They're Not Dating, They're Not Having Sex -- & They're Not Straight or Gay

There are a lot of things not to like about this week's attempt to name and describe the latest in high school social/sexual trends -- the "pansexual, bi-queer, metroflexible New York teen" (aka the “post-gay” generation).

For one, the article (The Cuddle Puddle of Stuyvesant High School New York via EducationNews.org) is meant to shock and tittilate. It's stretched mighty thin when it tries to be a trend piece. And it suggests an uncomfortable closeness between reporter and subjects, who will no doubt regret their participation in the article.

And yet there is some usefulness to describing a slice of the world of adolescents that may, in some places at least, be changing, and creating a whole new kind of open-ness and confusion. First came the vagueness of "hooking up" -- a term that describes almost anything -- closely followed by what seemed like the end of boyfriend/girlfriend dating. Now, apparently, the straight/gay lines are being blurred, among some subset of kids at least.