August 15-16

"[P]ublic diplomacy cannot change the 'image' of a country. Only changing a country can change its 'image'."

--Commentator Mitchell Polman; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Citizen Diplomacy as Public Service: The Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship - Tara D. Sonenshine, DipNote: "Tara D. Sonenshine serves as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. In eight countries around the world, 20 young Americans will soon be assuming new work spaces in cabinet-level ministries. They'll barely have time to thumb tack photos of their loved ones on the walls before getting down to work with their new colleagues. What is that work?

The real and everyday challenges those governments face in Bangladesh, Cote d'Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Thailand, and Tunisia. And what brings these committed young men and women to these posts? They are the first members of a fellowship program -- sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs -- that seeks to build mutual understanding and strengthen the development of public sector institutions overseas. These inaugural Fulbright Public Policy Fellows will serve as special assistants in ministries of education, energy, agriculture, commerce, health, youth, and others. These program participants are doing more than helping public servants in other countries. They are building bi-national relationships, and extending American values and ideals. They are helping to ensure that a new generation will be dedicated to public service and global cooperation. As they gathered at the State Department on Tuesday, August 14, for their pre-departure briefings, I had the opportunity to join Secretary Clinton and Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources Linda Thomas-Greenfield to offer our congratulations and wish them success." Image from entry

U.S. engagement in India becomes meaningful and mature - Madhurjya Kotoky, PD News–CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "Over the past few years it is really interesting to see how the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi has stepped up its efforts to reach out to diverse groups in India with a host of initiatives. ... If we look at the broader picture, all these initiatives ... seems [sic]  to be at the core of what the media loves to call the 'Asia pivot' of U.S. foreign policy – stemming from the belief that the future of politics will be decided in Asia, not Afghanistan or Iraq, and the United States has to be right at the center of the action. If one is in Asia, India can no longer be ignored and an increased allocation of diplomatic and military resources to the region becomes critical. The key points, I believe, are: --A demonstration of the fact that intelligently planned communication outreach and public diplomacy programs can complement or even drive policy --An approach of creating a 'network of influencers/evangelists' doesn’t necessarily have to be resource intensive rather is more about exploring common interests and leveraging technology -- A flexible attitude amongst diplomatic corps can go a long way in creating opportunities of engagement and participation.”

The YES Academy in Iraq [includes videos] - Paul Rockower, Huffington Post: "Recently, American Voices held its annual Youth Excellence on Stage (YES) Academy in the city of Duhok, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. American Voices, the nonprofit for which I am the Director of Communications, conducts cultural diplomacy to countries emerging from conflict or isolation.

At American Voices, we believe that cultural diplomacy requires sustained engagement, and as such this year marked the sixth in which we held the performing arts academy program in Iraq." Image from

Paul Rockower on Facebook [video]: "Peep piano man Prof. Bradley C Bolen on KWTX in Waco sharing on his public diplomacy work to Iraq and the rest of the Middle East with American Voices."

University Partnership - grants.gov: "The United States Embassy/Tunis is planning to support the Tunisian Diplomatic Institute in the development of a special curriculum to support on-going reforms in matter of capacity building to the benefit of Tunisian diplomats, in light of new trends and practices in diplomacy and skills required by the diplomatic profession, in fields such as Public Diplomacy, PR and Media Relations, Economic Diplomacy, Analysis and Prospective of Current International Affairs, Crisis Management, and interpersonal development."

The Battle for HeARTs and Minds: Photography as Soft Power in the War on Terror - elizagarnsey:cultureofdisaster.wordpress.com: "[Abstract for Culture and Humanitarian Crisis Workshop: 24 August 2012] The 2002 National Security Strategy stressed that the United States would 'wage a war of ideas to win the battle against international terrorism'. In what has become known as the Petraeus doctrine, the battle for hearts and minds gained currency as a tactic in the War on Terror. Art and visual culture played a strategic role in this war. Armed with art, International Relations is more alert to ideas and less blinded by rhetoric. As soft power resources employed in public diplomacy, art and visual culture have the potential to shed light on, and shape, national and international public opinion, simultaneously influencing and responding to government actions. In the War on Terror art affected the ways in which ideology was represented, galvanizing action and reaction. ... [P]hotography affected the War in two discernable ways. First, photography was influential

in co-opting support for the War on Terror. After 9/11 terrorism became highly optical and images of ‘terror’ flooded the visual age, prompting highly emotive reactions and forging political responses. Secondly, photography was prominent in representing and co-opting anti-war sentiment. Images of American soldiers torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison saturated international media in 2004. These images quickly began to be appropriated by artists, working against public diplomacy aims of attracting support for government policy and behaviour. While it has been over a decade since 9/11, the role of photography as a soft power resource in the War on Terror remains a significant issue to the practice of International Relations in an optical age. Since war can now be fought against metaphors such as ‘terror’, the battle for hearts and minds must necessarily be fought using equally complex resources such as art and visual culture." Image from article

Events - The German Marshall Fund of the United States: "Communicating Diplomacy Globally in the Facebook Era August 14, 2012 Washington [:] On August 9, academics, government officials and diplomats assembled to examine, under the co-sponsorship of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy, the basic questions of why governments communicate with foreign publics. Under the chairmanship of GMF Senior Director for Foreign Policy and Civil Society Enders Wimbush, the group focused on the technology-driven transformation of public diplomacy, gaps in current knowledge on political implications of these changes, and steps to enhance transatlantic cooperation to respond to an increasingly complex global communication environment. The three principal commentators were David Ensor, Director of the Voice of America; Bruce Sherman, Director of Global Strategy and Research for the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors; and Dr. Philip Seib, Director of the Center on Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California. Included in the discussion group were representatives from 22 other organizations in Washington, including senior staffers from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, a former U.S. Ambassador to Latvia, representatives from six European embassies (UK, Canada, France, Poland, Netherlands, and Sweden), two representatives from the Department of State, and academicians from American University."

Review: Resilience Why Things Bounce Back - phibetaiota.net: "US Public Diplomacy . ... Corrupt to the bone. Fact free and proud of it."

Broadcasting Board of Governors Managers Rated Some of the Worst in Federal Government - BBGWatcher, USG Broadcasts/BBG Watch: "Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) executives are some of the worst managers in the entire federal government according to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.

This conclusion is reflected in the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government study, which places the BBG the last among federal agencies in Strategic Management, Effective Leadership and Fairness. But BBG Watch has learned that Broadcasting Board of Governors executives, who work for International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) director Richard Lobo, have once again given themselves high bonuses in 2011 that in many cases were even higher than their bonuses in 2010. We will report on this later." Image from article

Broadcasting Board of Governors employees post devastating condemnation of top management - BBGWatcher, USG Broadcasts/BBG Watch: "In a devastating expose of mismanagement at the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and its flagship broadcaster the Voice of America (VOA), AFGE Local 1812, the union representing BBG’s government employees has accused the agency’s top management of deceiving the American public and the U.S. Congress and playing into the hands of America’s enemies abroad.

The article titled 'A Voice of Gimmicks,' posted on the AFGE Local 1812 website, lists some of the BBG management’s decisions in recent years that have damaged taxpayer-supported U.S. international broadcasting operations: 'The elimination of the VOA Arabic service, to the immense benefit of Al-Jazeera.' 'The elimination of the Russia radio broadcasts, to the immense benefit of autocratic Russia.' 'The near-elimination of Mandarin and Cantonese broadcasts, to the immense benefit of communist China.' The article also points out that many of the new media sites launched by BBG managers and promoted as a substitute for radio and television broadcasts have hardly any followers." Image from entry

CosmoDiplo – Paul Rockower, Levantine: “Cosmo as cultural diplomacy, women's empowerment and American soft power.”

Russia, Pussy Riot, and Public Diplomacy - Mitchell Polman, PD News–CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "'Pussy Riot', for those of you who may not know, is a self-described 'feminist punk collective'. Three of its members – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich – performed a 'punk prayer for Putin' in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral to protest Patriarch Kirill's enthusiastic endorsement of Vladimir Putin for president. The performance lasted forty seconds before it was broken-up [sic]. The performance then went viral on YouTube before the three young women (two of whom have small children) were arrested. They now face seven years in prison for 'hooliganism' and 'inciting religious hatred'. ... In recent years, the Kremlin has embarked on an ambitious program that it has referred to as 'public diplomacy.' The RT [Russia Today] Channel has been a centerpiece of this project. Supposedly, the RT Channel is about getting Russia's viewpoint across to the globe. ... In addition to the RT Channel, various smooth Russian 'experts' have fanned-out across the globe to explain Russia's domestic and international realities. ... The message of all this activity is simple – Russia is a modern country that is rising in importance. It is contemporary, chic, and is well known for its hot women (as is obvious from a couple hours of RT programming). The RT Channel, intentionally or not, regularly depicts America as a chaotic nation in decline and rapidly losing influence in the world. Then along comes Pussy Riot.

The Pussy Riot trial testimony sounds something more like the Salem witchcraft trials than the legal proceedings of a modern democracy. ... Public diplomacy makes it possible for people to better understand a country's positives as well as negatives. That makes it a vital part of international diplomacy. It cannot, however, erase the negative side of a society that outsiders may find disagreeable." Image from

Madonna Is a Stage Prop in Pussy Riot Trial - Maxim Shevchenko, Moscow Times: "Madonna came out in full support of Pussy Riot last week in both her seven-minute speech during her Moscow concert and in her interview with Oleg Kashin of Kommersant. She said, among other things, that President Vladimir Putin should free the three young female band members from prison and asserted that the Russian Orthodox Church is corrupt. Madonna is a pop culture superstar whose every word is picked up by the leading global media outlets. This is precisely why Kashin scored big by getting the interview. He knew it would have a global impact.  ...  Madonna ... is only a stage prop, a vivid symbol of everything superficial, deceitful and hateful that the West exhibits toward Russia. But this bias is by no means limited to Western media.

Take, for example, one of Kashin's questions posed to Madonna, which is a good example of anti-Russian propaganda masked as journalism:  Kashin: 'This may be a strange question, but do you see a difference between how they listen to music in free countries and countries that are oppressed? Is there a difference? You do have fans in Syria and North Korea.' Madonna: 'Yes, I do have fans there, but I don't go there, and so I never see them.' Kashin: 'But you do come to Russia.' Kashin was implying that Russia is on the same level as Syria and North Korea. In this way, Kashin advanced the common Western false stereotype of Russia." Image from article

Israel unleashes new hasbara offensive: Interpretive dance - Gil Shefler, jpost.com: "Israel has unveiled the latest weapon with which it hopes to win over the hearts and minds of people in the former Soviet Union: Interpretive dance. The Public Diplomacy Ministry is sending a group of Israeli artists, including dance troupe Vizavi, on a tour of Baltic countries aimed at improving the country's image in the region. 'This way we can strengthen ties and familiarity with the Jewish diaspora, fight ignorance and bigotry that is deeply rooted in society in such countries and contribute to Israel's positive image,' said Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein."

Foreign Secretary Mataikabara Speaks on Cultural Diplomacy - thejetnewspaper.com: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations permanent secretary Mrs Saipora Mataikabara has emphasised the importance of cultural diplomacy in international relations and national development. Officiating at the opening of the 2012 Fijian Teachers Association Cultural Festival, Mrs Mataikabara said that the event exposes future leaders 'to a wide array of thought-provoking activities, which are platforms to raise opinions on issues that need the collective action and attention of society and Government.

This inclusive process nurtures confidence and maturity in our young people'. 'This festival allows students to recognise the value of belonging to a cultural group and at the same time, it provides a deeper understanding of the cultural dynamics that exist in our own society allowing the general recognition and appreciation of the diversity of cultures'." Mataikabara image from article

Zhao said that the foreign understanding of Chinese long-term process can not Ji [sic] - htm01-05.com/questions: "Zhao concluded that,burberry pas cher, to carry out the foreigners to understand China is a long process,burberry soldes, not instant success,abercrombie, the development of China’s public diplomacy is still promising."

A summer of Public Diplomacy in SYRACUSE NY - Exchange Journal: "Written by Philip A. Bristol, Public Diplomacy/Law Graduate Student, Syracuse University: As many of my colleagues and classmates are scattered all over the globe in exotic places engaging in varying forms of Public Diplomacy I am here in Syracuse. I am working two very different summer jobs that have me engaging in public diplomacy on a daily basis. So how can a graduate student engage in public diplomacy when he hasn’t even left the country? PD is, after all, an international field of study, right? The truth of the matter is that the practical application of PD can be found in both of my summer jobs.

My first job, one that I started last fall, is as a research assistant for The Center for Indigenous Law, Governance and Citizenship at the Syracuse University College of Law. (Yes I am also a Law student.)... The second job is an Instructors Assistant for one of the required classes for new Masters Students at S.I. Newhouse: Graphics. ... I have truly enjoyed both of my summer jobs. It has been a bit hectic, but I like being busy. (I would not be doing two Masters as well as Law school if that was not the case.) I know that for me the practical application of academic theories especially in the world of state-to-state relations is where I will thrive." Image from

RELATED ITEMS

World to America: We want soft, not hard power - Bruce Stokes and Richard Wike, CNN: Public opinion data -- including the results of the annual Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes surveys, the yearly Transatlantic Trends polls by the German Marshall Fund and other surveys -- leave no doubt that foreign approval of the United States in most parts of the world is much higher today than it was in the waning days of President George W. Bush’s administration. In France, Spain, and Germany, for example, the percentage of people with a positive view of the U.S. is at least 20 percentage points higher than in 2008, according to the Pew Research Center studies.

And much of that rebound is attributable to the personal popularity of Barack Obama. But national stature fueled by presidential personality is inherently volatile. Once global publics soured on Bush, their view of most things American took on a negative hue. And his successor’s rock star attractiveness created an Obama-bounce for a range of measures of America’s influence. However, that Obama aura actually never existed in the Middle East. And it has already begun to fade, if only somewhat, in a number of countries. How the world would take to the largely unknown Romney as president remains to be seen. A potentially more sustainable measure of U.S. stature may be the global public’s assessment of the exercise of American power in all its forms, both soft and hard. Here, polling data suggests respect for U.S. soft power is on the rise, although many measures of it still don’t enjoy majority support. Meanwhile, global publics are at times divided and in other instances strongly opposed to the exercise of U.S. hard power. A drone campaign against extremist leaders and organizations in places such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia has been one of the Obama administration’s signature foreign policy initiatives. Yet a median of 69 percent across 20 of the countries surveyed by the Pew Research Center this spring oppose such strikes. Moreover, just as in the Bush years, there’s a widespread perception that Washington acts unilaterally in world affairs. At the same time, aspects of American soft power are well-regarded. Looking at 16 countries polled by Pew in both 2007 and 2012, a median of 65 percent embraces American music, movies and television, up six percentage points from five years ago. The appeal of American popular culture has increased even more in particular nations. It’s up 16 points in Mexico, 10 points in Russia and eight points in Italy and Turkey. More than half the population in 16 of 20 countries also admire the U.S. for its science and technology. And that backing is up 15 points in Spain, 11 points in Pakistan, seven points in Italy and six points in Japan. A median of just 45 percent like American ideas about democracy, but it’s notable that backing is up 10 points since 2007 in the 16 nations where there is comparable data. And such approval has jumped a whopping 30 points in Spain, 20 points in Italy and France and 14 points in Germany. Meanwhile, a median of 43 percent admire American ways of doing business and such support is up 11 percentage points since 2007. There are good reasons to believe that the influence of U.S. soft power will continue to grow.  American popular culture and ideas about democracy are particularly appealing to young people who will be the leaders and opinion molders of the future. Still, there are limits to American soft power. Even as people embrace certain features of American culture, they also worry that it may crowd out their own cultures and traditions – Japan is the only nation of 20 surveyed where at least half the population believe it is a positive thing for U.S. ideas and customs to spread to their country. Nevertheless, the median percentage that sees such Americanization as a good thing has increased over the last five years.  Via HB. Image from

Sand in My Eyes: Letter with New Edition of We Meant Well - Peter van Buren, We Meant Well: The space between what we (the U.S.) were doing, the waste and mismanagement, and what we were saying, the endless propagandized successes, was filled with numb and hurt soldiers.

Nation-building—reconstruction—didn’t work in Iraq, and it is not working in Afghanistan. It is important to go over those things once in a while, because government fibbers are always lurking around with more false or exaggerated claims for Syria, Iran or Pakistan. See also. Image from

Can’t Afford Foreign Aid, or Can’t Afford to Cut It? [discussion] -  New York Times: With the American economy and the federal budget in tatters, the $50 billion that the U.S. spends on foreign aid could be a tempting target for deficit hawks. Should the U.S. sustain its contributions, when it can’t balance its own budget? Are the needs elsewhere in the world too urgent to scale back right now?

Uzbekistan deserves better: The U.S. should insist on steps to improve the human rights situation in the strategic nation - Sanjar Umarov, latimes.com: Washington needs to insist on specific and measurable steps to improve human rights -- such as the immediate release of rights activists, journalists and opposition figures, and allowing civil society groups to operate in Uzbekistan -- and be prepared to impose tough consequences if those conditions aren't met.

Image from article, with caption: As the 2014 troop withdrawal approaches, the Obama administration is focused on securing the agreement of Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan's authoritarian president, to allow thousands of military vehicles, containers and other equipment to move out through Uzbek territory. Above: Soldiers guard the Sharikh Khansai River bridge on the route to Kyrgyzstan in 2005.

Egypt's New President Moves Against Democracy: Mohammed Morsi has given himself complete legislative and executive power, plus the right to select writers of a new constitution - Eric Trager, Wall Street Journal: Rather than touting Morsi as a democratically elected leader -- as the Obama administration has frequently done -- Washington should denounce his power grab and insist that he demonstrate his commitment to democratic rule with action or risk losing the international goodwill that followed his election. Failing to do so will enable him to continue building his power domestically without paying a price abroad.

U.S. is right to assail China on its South China Sea claims - Editorial Board, Washington Post: The State Department accurately asserted that the United States has a “national interest” in the region: not territorial, but to protect regional stability and the huge volume of international shipping that passes through the sea. The sea is clearly a flashpoint. Everyone needs to make sure it does not become a sea of hostility.

Syria situation causes “propaganda war” - Russia - RIA Novosti: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariya Zakharova: “Regretfully, we have to state that the situation in Syria is becoming an object of a propaganda war, some of whose participants do not stop short of using dirty tricks. It is no secret either that some media, which from the very start covered events in Syria tendentiously… distort Russia’s principled position and sometimes even resort to open misinformation."

Bashar al-Assad’s propaganda - swissinfographics.com: For his official portraits, the Syrian president uses the visual codes of Soviet monumentalism. Discover this in the new exhibition at the SwissInfographics Gallery in Geneva. This exceptional exhibition will take place at the SwissInfographics Gallery. Organized with utmost urgency given the current tensions in Syria, “Bashar’s eye” shines an unexpected spotlight onto a president whose country is in a state of civil war. The exhibition showcases a series of photos taken in 2007 by the photographer Nicholas Righetti during Bashar al-Assad’s last election campaign.

Discover the portraits of this president by inheritance who was re-elected with 97.62% votes in his favor. The visual codes chosen by Bashar al-Assad for these political self-portraits are evocative of both the oriental baroque and soviet monumentalism. Often with the absence of any accompanying text, these posters displaying the president dressed in his Western style suit or military uniform were omnipresent in the streets of Syria during the campaign. Image from article

Leaked Israel memo: propaganda or Iran war plan? - Jonathan Marcus, BBC: Richard Silverstein - the American blogger who says he has been given the text of a memo outlining Israel's plans for a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities -- is clear about what he thinks it is. He says it came from a senior Israeli politician - a former minister -- and he describes it as a "sales pitch," used by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak to try to win round sceptical members of Israel's divided inner security cabinet. The text supplied to the BBC is just that -- text. There is no document as such and thus it is impossible to verify if it is indeed an Israeli cabinet paper of some kind.

But its purpose for Mr Silverstein is clear. He believes it was passed by a serving officer to the politician and then leaked by him precisely to alert the outside world to the scale of Israel's military plan to strike at Iran and thus to reduce its chances of ever happening. An unprecedented public debate is underway in Israel on the wisdom of launching an attack against Iran. And this leaked document, whatever its source, and whatever its original purpose, has become an element in that debate. Image from article, with caption: It is not clear if Israel's submarine-launched cruise missiles are a version of the US-made Harpoon

Pizza, propaganda, and ducks in China - Stephen Snowder, spectrum.columbiaspectator.com: GS student Tao Yang participated in the first ever Global Scholars Program Research Workshop. Tao and 10 other students have traveled in Beijing, Shanghai, and finally Mumbai for 6 weeks studying urbanization and environmental issues (as well as enjoying their fair share of the local *ahem* culture).

An international student from China, the India portion of the trip has proved for Tao a challenging, uncomfortable at times, and wonderfully eye-opening contrast from the much more familiar first portion. Image from article, with caption: Propaganda posters at Peking University

The myth of Hitler’s role in building the autobahn - jack, warhistoryonline.com: Historians now say that Adolf Hitler jumped on the bandwagon of increasing mobility that was already gathering momentum across the world. He certainly recognized the potential for securing his own power and seducing an entire nation with what looked at first like a crazy enterprise.

At the time, it seemed clear that very few Germans would be able to afford their own car in order to drive on the new motorways. So Nazi propaganda promised the people full mobility. The idea was to enable everybody to travel - not just the rich. This was how the idea of the Volkswagen – the “people’s car” - was born. Hitler also made the German national rail company introduce omnibus transport on the first sections of the new autobahns. Image from

More Socialist Realism - Sean Gabb, libertarianalliance.wordpress.com: Note the attention to detail here, the Great Leader’s indifference to his surroundings, his complete devotion to his work for the people. The room looks cold. The other chair is only temporarily empty. The use of the antique table as just a table heralds the beginning of a new and more rational age, etc, etc. It’s propaganda, and propaganda in the service of great evil. It’s also very good -- and possibly even great -- art.

Isaak Brodsky -- Lenin in Smoiny, 1917 [1930] Isaak Izrailevich Brodsky (Sofiyevka, Ukraine, January 6, 1884 -- Leningrad, August 14, 1939) was a Soviet painter whose work provided a blueprint for the art movement of socialist realism. He is known for his iconic portrayals of Lenin and idealised, carefully crafted paintings dedicated to the events of the Russian Civil War and the Bolshevik Revolution. Image from article

Communications during the Great War. An exhibition at Villa Manin in Passariano, Udine - wwiindex.blogspot.com: We all know the impact of all wars in communication. The new exhibition we would like to highlight is hosted in the wonderful venue of Villa Manin in Passariano, Udine. It is a kind of journey through the different types of communications: magazines, trench newpapers, the huge flood of correspondence from the front, propaganda and war photography are the main themes that

the curators of Consorzio Memoria Storica developed. Image from article

Control Freaks Love Using Propaganda - Control Freaks University: As we Control Freaks look at it, propaganda is that information that is spread in order to retain/increase power, money or sex. Of course, the information doesn’t necessarily have to be entirely true or accurate, but must seem reasonable enough to be accepted by the intended targets. Propaganda is best when appealing to emotion, so that most people are less likely to actually examine or analyze it.

While we tend think of propaganda as just something that governments use to keep control over citizens, corporations and religions can utilize it also. The mass marketing of ideas to thousands or millions of people has become a science, and there have been many experts in the field that have helped shape our world today with skilled propaganda. Certainly, the successful use of propaganda can help carry out wars, raise taxes, justify new laws, increase controls, and generally sway ignorant masses in to supporting just about anything a good C.F.’er could desire. Which simply means more power, money and sex for us all!  Sieg Heil, Baby! Image from article

AMERICANA

More teens have oral sex earlier than vaginal intercourse - Karen Weintraub, USA Today: Two-thirds of teens and young adults

have had oral sex — about as many as have had vaginal intercourse, suggests research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Image from article