I am not sure where to begin, so I am just going to type and hope I make sense. LOL

Cobalt and I monitor where our kids go on the net. We quite often visit the sites that they go to. Well, my lovely daughter (age 11 - looks like she is 17) goes to a particular teen site quite often so I decided to see what it was all about. At first I thought it was a pretty neat site. It is supposed to be just for teen girls and the topics vary from puberty to hot button issues like racism and gay marriage. I usually don't mind her going to sites because it does promote conversation between her and I - we have a pretty good relationship at this point in her teenagedom. (In other words, I haven't gotten stupid yet.. lol )

Anyway - the more I explored, the more agitated I became! Then I decided to find out more about who ran the site. I read some of the disclaimers.. the children's privacy act, some mature content on the site, if parents do not want their daughter to visit the site, it is up to the parents to block etc.. yadda yadda yadda...

I felt compelled to send the "staff" an email.. this is the email.
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I guess I don't know where to begin, so I am just going to type my concerns and thoughts in no apparent order..

I realize that teens today are growing up very different from when I was a teen - either that or I was very very sheltered. I monitor where my 11 year old daughter goes on the internet and when I saw she was going to unnamed web site.com I decided to check the site out myself. There are a lot of topics on the site that I feel are good for my daughter to read about because those topics are conversation starters for her and I. I do not always anticipate that she may need to ask me why some teenage girls cut on themselves, or that she may have questions about other things that I wouldn't even have thought about when I was 11 years old. So, in that aspect I am thankful.

Now, the parts that I am not thankful for. (You knew that this was probably coming - LOL)

I understand that as girls go thru puberty, their body changes, and they develop urges to explore their sexuality and....oh hell - I am not goint to be PC about this! OK - Are there moderators on the forums? There are some girls on there that are talking about putting peanut butter on their privates and making the dog lick them there until they orgasm! One girl did this with her cat and the cat ended up blind because it was alergic to peanut butter! On another post someone had a contest for best masturbation technique explained in detail! The winner got a special "doll" made for them. I can say that some of the 13 year old girls are very good writers. In fact, if I were a pedophile registered as a pretend teenage girl, I would be in hog heaven with some of the stories those girls posted about sex, masturbation, threesomes and even experimenting with the same sex.

The ages of these girls appear in their profile. Many of them are around the age of 13-16 and some as young as 11. There are girls on there that say they have bumps like pimples or boils on and around the outer portion of their vaginas - some are concerned that they may be a STD. Is there an adult moderator on there that could direct the child to a Planned Parenthood of something if the concern is such that this child can't talk to a parent?

Also, I keep telling my daughter to not give an email address or any other personal information that could direct an adult posing as a teen to her. There are many girls on this site who do not have that guidance from an adult in their lives - and I know that there is a disclaimer on your site instructing the girls to not do that, but they still do. I would hope that the statement made is not just to CYA just in case something happens to one of your members. I would hope, that in addition to providing an place for teens to express themselves, you are also creating a safe place for them to do so. From what I have seen, this site does not do that.

I think the forum is a good idea. There are lots of kids out there that do not have anyone they can talk to about certain things. But to let someone loose in this type of environment without the guidance of a caring adult is ridiculous.

OK.. I think I am done venting. Thank you for reading this email.

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.