They especially want to feel sophisticated on prom night. Inside, pictures mostly show girls on the beach in the morning light with their prom gowns in disarray. The boys have their shirts open and pants pushed low enough to display underwear. Virtually every picture shows heavy-lidded teenagers clinging to each other in rumpled clothes on the morning after. It would be difficult not to get the impression that going to the prom is primarily about having sex.
Every picture conveys sexual passion or exhaustion.
Not a single parent or teacher appears in the entire magazine, even in the far-off background. Since AIDS was first recognized in 1981, the report says, the proportion of people contracting the virus through heterosexual sex has increased tenfold. Of all segments of the population, AIDS is spreading fastest among teenagers and young adults, regardless of sexual orientation. But when the big party is over this year, many teenagers may find out just how high the price really is. Marilyn Geewax is an editorial writer for The Atlanta Constitution.