• “Pleasure is in your own hands” is the new pro-masturbation slogan used by a sex ed program in the Extremadura region of Spain. The campaign has upset some Catholics in the country, despite having received funding from local youth and women’s affairs ministries. [Guardian UK]
• The federal government released a report on Tuesday which found that DNA evidence culled from “rape kits,” which are performed when a victim visits an emergency room or doctor’s office after a rape, are often never sent to crime labs. A CBS news investigation found that when raped kids are not tested for months or even years, the rapists are walking free and continuing to commit crimes. [CBS News]

Here’s a unique scholarship money idea: earning cash for your empty womb! A program at University of North Carolina at Greenboro called College Bound Sisters,  started by two doctorate-holding nurses, has paid teen girls one dollar per day for college if they don’t get pregnant.

Jeebus. Why does everybody get so freaked out when adults dare to talk about teenagers masturbating, considering horny 13-year-old guys probably jerk off more than anyone in the world? Alas, there’s drama in Sheffield, England, because medical professionals are circulating a pamphlet to teens which suggests that self-pleasure might be more satisfying than, oh, having sex before they’re ready or getting knocked up. The pamphlet is called “Pleasure” and it says:

“An orgasm a day keeps the doctor away….Health promotion experts advocate five portions of fruit and veg a day and 30 minutes’ physical activity three times a week. What about sex or masturbation twice a week?”

“Adult” and “sex ed” are three words that sound terrible together at first glance.  But lo and behold, O: The Oprah Magazine sat in on an adult sex ed class full of 40- to 60-somethings at the First Unitarian Church in Austin, TX, and one thing is for certain: bumbling teens aren’t the only ones with questions!

Unitarians are smart for realizing that learning about one’s sexuality is a lifelong pursuit. How to properly put on a condom and what to do about queefing preoccupy the young pups. New parents, an infertile couple, women who lost her breasts to mastectomies, and other grownups now realize that 45-minute lecture from the gym coach back in 10th grade left something to be desired!

If you’re wondering who thought it was a good idea for Bristol Palin, pregnant at 17, to warn America’s teens not to have sex until they’re married, you’re not alone.

But it’s hard to figure out what, exactly, the well-meaning adults who preach “no sex until marriage” to teenagers are thinking, considering a 2007 study confirmed abstinence-only education does not work.

Jessica Valenti, editor of Feminsting.com and author of The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession With Virginity Is Hurting Young Women, has written a piece for The Nation about how the groups that comprise what Valenti calls “the virginity movement” have finally realized they need new PR.

Unfortunately, the abstinence preachers’ ideas for discouraging teens from having sex still don’t make any sense.

• Jamie Lynn Spears gives us the finger, and parties it up. [TMZ]—We’re glad the girl is finally acting her age, but we’re a little scared about what’s in the cup.
• Miley Cyrus and Justin Gaston have reportedly split up. [Us Magazine] —He was too cute for her, anyway.
• Courtney Love seems to have recovered from her mid-life crisis, and is on to bigger and better things…like starting her own fashion line. [Refinery 29] —I have to admit, I’m more scared than excited.

Finally, Second Life has a use beyond virtual sex! Spanish health authorities launched a virtual portal on the site that lets teens discuss health issues with doctors without having to speak to one face-to-face. Now, shy teens willl be able to get all their blow job questions answered by a professional, without blushing. [The Guardian, U.K.]