Teenagers and sexual identity

But you both wanted to see an update written.

So there clearly are some things that are evolving around us.

Julie, maybe could you share a bit of an overview with us? What were some of the things that were changing in the environment for teenagers that you found as you came to approach your farm?

Yeah, I mean, I think, I mean, you know, one of the most obvious and the biggest one, I suppose, is the kind of the digital revolution, the sort of 24-7 access to the internet.

So teenagers now, you know, all have mobile phones in their pockets.

And, you know, and so everything is sort of very much digitally based.

So whereas 20 years ago, peer pressure was, you know, came from your friends, came at school, but, you know, you could go home, you could shut your bedroom door and, you know, you could get away from it.

Whereas now it's there the whole time.

So, you know, both messaging from friends, but also social media and influencers.

There's, you know, pornography.

There's the dangers of online grooming.

Friendships and even relationships increasingly take place online.

So, you know, there's, you know, dating apps and people meet on a dating app.

They do a lot of their relating even before they've met in person sometimes online.

So, you know, even relationships and friendships are on a very different kind of footing to where they were 20 years ago.

Yeah.

And I think we've already mentioned this identity thing as well.

So I think that is a huge cultural shift where everyone is now expected to have an identity.

And although obviously we do all have identity, the question is where do you get your identity from? But young people especially are expected to have a sexual and or a gender identity.

So even from a very young age, they're asked how they identify and they're expected to say...

Gay, lesbian, queer, trans, non-binary, whatever it is.

So even pre-pubertal children are being expected to kind of come up with these identities.

And we're at a point where almost... kind of being heterosexual and being happy with your biological sex are seen as a bit boring.

And of course, teenagers don't want to be boring.

They want to be edgy.