Are tales of teen sexual escapades greatly exaggerated?
Decatur High School sophomore Liz Couch used to wear jelly bracelets because they were cute, but stopped after a friend told her about their reported meaning. While she suspects most teens wear the bracelets for fashion reasons, she says she heard one person with them bragging about their supposed sexual significance. “They (those who brag) do it for attention,” Liz said. “People like that have low self-esteem and have to do things like that to bring it up.” Teens see sex portrayed in a casual way so often that many have adopted the same attitude toward it, according to several local high school students. It’s common to see couples kissing and groping each other in public and overhear peers spilling details about weekend trysts. But is it all talk and no action? National surveys indicate that teens aren’t as sexually experienced as they claim to be. A recent poll by Princeton Survey Research, commissioned by NBC and People Magazine, found that most 13- to 16-year-olds hadn’t had sexual
