Tampa Bay 10 breaking news: Paul Ruditis’ book Rainbow Party gives kids bad ideas.

For those hiding under rocks, the book describes an apparently popular phenomena among those never-can-tell teens that TV has raised. At these “rainbow” parties, young girls apply different colorful shades of lipstick, and young boys vie to get their penises decorated with as many colors as possible.

I have two qualms with this story they’ve done.

1. This media meme is, like, so six months ago. The book was published in June 2005, and last summer got extensive media coverage using the same cautionary tale concept on which Tampa Bay 10 is retreading.

2. The concept of this book, to me, is otherworldly. (Maybe I didn’t hang out with slack enough crowds in my school years.) It seems far-fetched that a group of teen boys could find enough willing teen girls out there to even get such a party started, let alone get candy-striped multiple times. It’s worth noting that the supposed party never happens in the book (according the reviews I’ve read).

Yes, there are less than respect-oriented teen girls out there. Yes, there are boys out there who take advantage of that fact. Always has been, always will be. But, concerned parents are misguided to think that a teen boy needs a book to inspire him to want Lewinskis from multiple women. What teen boy would pick up a book with colorful lipstick on the cover, anyway? And, as far as teen girls, I suspect that any teen girl that would attend such a party wouldn’t need the book for inspiration either.

So, kudos Tampa Bay 10, for breaking this news we needed to know, and at the same time giving more free press to a book that, if we ignore it, would soon end up in bargain bins - never to see the light of a second printing.

Surely, the iPod revolution has now gone too far.

Hat tip to The Cult of Mac.