Professor quoted in AJC on youth encounters

Teenage colloquialisms usually come and go quickly, but one phrase has Stephanie Jones, a professor in UGA's College of Education, concerned about the culture of relationships today.

Jones, who teaches in the department of educational theory and practice, wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's "Get Schooled" blog about young adults who are labeling their sexual encounters as "body counts." The violence of the term, she said, may be leading some boys and men to see girls and women as "something to be scored."

"If we follow that logic just a little bit, we can see how it becomes possible to see sexual encounters as kills and conquests and not mutually respectful and mutually pleasurable experiences that two people have decided to have together," Jones said.

Improving education about sexuality and relationships could help alleviate the issue. As Jones mentions in the article, the National Sexuality Education Standards—developed to fix inconsistencies in sexual education nationwide—is a good starting point.