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Third Base Ain't What It Used to Be: What Your Kids Are Learning About Sex Today and How to Teach Them to Become Sexually Healthy Adults— Logan Levkoff, M.S.

For most parents, talking to their children about sex is a task they dread, even though they worry about the increasing prevalence of sexual imagery in television, music, movies, and other media. But Logan Levkoff wants to change that with her new book Third Base Ain't What It Used to Be, and, as she correctly points out, either parents supply children with the information they need or they will acquire it from their peers, the media, or other potentially misinformed, misleading, or biased sources. She says that "[b]y not supplying our youth with accurate information, we unintentially send them off into the world unprepared and at risk. And that's when the media, and the kids on the school bus, take over and become their primary sexuality educators."

Levkoff has lots of experience talking to people about sex; a sexologist, relationship expert, advice columnist and a Ph.D. candidate in Human Sexuality, Marriage, and Family Life Education, she has made a career of candidly discussing what many people prefer to keep private. She urges parents to be open and honest with their kids; she opposes the use of euphemisms or slang, even if they make the discussion more palatable for parents. Levkoff also discourages parents from allowing their embarrassment or discomfort to send negative or mixed messages about sex and sexuality to their children. As her website explains, she "makes it clear that sex and sexuality are not 'dirty words'; they are words that should be discussed openly, without guilt or fear." Levkoff also makes explicit that her goal is not to remove values from the discussion, but to place values in the parents' sphere. It is their duty to impart their beliefs on the subject to their children-while giving them accurate information.

Levkoff's message is especially relevant in view of the changes in the way sex is presented in our society. Depictions of sex have become more prevalent and more explicit than they were for previous generation. Furthermore, attitudes towards sex, and what is or is not sex, have changed, even if not all the rumors on the subject are true. She argues that one example of this shift in the contemporary attitude that oral sex is "no big deal" and not sex at all, in contrast to the stigma it represented for previous generations. While sometimes children are simply parroting words without understanding their meaning, the fact that they are exposed to these terms means that parents have to be willing to respond to their children's questions about the things they see and hear from others.

Adolescents also need their parents to provide boundaries, may seek reassurance about what sexual behavior is 'normal' for their age and need help to navigate the complicated relationships that may arise with people who are older or more experienced. Levkoff tackles questions from sexual orientation to masturbation to virginity to contraception and how parents should address these topics with their children. Dr. Drew Pinsky calls Third Base, "A tour de force on a topic every parent needs to understand: sexual health. Levkoff shares her passion and knowledge in an encyclopedic effort that is accurate and complete."

Levkoff has appeared widely in the media. She has written for Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Seventeen, Ellegirl.com, Ladies Home Journal, Brides, Men's Health, and more. Levkoff has also appeared extensively on television, is a spokesperson for Trojan, and is on several sexual health related boards. She writes a blog on her website loganlevkoff.com.

--Caroline Patton