Teen sex-education site adopts unusual position

Backspace hates getting all high-horsy, but local Internet startup Dotmedia's dotlove.com site just is not what we would call a proper sex-education channel.

Sponsored by condom-maker Durex, dotlove was founded by Leslie Kenny (and is not funded by local incubator, Incubasia, which is run by Ms Kenny's husband, Robert). It is aimed at teenagers with its advice and chat rooms on sex and love.

The cartoon-like characters which populate the site and have names like Gorgeous George, Apple and Joe Swell are hardly exemplary models for teenagers. For example, George, an arty-farty sort who likes 'beach bumming', is vegetarian, into New Age religion and has had a string of European and Asian lovers. Joe, we are told, reads the Kama Sutra for fun and has a series of lovers, all of whom are Chinese except 'one Swede and Japanese'.

Call us old-fashioned, but is glamorising sexual promiscuity to impressionable teenagers really sex education? At least the site steers clear of actual pornography, though the content is definitely on the borderline.

I would not like my kids to know all about the technical pros and cons of the 'Guanying on Lotus' versus 'Flower on Back Garden' positions before they learn about love and responsibility.

While the Internet World Asia show in Hong Kong last week was a success (read profitable) for organiser Penton Media, some of the show's attendees were not altogether satisfied with the offerings.