"After 40 years of strict control, a new generation seems to be striving hard to push Singapore to catch up with other modern and more sexually liberal cities." -FTP Newsroom, Yahoo News.

As promiscuity rises, one phenomenon has led people scratching their heads.

In recent years, many different cases appeared. Some of which involve being nude in public places while some are rape cases.

For instance, the case of a teenage girl selling her soiled underwear online, a young trainee teacher jailed for having sex with minors and a case of a middle-aged woman who took off all her clothes and boarded a public bus. These news are definitely not as commonly seen as compared to today. People have become bolder and wilder and the conservative world is no longer in existence in the mind of many youths today. 

According to Durex, Singaporean youths are becoming sexually active younger, losing their virginity at the average age of 18.4 years. This figure is far lower than many other Asian countries. Unlike their elders, TIME survey reported that 18% of Singaporean women initiate sex. A higher proportion than anywhere else in Asia.

I think that these people are either known to be attention seekers, exhibitionists or mentally troubled. Either way, it kept me thinking about where is their dignity or how will their parents feel for their act. Certainly will not be proud it of.

Furthermore, with the influx of foreigners, they bring in their own culture and we have ours. We learn and exchange knowledge from one another and this may affect the way some of the Singaporeans think and feel towards this subject. 

With the recent rate of nudity, it has led to a speculation of whether it is a new trend or whether Singaporeans are breaking down from social conformity.

The influences of the media led to youths learning from what they see on the television, movies or the internet. It is a whole lot of difference from the way today's youths dress, the way they think and the things they do.

Some people say that it's the "generation gap" which older generations could not understand what really caused youths these days to enter sex much earlier than them.

In my opinion, I think that the parents of these youths probably did not spend enough time to educate or to bond/talk with them. Hence, these youths turn to their friends for advise and would rather spend time with them. However, if their friends are of bad company, they would have learnt it as well. 

In  addition, it could be that youths these days have different hobbies as of the youths back then. Youths these days would rather sit in front of the computer than to fly kites or to play zero-point. With the internet, many things are bond to be learnt and happened. Society has evolved around it and this may be one of the reasons why youth these days enter sex much earlier and why promiscuity rose.

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According to The Straits Times, about fifty percent of the four thousand kids surveyed said that they were victims of labeling, teasing and ridicule. From this figure, it shows that bullying is not uncommon and is rather rampant in schools today. 

There are different types towards bullying. There is the emotional, verbal and physical type of bullying. In general, bullying includes name calling, verbal/written abuse, exclusion from activities or physical abuse. Bullying is a form of abuse where by it involves a continuous attempt to enforce power over another person. Hence, having an "imbalance of power". 

Speaking of bullying, I would like to mention an incident in which some of my classmates had with a senior back in secondary school. I vaguely recall pushing the main door of the washroom open and to my surprise, some of my classmates, together with their friends surrounded a senior and exchanged coarse words at the top of their voice. I was instructed to leave the washroom and hence, left quietly without a second word. Little did I know that rumours spread like wildfire and many knew about the incident. Apparently, the senior was slapped at least once by everyone surrounding her in the washroom that day. 

Of course, disciplinary action was taken on those who slapped the senior but I believe that hatred remained in the air. 

As I look back and think about the incident, I see myself in the same position as many witnesses of bullying cases. "Run away if you can" and avoid getting into trouble for the fear of being the next target.  I believe that the incident must have scarred that senior deeply and because of that, it must have affected her emotionally and even lowered her self esteem.

I believe that bullies bully for various reasons. In the case of my classmates, they were probably displeased with certain matter which led to such act. However, there are many other cases of bullying. Some of which remained untold till the victim lose control of it's emotions and in some cases, chose to suicide.

Although bullying is rampant in schools today, I believe that by encouraging one's children to share about problems faced, telling children to stick to a buddy and informing the school for safety worries may help in overcoming/ reducing further bullying cases.

In my opinion, I for one do not agree with bullying. Picking on others who may appear weaker does not make us any stronger. Students have to be educated and raise awareness on the importance of friendship, understanding and working together instead of picking on one another and bullying. It upsets me to see people enjoying the process of bullying and picking on others.

 Imagine a world without bullying. Wouldn't it be a happier place to stay?

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When it comes to solving a math problem and scientific facts, young kids and teenagers may have a rough time. However, when it comes to a song playing on the radio, they know every word and beat. As mentioned by Stevie Wonder, "Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand..."

I always believe that music is an universal language that different races and cultures use. It is something which everyone can understand, remember and enjoy. 

As a teenager, I love listening to music and would carry my ipod with me where ever I go. To me, it is a form of entertainment to pass my time and to keep me company. It also influences the way I feel, and at times, my mood fluctuates according to the genre and melody of the music I am listening to. 

 I believe that music can be used to clam oneself down and relax. Based on a research, it states "Children, teens, and even babies potentially benefit from listening to music, as music can be a stimulant to intellectual and cognitive development." At the same time, the right type of music should be chosen carefully.

Pop music has different impacts on teens. While pop stars write their songs based on their thoughts and feelings, it is also form of self expression and something which people can relate to that feels most  close to them, as if music could understand and comfort them. 

In my opinion, I think that pop music is well appreciated by teens probably due to the fact that pop singers are about their age. Hence, the songs which pop singers sing are something in which teens could relate to and can be used to answer the questions to their problems or to calm oneself down.

Take love and break up songs for instance. 

However, pop music sung by pop singers have become idolized by teens. Most singers have rather decent looks and appear to be talented or unique in one way or another. Hence, they are sort of the "role models" and are admired by teens. Take korean pop group (Girls Generation) for instance. They are a group of nine girls which girls long for their beauty and figure while guys dream to date. With such media influences, teens are only concern in chasing after their idols making the true meaning of pop music no longer in existence. 

In addition, bands and pop singers these days use coarse and explicit language in their songs. While they  write music with such terms, teens tend to pick it up fast and use it since pop singers and bands are a source of influence to these teens.

With teens looking up to pop singers, I believe that these singers play an important role in influencing teen's thoughts and behaviours. Thus, they have to be aware of the way they portray themselves as people are looking up to them and learning from them. While pop music can be used in a positive way to bridge gaps, relax and convey good messages, it can also bring about negative messages and explicit language. 

Hence, it is up to individuals to decide if they are going for the true meaning of enjoying music or just learning from their idols to be like them. 

  

Everyone has to do their part in preventing animal abuse and people should be educated to love animals and treat animals just as how they treat human beings.