Go Ask Alice!
Encyclopedia
Go Ask Alice! is a Q&A service provided by Columbia University
for both students and the general public with questions or curiosity about health topics. The site has no affiliation with the book Go Ask Alice
by Beatrice Sparks.
Go Ask Alice! started in the fall of 1993 at Columbia University's Health Education Program (now called Alice!). In the fall of 1994, the website went global. A book, The Go Ask Alice! Book of Answers, was published in 1998. Due to the age of many of the answers, and new research and development in the medical field since they were written, many answers have been or are in the process of being updated. The University uses a continuous review and update process to ensure accuracy of the content.
Each week, the site posts new questions and answers and/or updated answers to previously answered questions from the archive. In addition to these questions, the site updates also include a poll, reader responses to older questions, and a "theme of the week" section that includes selected archived questions and answers.
Go Ask Alice! receives about 2,000 questions per week. There are about 3,000 questions and answers in the archive. Questions are organized into 7 meta-categories with dozens of sub-categories. According to the site, readers are provided accurate, culturally competent answers with a range of thoughtful perspectives.
Go Ask Alice! usually takes an open stance on more controversial topics like homosexuality
, premarital sex, abortion
, and sex education
, emphasizing clinically informed choice and deemphasizing moral guidance. Readers are given information about the topic at hand, then encouraged to both continue to inform themselves and make their own decisions, taking into account their personal moral, cultural, and/or religious beliefs.
The service usually provides a fair amount of background information, references, and quotes from experts for those unfamiliar with the subject being addressed.
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
for both students and the general public with questions or curiosity about health topics. The site has no affiliation with the book Go Ask Alice
Go Ask Alice
Go Ask Alice is a controversial 1971 book about the life of a troubled teenage girl. The book continues its claim to be the actual diary of an anonymous teenage girl who became addicted to drugs, but this has been dismissed as false. Beatrice Sparks is listed as the author of the book by the United...
by Beatrice Sparks.
Go Ask Alice! started in the fall of 1993 at Columbia University's Health Education Program (now called Alice!). In the fall of 1994, the website went global. A book, The Go Ask Alice! Book of Answers, was published in 1998. Due to the age of many of the answers, and new research and development in the medical field since they were written, many answers have been or are in the process of being updated. The University uses a continuous review and update process to ensure accuracy of the content.
Each week, the site posts new questions and answers and/or updated answers to previously answered questions from the archive. In addition to these questions, the site updates also include a poll, reader responses to older questions, and a "theme of the week" section that includes selected archived questions and answers.
Go Ask Alice! receives about 2,000 questions per week. There are about 3,000 questions and answers in the archive. Questions are organized into 7 meta-categories with dozens of sub-categories. According to the site, readers are provided accurate, culturally competent answers with a range of thoughtful perspectives.
Go Ask Alice! usually takes an open stance on more controversial topics like homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, premarital sex, abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, and sex education
Sex education
Sex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...
, emphasizing clinically informed choice and deemphasizing moral guidance. Readers are given information about the topic at hand, then encouraged to both continue to inform themselves and make their own decisions, taking into account their personal moral, cultural, and/or religious beliefs.
The service usually provides a fair amount of background information, references, and quotes from experts for those unfamiliar with the subject being addressed.
See also
- AddictionSubstance use disorderSubstance use disorders include substance abuse and substance dependence. In DSM-IV, the conditions are formally diagnosed as one or the other, but it has been proposed that DSM-5 combine the two into a single condition called "Substance-use disorder"....
- AlcoholismAlcoholismAlcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
- Recreational drug useRecreational drug useRecreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
- SexSexIn biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...