ABSTRACT
The author started writing her syndicated column, "Ask Beth", in 1963. It has always been aimed at teen-agers, the bulk of letters coming from junior high school students. Their main concern is, and always has been, how to attract the opposite sex. Sexual harassment is growing at an alarming rate in schools today, a direct result of the rise in violence and overt sexuality. She started writing more frankly about sexual issues back in the early 1970s after Gene Patterson, then editor of the St. Petersburg Times, told her that she was the only columnist tackling this topic for teen-agers. She tries to give factual answers to questions about all facets of the subject of sexuality. She used to get some highly critical responses from adults. She was on a lecture circuit with a lovely 20-year-old woman who was HIV-positive and just starting to get symptoms.
