the government school systems. So, yes, you will have kids trying all kinds of sexual experiments (that they must do due to their genetics, of course).

[operation clinton cleanup]

Ilia, another senior boy, frowns at Nathan’s use of labels. “It’s not lesbian or bisexual. It’s just, whatever . . . ”

These morons have nothing to contribute to American Society. Is it any wonder companies are looking overseas to fill jobs.

[Revel]

After you read this then you have to wonder why everyone spends so much time worrying about myspace.com
It is becoming a very sick world. Why not spend some time worrying about modern culture and teaching these kids morals and values.

[Mjaye]

This is a sick example of why some people shouldn't reproduce. The idiot parents are worse than their over-indulged, clueless offpring, who will be bored completely with life by the time they're 19.

[moog]

It is an insult to some of us who can't too.

[Reddy]

I think this is another by-product of the "metrosexualization" of America. Wussie men are "in". And homosexuals have taken over.. every tv show has a homosexual portrayed in it, one of the best picture nominees is about homosexual sheepherders and another movie was about a transvestite. (Kind of insane since homosexuals only make up between l-l0% of the population!)

Saying that, I blame the behavior of these children on their parents. They were not taught the difference between right and wrong, that popular culture and what is on tv is not how we should live our lives.

[Deo volente]

These poor, lost children are simply a product of their environment. They have been feeding on a steady diet of secularism, relativism, and hedonism their entire lives. The idea of moral restraints has probably never entered their minds. The behavior described in the article, while bizarre and unnatural, is pretty much the same thing shown on MTV on a typical day.

If you swim all day in the sewer, you’re not going to come out smelling like roses.

[TexanToTheCore]

I think they are just going for shock value to pull the tail of the tiger.

Probably a bit on the rare side, these cuddle puddles.

[wintertime]

To All,

Stuyvesant? Isn't that the bluest of the "Blue Ribbon" government schools?

Ok,,,,so what's the excuse that parents of Blue Ribbon school attendees are going to use now? That their child's school is OK and wonderful because it is Blue Ribbon?

There is really only one acceptable excuse for sending your precious child to a government school. The only possible acceptable reason is that you are so poor or so dysfunctional you have no other option. If you didn't hand your child over to the government school indoctrinators, armed police and social workers would soon be at your door.

That is the ONLY acceptable reason for sending a child to a government school

[Ohioan from Florida]

Very true. I wonder if there's anything that can be done to change that.

[dljordan]

Years ago (I can't remember when) the homo activists used to brag that they would take over by subverting the children. Guess what's happened? Of course they had a little help from the ACLU, the Democrats, the NGO's, the NEA and lately from spineless, RINO's. It's warfare and the commie/NWO/Globalists have won so far.

[TXnMA]

pansexual, bi-queer, metroflexible New York teen.

What's the matter, Alex? Can't spell, "immoral", "lascivious", "slatternly", "sinful", or, just plain "slutty"?

[jimbo123]

Stuyvesant High School (nicknamed Stuy) is one of 6 of New York City's specialized math- and science-based public high schools...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_High_School

[jimbo123]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_High_School

Stuyvesant has contributed to the education of several Nobel laureates, winners of the Fields Medal and the Wolf Prize, and a host of accomplished alumni. It consistently leads the nation in number of National Merit Scholarships and is second to none in the number of Intel Science Talent Search Semi-Finalists and Finalists. Stuyvesant sends nearly all its students off to four year universities and around 15 percent go on to the Ivy League.

Stuyvesant graduates earn an average SAT score of about 1400 (685 verbal, 723 math). [5]. Stuyvesant also was the high school with the highest number of Advanced Placement exams taken, and also the highest number of students reaching the mastery level.

[humblegunner]

And I thought I was bad for smoking dope and listening to Ozzy!

[Mjaye]

It is an insult to some of us who can't too.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

It surely would be. Why anyone wastes the precious gift of children by encouraging such stupid and dangerous behavior is beyond me. What I want to know is when this behavior becomes the norm for kids, whatever will they do to rebel? Will the household animals be safe? (Sorry, but this is just so weird.)

[R. Scott]

High School sure has changed in the last … 40 years. 40 years? How time flies when you’re straight.

[cyborg]

It's about impressing boys and being popular.

[coydog]

What would they do to rebel? Interesting question.

Go conservative and join the NRA, perhaps? The looks on their parents' faces would be delicious to see.

[XR7]

I blame the behavior of these children on their parents.

What about the frickin' school administrators we are paying taxes up the ying-yang to support?

[moog]

It surely would be. Why anyone wastes the precious gift of children by encouraging such stupid and dangerous behavior is beyond me. What I want to know is when this behavior becomes the norm for kids, whatever will they do to rebel? Will the household animals be safe? (Sorry, but this is just so weird.)

You can see why I'm SO against abortion. I just can't believe people would waste such a precious gift and opportunity. Agreed on your first statement too. I don't understand too, why some people complain so much about (raising) their kids or things about them too. If you are a parent, you have the privilege of having the most importand and greatest job in the world--that of being a mom or dad. I yearn someday to be a dad and to see someone abuse that privilege and why is way beyond me.

The biggest thing I hear is the complaining. My next door neighbor (they are wonderful people) complained one time that she wasn't able to take their kids on 4 vacations that year (only 2 or 3). Well, last year they went to Flordia, California, Las Vegas, and some other places. My vacation times are spend going back home to visit my family. I haven't even been to Disneyland. I just think sometimes some of us take certain things for granted and don't realize that others don't. I am working towards that day when I can indeed become a dad.

[TheMole]

It may be worth pointing out that this is a magazine article in a very, very liberal magazine. It may not give an accurate picture of Stuyvesant High School.

[XR7]

It may not give an accurate picture of Stuyvesant High School.

You could be right.
After all, Stuyvesant is very conservative, right?

[gakrak]

For $13,000 per student per year in NY, this is what we get? This is educating our young and future leaders? May God have mercy on our souls. Amen.

[Mjaye]

My next door neighbor (they are wonderful people) complained one time that she wasn't able to take their kids on 4 vacations that year (only 2 or 3)...I am working towards that day when I can indeed become a dad.<<<<<<<<<<

I'm glad my kids are grown, people have lost perspective today, what with parents spending thousands of dollars so a kid can go to a prom in big style. The best dance I ever went to, I borrowed a dress from a neighbor, who also did my hair, and half the fun was riding in the boyfriend's jalopy; who'd have dreamed (or cared) about hiring a limo?

You'll want the best for your kids when you have them, but the most important gift you can ever give them is loving their mom. After that, just use common sense and don't get suckered into giving them whatever they think they want, which us usually based upon what some other parent got suckered into buying. You'll make a great dad!

[moog]

I'm glad my kids are grown, people have lost perspective today, what with parents spending thousands of dollars so a kid can go to a prom in big style. The best dance I ever went to, I borrowed a dress from a neighbor, who also did my hair, and half the fun was riding in the boyfriend's jalopy; who'd have dreamed (or cared) about hiring a limo? You'll want the best for your kids when you have them, but the most important gift you can ever give them is loving their mom. After that, just use common sense and don't get suckered into giving them whatever they think they want, which us usually based upon what some other parent got suckered into buying. You'll make a great dad!

WOW!! What wonderful advice. I REALLY agree that one of the best gifts you can give them is to teach them to respect and to love their mom. My dad EXPECTED us to respect our mom. I finally learned that after a few sore backsides.

My parents are like yours--not flashy, but practical. I always got the corsage from a neighbor. I used my own car too. I also tricked girls into asking me--hehe.

Actually, my parents taught us to be thankful for what we had and taught us that no, we didn't always need to get what we wanted. Sometimes there were lean times, and my parents taught us to live within our means and to save money. We didn't go on big vacations--we went to relatives and to grandparents. We were never rich, but we never felt poor, even on a couple of times when my dad lost his job. We never had our own bedrooms (now it seems like at least here some people move if each child doesn't have his own bedroom).

My sister married a guy from a pretty well-to=do family. I think he is a wonderful guy, but there are some things that are different there. When they go back home, his mom insists that they have to do something each day, that they have to eat lunch with her each day, that they have to join her for "tea" each day, and so on. They also take off on a trip to a big cabin or something like that. My parents are the "visit and play games" type. It causes some friction when their time is monopolized by his mom (who is a nice lady mind you, just has a different style than my own parents).

I still believe there are many good parents out there and I make sure that I compliment as many as I can. I always say that if I ever get the chance to raise a child, that he or she will not be the most spoiled child, but will be the most loved. I will be on my knees thanking God every day if that time ever comes.

I really appreciate your advice. Learning from others is how I learn. I have the great opportunity to serve others' children as a teacher. I get blessed in many ways and am thankful for all the little miracles that I see and for the many things that the little ones and their parents teach me. This mom from last year is going around to other parents to get letters to nominate me for some award. Last year, she put a bunch of stories together from parents in a big notebook. I don't care whether or not I get it. I just really appreciate the parents for doing such a thing for me. It's worth more than gold to me (even if what they say is exaggerated--I'm really a bumbling idiot dumdum of a teacher). I hope to convey my appreciation in some way to them. I do love those kids and am always so thankful for the opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of some children (though I really don't think I have anything to do with some of the miracles I see).

Thank you for your comments. It's people like you who keep me going.:)

[Mjaye]

WOW!! What wonderful advice. I REALLY agree that one of the best gifts you can give them is to teach them to respect and to love their mom...<<<<<<<

What I meant was that the best gift you can give the kids is YOU loving their mom, and of course if would follow that they would be expected to treat her with love and respect as well. Congratulations on your nomination, that's quite an accomplishment!

[moog]

What I meant was that the best gift you can give the kids is YOU loving their mom, and of course if would follow that they would be expected to treat her with love and respect as well. Congratulations on your nomination, that's quite an accomplishment!

Of course. My mom expects us to be "good" kids, nothing more, nothing less. She doesn't care that we're not the richest, nor do we have the biggest houses and cars, nor do we work at the most prestigious jobs (though all of us are successful at what we have chosen), she just wants us to turn out fine and to strive to put God first in our lives. So far, we all try to honor those expectations. The older I get, the "smarter" my mom becomes. :)

[Coleus]

did you do a search before posting?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1568927/posts

[MarkL]

I've got a friend who graduated from Stuyvesant HS in 1987. When I met her in 1988, she was a total goth. Was deeply in love with Robert Smith, wore all black, short hair, except for her bangs, which covered half her face, and was died black. Sort of cute, in a weird "goth" way. But absolutely brilliant. She got one heck of an education at that high school. 4 years later, when she graduated, she was little miss preppie, and a member of a sorority!

She's a sweet girl, got her masters degree in English Lit, and her teaching certificate, and she's a school teacher, and a darned good one. The sort you wish you got, because she went into teaching for all the right reasons: Because she loves teaching, children, and her subject (English). She's married, with a cute 7 year old girl, and living a great life. We've kept in touch all these years, even if we might not speak for a year or two at a time.

Mark

[little jeremiah]

All studies agree it's about 1.5-2%. I don't know where they got the 11% figure for women between 14 and 50 or whatever it was. Maybe the mothers of the girls in the story.

They always inflate numbers to suit their goals. The 10% figure was always a conscious lie.

[XR7]

...did you do a search before posting?

Actually, I did.
But it's nice to know that net Nazis will show up over month later to point out that there was a duplicate post.

[Coleus]

Actually, I did. >>>

and you still posted the same article??

[VOYAGER]

It is very difficult, after reading this article, to picture these, to be pitied, children were ever innocent babes in their mother's arms!

It is heart-breaking!