Health And Beauty Director At Girls’ Site xoJane Advocates Not Using Condoms

Those of you who are familiar with xoJane probably know that the site, founded by former Sassy editor Jane Pratt, is intended to be read by young teenage girls. The site offers your standard makeup tips, dating advice, fashion, and all with a kind of sassy voice. Despite that some of the content is intended to be humorous and rather tongue in cheek, the health and beauty director wrote a piece about she never uses condoms, birth control pills, or other contraception and that she relies on Plan B to keep her from getting pregnant.

What a lovely article for your sexually curious teenage girl to stumble upon.

In the article, Cat Marnell writes extensively on how she refuses to take birth control for fear of becoming “fat,” while also avoiding condoms because “I don’t sleep with that many people…” When discussing her stint with a diaphragm, she writes that she did give this “wild card” a shot during a time when she was “blowing my trust fund on cocaine and champagne at all of the best clubs.”

Given the utterly absurd reasons she wades through regarding her sexual health, my first assumption is that this piece is thrown together for humorous purposes, perhaps as a portrait of sexual irresponsibility. But although the article falls way short of satire, the confusing intent behind it is what makes it most dangerous. Even if the piece is intended to be funny, it’s questionable whether a 14-year-old xoJane reader who is considering being sexually active would understand and successfully navigate such humor.

Even worse, what could confuse a young girl more than reading a health director’s claim that condoms aren’t necessary? If you don’t sleep around, that is.

UPDATE: xoJane has written an open letter to “teenage girls.”

UPDATE: Teen girls vow to keep reading xoJane and call the writers “role models.”

(photo: Shutterstock)