It's not every day that you come across something online that you think is truly different, useful and, even fun. The other day I came across a website, "Maria Talks," that I think meets this criteria. The site was created through funding from the Massachusetts government, and it operates in conjunction with the Massachusetts Sexual Health Hotline. As someone who has spent plenty of time searching the web for resources on sexual health and birth control, I think that this site stands out.

At The National Campaign, we often send the message that safe sexual practices among teens are best achieved through ongoing conversation and communication. First and foremost, teens themselves have told us their parents most influence their decisions about sex, and we have long asked parents to take the lead and start that open and ongoing conversation with their children.

Why is it that some people are better listeners than others? You can tell when someone is listening to you--really listening--when they're actually taking in what you're saying, considering it, and perhaps not even having a response at the ready--not simply planning their next conversational move. Listening is a form of respect, and one that is easily mowed over by the desire to get one's own point across. Like a monologue masquerading as a dialogue.

Since October is "Let's Talk" month (see Bill Albert's post from earlier this month), maybe the added attention will get some parents to move from wanting to talk with their teens about love, sex and relationships to actually doing it. But a critical part of this conversation--and really any conversation with someone you care about--has to be the listening part. We've heard from teens for over a decade now that they are afraid to ask their parents about sex and contraception because they are convinced that mom or dad will freak out and assume that their teen is already 'doing it.' Or that it will be so embarrassing their heads will explode.

I don't ponder this often, but if I were to consider how to define the word "sex" to someone, I'm fairly confident that I could come within striking distance of an accurate description. But according to a few articles floating around today, I might be a little overconfident...it turns out, Americans have almost no common definition of sex. In fact, about 37 percent of women consider oral sex "sex" -- and 63 percent of them don't. Somewhat surprisingly, men are more likely to consider oral sex to be "sex" (though Amanda Hess of The Sexist Blogs has an interesting take on this finding).

Why the confusion? Have years of philandering politicians and their fast and loose (pun intended) definitions of sex made the American public less sure of themselves? Well, maybe they're not all to blame. According to Erick Janssen, a scientist at sex-research Mecca, The Kinsey Institute, "Sex is a word and nobody is really in charge of that term. In a way, our thinking of sex and definitions of sex is more complex than they were in the past."

And even in the (admittedly recent) past, things weren't very clear. In 1998, two other Kinsey researchers were publishing a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association on how people see sex. The answer: We can't really agree. "These data make it clear that general agreement regarding what constitutes having 'had sex' and how sexual partners are counted cannot be taken for granted," Kinsey researchers Stephanie Sanders and June Reinisch concluded in their JAMA paper.

So, what's the big deal? Who cares if we can't come up with an official definition? To my mind, it doesn't much matter if my definition and yours don't match up...but sex is a big enough deal that, if you're having it, you should be able to talk about it. And to borrow a point from the Sexist Blogs' Sexist Beatdown, "it's not as important to define what 'sex' is as it is to define what we're comfortable with people doing with us or with other people."

"hey whats up?"
"nothing what are you doing?"
"dont know, want to hang?"
"yeah come over"

A series of innocent text messages or a new system of courtship? From teens 'sexting' to twenty-somethings dating via Blackberry Messenger, the cell phone age has ushered in a new system of courtship that makes all-night phone conversations seem archaic and written love letters resemble ancient artifacts. Why bother calling the object of your desire when you can simply send a "what's up" in a text message? Who would take the time to actually get together with a potential love interest when BBM-ing allows the users to message in real-time speed? It's like real conversation, right?

Wrong. Not to mention, with new technology comes new etiquette. Capitalization, word choice, time in between messages; even abbreviations must be treated with the proper manners. Time matters. Late night texts may be construed as booty calls. Number of texts sent in a row matters. Two consecutive text messages: okay, if you have a good amount of information to convey. Three consecutive text messages: you might as well write 'needy' on your forehead.

Then there are the actual texts themselves. I'm the first to admit that I have spent hours analyzing every character in a 35-character text. Was the typo intentional? What does he mean by 'hang out'? Is 10pm considered late-night or did he just get off of work? How long do I need to wait to text him back? If my response is longer than the maximum allotted characters in a text can I send him two, or--gasp--hit the send button and just tell him with words in a phone call? A piece of technology invented to make correspondence easier and mobile has only complicated our relationships and caused a great deal of stress in an already stressful environment.

Want to hear the rules from a more scholarly source (as if one even exists...)? Check out this article from FoxNews.com's FOXSexpert.

Lauren Mann is an intern in the National Campaign's Entertainment Media and Audience Strategy department. She is a junior at George Washington University, majoring in Communications and Journalism.