Question:
I have heard a lot of rumors about teenagers wearing color coded sex bracelets. The color of the bracelets lets boys or anyone know what the girl will do sexually. Purple supposedly mean "all the way". Is there any truth to this rumor?Answer:
ParentingTeensOnline expert Elizabeth M. Casparian, Ph.D. is Director of Educational Programs at HiTOPS in Princeton, NJ, where she and her staff provide educational programs to teens and parents throughout New Jersey. She answers:
It is true that some kids in some U.S. middle and high schools were making claims and identifying different colors of those plastic bracelets with different sex acts, and giving the bracelets all kinds of bogus meanings. This varied from school to school and from state to state. Some young people took it very seriously, some people ignored it, some thought it was funny, and some people felt traumatized by it, especially when they wore bracelets without knowing the meanings and rumors were started about their sex lives.
There are so many different urban legends and myths, stories and rumors that get passed around, and misinformation and hype that it is great to ask a reliable source when you want to know what's up with something like this. The Internet makes it easy for the whole world to learn about something and young people then believe that everyone is part of the experience. It is a great example of a teachable moment for parents to teach young people about how quickly and easily rumors can be spread, how common it can be for a person to be teased about something that is essentially meaningless, and how hurtful that can be, and how important it is to have true friends and supportive adults, so that these crazy things all wash over and not cause permanent damage.