State Fair Fun is On the Way!

Free condoms, free buttons, and a whole lot of important information: it’s almost that time of year again, time for the great New York State Fair! Beginning on August 23rd, the fairgrounds (located in Syracuse, NY) will be filled with people from all walks of life enjoying the hundreds of attractions that the Fair has to offer. Of course, the attraction that should be on the top of your list is visiting the Planned Parenthood booth in the Center of Progress building. Let me tell you why. 

As a native of Syracuse, NY, I have been attending the Fair for as long as I can remember- Planned Parenthood themselves have been seen at the Fair for decades. Throughout those years my experience of the fair has transformed. The days of showing up with a group of hoodlum friends dressed in band tee-shirts and neon knee-socks have passed. And, I admit, it’s nice to no longer attend just to ride as many rides as I can with some boy I met at the homecoming game. As I have grown up, my vision of the Fair has grown up, but two things have stayed constant throughout time: eating as much Fair food as I possibly can, and always visiting the Planned Parenthood booth. Whether it was to get cool buttons for my L.L. Bean monogrammed backpack, or today, to pick up pamphlets and contact cards- and let’s be real, free condoms- the Planned Parenthood booth has always been a favorite of mine.

So, it’s fitting that during the last summer I will ever enjoy (after graduation, POOF there goes what’s known as a “real” summer vacation) I get to spend a few days working at the very booth I have come to know and love. I’ll be at the Planned Parenthood booth from 10AM to 4PM September 1st-3rd, and it’s overwhelming just thinking about the things I will encounter. It’s inevitable that I’ll feel a touch of nostalgia when people stop to pick up some free stuff, but I’m really looking forward to engaging in meaningful conversations with those who have had life-changing experiences thanks to the work of Planned Parenthood. I’m positive that there are many.

My dad, as well as many other adult figures in my life, always told me “you learn something new every day”. No matter what kind of information it is, you have more knowledge than you did the day before. Being informed and equipped with knowledge is the best way to assure that you are ready for anything that life throws your way. Visiting the Planned Parenthood booth at the New York State Fair has always acted as a great source of knowledge for me, and has had a great impact on my decision making skills. So please, come visit me this year as I have my own turn at spreading the knowledge Planned Parenthood has to offer!

Photo courtesy of www.nysfair.org

Elise
Marketing Intern

"Meet Planned Parenthood" Series: Rick Bartell

For almost 19 years, Rick Bartell has been making sure the Planned Parenthood educational programs are alive and in working order. As the Director of Education and Outreach, Rick oversees the non-clinical programs such as Rape Crisis Service, In Control, and Real Life. Real Talk.

In addition, Rick makes sure that there are educators out in the communities and in schools talking to kids and teens about sex education. These are services our society needs more than anything. Today, America is on par with third world countries when it comes to birth rates and sexual health education. Although this is now known as fact, members of our nation still refuse to talk about it, let alone do something to reverse it. Rick is seen through my eyes as what today’s “model citizen” should act like; doing everything in his power to get the job done and to serve the community with the best of his ability, no matter what.

Rick is first and foremost a creator. He didn’t waste any time after joining the Planned Parenthood team; within his first two years In Control was set into motion. In Control is a teen pregnancy prevention program, and also one of Rick’s most fulfilling accomplishments.

Today, In Control has grown into a thriving community of urban youths and is recognized as “Rochester’s most official teen program.” At In Control, teens have the chance to get involved in something they love, whether it’s fashion, music, or art, and will also receive accurate information about sexuality, abstinence and birth control.

The program site serves as a place where teens can talk openly and honestly about sex and relationships in a supportive atmosphere. There is a strong emphasis on education within the program, as students set goals for themselves, have access to tutoring and are even taken on local and national college tours! The individual programs at In Control are designed to increase self-esteem, confidence and leadership skills among youth, while at the same time uplifting lifting our community as a whole.

It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, this place is real, and they know the secret to success; it doesn’t matter what background one comes from, but rather how motivated one is to use the tools they are given. It matters whether or not a role model is present in a teens’ life, not how much money a family has to send them to college. For kids and teens involved in the program, living in an urban community is no longer a disadvantage. They know it doesn’t matter where they are from or what material possessions they have or don’t have, because In Control will meet them where they are - whether it be in their home, on the street or inside the classroom.

This is only a sneak peek into the work that Rick Bartell does for our Community. On a daily basis, he tackles the issue of talking about sexual health from all angles. In fact, if he had one important thing to get across to our society it would be to “not be so repressed when it comes to talking about sexual health.”

When outside of the work environment, Rick enjoys gardening, writing and literature. It’s easy to see why, when he creates and helps to grow so many positive parts of Rochester’s young community

-Elise
PPRSR Intern

Is your doctor answering your birth control questions?

When I first became sexually active, I had already learned about many of the different types of birth control in my high school health class. I went to my gynecologist to ask her about contraceptives, and the only one that I was presented with then was the pill. The rest were dismissed with a wave. Over the next few years, I remained on the pill, sometimes not getting the pack on time at school, or forgetting to take a pill or two. I’ve been fed up with a daily pill since I started taking them. While it may work for some people, it’s clear that it was not the best option for me.

I’ve always wished that I could get a different form of contraception. Now that I’ve been working at Planned Parenthood for a whopping two weeks, I’ve decided to go back to my gynecologist to discuss the options I've learned about. Hopefully, she’ll be more receptive to the idea of an IUD or Implanon .

I also hope that my insurance will cover it. My particular insurance company is very elusive when it comes to what it covers with respect to birth control and contraception. I’ve been looking online for answers to this issue, and can’t seem to find any answers. If my insurance doesn’t cover the more expensive forms, I’ll use more of the knowledge I’ve gained about family planning insurance from my short time at Planned Parenthood. There’s an option called the Family Planning Benefit Program which can cover teens and young adults, so that confidentiality is maintained, and nothing is sent home. Often, it covers young New York State residents fully over a few years. Planned Parenthood offers counseling and assistance in getting into this program, too, for those like me who are very confused by insurance and New York systems.

I know where my life will be if I don’t ask for a more permanent and less daily form of birth control, and I don’t like that reality. Even when patients do not mention an ad that they have seen or birth control education that they’ve received, doctors should be aware that information about birth control, other than the Pill, is in the patients’ heads, and pre-empt questions that the patients may have. Going over options on a personal level can make a huge difference in the decisions made about birth control. For tips and training on how to talk to patients about contraceptive options, check out the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. If you’re a patient, Planned Parenthood health centers can help fill you in on birth control and insurance options or call 1-866-600-6886 to learn more.

Just how effective is the rhythm method?

Natural family planning is different from the rhythm method, and it is not just guessing about when ovulation will occur. The natural family planning method requires a woman to monitor her body temperature every day of every month and matching it to a chart to determine when she is ovulating and then avoid intercourse during that time. And that's just the easiest way to do it. To really ensure that ovulation is occurring when predicted, the woman should also be comparing her cervical mucus viscosity (stickiness), to viscosity and temperature charts daily. In order to get the 75-87% effectiveness that Planned Parenthood predicts, the methods must be used correctly and consistently. This number drops considerably when only one measurement is used or the couple isn't really diligent about following the woman's temperature or cervical mucus.

The CDC just released results of a survey that said that more teens have been using the rhythm method--up 11% since 2002. If these teens are using the rhythm method IN ADDITION TO OTHER FORMS OF BIRTH CONTROL, that's great! Avoiding the most fertile times of the month, even when using condoms or other barrier methods is a great way to avoid pregnancy. However, if these young women are not measuring their body temperature and/or cervical mucus every day, but instead are just "guesstimating" when their most fertile period is, then this method is not really giving them the effectiveness they might be assuming. Many people confuse the rhythm method and natural family planning, which may lead to false assumptions about effectiveness as preventing pregnancy. Natural family planning takes a lot of work and knowledge about to be effective. If also will not protect partners from STI transmission.

All things considered, there are many options that are easier to use and are much more effective. Birth control pills take the ovulation out of the equation for you, so you don't have to measure any fertile period, and condoms both protect against fertilization and STIs when used correctly. Taking a pill every day is much less of a hassle than recording your body temp and cervical mucus data and comparing it to a chart. You can get condoms for free at any Planned Parenthood health center. Make sure to follow the directions!! They don't have to be a burden in the bedroom, either. If you think a condom as protecting yourself and your partner, and both of you help in the application process, condoms can be a pretty sexy addition to foreplay!

Adventures in Sex City: Can a video game be a Sex-Ed tool?

Though it wasn’t terribly long ago, I can only remember what my sexual education consisted of when I think really, really, hard. I do not even recall any health education classes before high school, and I think this might be due to the fact that I found the whole process of sitting in a classroom, full of my peers, while my crazy teacher held up and pointed out different forms of birth control, terribly uncomfortable and embarrassing.

However, that is basically all my health class covered in relation to sex. Our teacher held up, explained, and passed around a box full of different forms of contraception. We were then required to fill out a worksheet about them, and subsequently quizzed on the varying effectiveness percentages and who they were best suitable for. Sex may have been covered for maybe a week of class time if I round up…and to be honest I do not think anyone absorbed any of the material. This may be due to numerous reasons but personally, I think it is because it was treated as a taboo topic…even in our health class!

The teacher even seemed to be slightly embarrassed to be holding condoms in front of her 15 year-old students…so how could we not exude the uncomfortable feelings right back to her? Because of this mutual uncomfortable-ness, there was no interactive learning whatsoever in this class. There were no discussions prompted, or questions asked, or any sort of interactive learning tactics used at all. In my opinion, interactive learning is most important to keep the message you are teaching stuck in a student’s brain. That, along with connecting it to a way the students will care about it and feel comfortable learning about it, is vital.

The UK seems to have recognized this as well and has come up with a virtual video game to help spread important messages about sex. Adventures in Sex City, created by the UK's Middlesex-London Health Unit, uses characters like The Sperminator, Wonder Vag, and Willy the Kid to engage teens to learn important sexual facts.

Though at first glance I was extremely skeptical, as I delved further into the material and got a sample glance of some of the characters and messages displayed, I started to think that this was genius. Why had someone not come up with a sex-ed video game sooner? Pre-teens and teenagers are notorious of being glued to their computer screens and video game consoles…so of course a video game would get their attention! Topics from abstinence, condoms, STIs to virginity were all covered in the preview that I saw. Though some may think the idea is cheesy, I think it would have definitely gotten my peers’ attention more than the textbook we were forced to read, and the irrelevant facts we were supposed to memorize in my high school.

Hopefully some companies will expand on this idea and bring it over to the States. Though I think the game can be improved to not be so silly and ridiculous, it is a great starting point….and is undoubtedly more entertaining than the old textbooks and sex-ed movies I was forced to sit uncomfortabley through as an adolescent. Hopefully these new interactive video games will save future health class goers from the same health class experiences I had to endure.

"The Pregnancy Pact"

This past Saturday night started off with the intentions of having a simple, relaxing night spent watching a movie with some girlfriends. However, it soon turned into us engaging in somewhat heated discussions over the contents of the movie we were watching. What were we watching you ask? Surprisingly, it was a Lifetime movie that got us all riled up.

Lifetime’s newest “inspired by true events” creation, “The Pregnancy Pact”, premiered last Saturday night at 9:00 pm. The movie followed four teenage girls at a high school in Gloucester, Massachusetts who all become pregnant at the age of fifteen. When the number of pregnant girls at their high school spikes to an astonishing 18, media from all over the nation start to focus on this tiny town. Even more controversy starts to arise when rumors surface that the pregnant girls made a pact to all become pregnant at the same time. Throw in the mother of the main character (pregnant 15 year old Sara’s) who believes in “abstinence-only education”, and Lifetime has quite the drama.

Most of the movie was inspired, not based-on, the 2008 events that occurred in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Though the movie portrays four of the pregnant girls making a pact, none of the real life pregnant Gloucester girls ever admitted to such a pact.

As my friends and I watched the movie, we found ourselves using each commercial break to discuss how irritated we were with the movie. The first thing that immediately got our attention was the immaturity, and seemingly-naivety of the girls who were getting pregnant. Whether this came from the abstinence-only education that their school system firmly believed in, or the way the director wanted these characters to be portrayed, we felt they had no idea how their decision to get pregnant was going to affect them and everyone around them for the rest of their lives. Though this clueless-ness continued throughout most of the movie, the last ten minutes showed the girls coming to the realization of what they had done and the consequences. Everything from the thought of adoption, financial strains, to losing a high-school love was shown as a consequence, and rightfully so.

While we could not come to a conclusion on how we exactly felt about this movie, the fact remains that it gets people to think about the topic of teen pregnancy. Overall, this movie can be used as a great tool for mothers and daughters to open the lines of communication about pregnancy, sex and birth control. I’m confident that no mother that has seen this movie wants to be put in the situation of Sara’s, who firmly believed that her daughter Sara believed in abstinence and was not having sex, only to be completely misinformed when 15 year-old Sara announces she is pregnant. After seeing that miscommunication, I think every mother with a daughter would want to sit her daughter down and watch this with her.

While the actions and thoughts of the movies’ teen girls are more than often very questionable, by the end of the movie I believe a strong message was put forth that teen pregnancy is a serious issue facing the entire nation, and is not something that should be accepted or ignored. Communication, education, and prevention were all ways the movie highlighted on how to deal with this issue, and overall, I believe Lifetime did a good job bringing teen pregnancy to the forefront of many families’ minds.

Sex Education Is Never Too Late

I'm 20 years old. I remember a few years ago, when I was 17 or so, my mom said something to me like "I'm glad you're past the point where it'd be a problem if you got pregnant." I was shocked - I didn't feel that way at all. I reminded her that I was still in high school, I was planning on college, still wasn't at a point where I'd want to have a baby - but she had just meant that I "wasn't 14" anymore, and that it wouldn't be as scandalous, as unsafe, as unexpected. I couldn't believe she had said that to me, to be honest.

I know my mom didn't mean "Relax! Now's the time to have a baby!" She still wants me on birth control, and I'm sure that if I got pregnant today, it would be a somewhat unwelcome alteration in my life and hers (among many other lives!). But new research shows that I'm still not out of the woods yet:

For parents like me, who hoped that a child's 21st birthday meant we finally could put our feet up on the coffee table, this is alarming news: New research shows that our 20somethings don't want to have a child at this time in their lives but aren't doing much to prevent it. And the result is that among unmarried women in their 20s, 7 of 10 pregnancies are unplanned. Seventy percent.

My mom's response to this article is "That's because parents don't teach their kids about birth control!" She went on to say that the message isn't clear to girls that you can get pregnant just by having sex once - and that girls aren't informed, and sex education is lacking. But she stressed that a lot of it lies with parents. The article agrees:

It turns out that the heads of our 20somethings are filling with so much myth, misinformation and magical thinking that we, their parents, should be ashamed of the job we've done on this important topic.

The article is interesting because it points out that these women aren't stupid, aren't necessarily ill-informed about contraception, and seem to know what they want, but are still having unplanned pregnancies. That confuses me - I don't want a kid today. So I use condoms and I'm on the pill - it just makes sense. But my mom and I talk openly (sometimes too openly!) about sex and protection, and I'm a huge planned parenthood advocate. Aside from being a women's studies major. Maybe I take this all this information and foresight for granted.

The disconnect between what women WANT and what women DO seems to be huge; that women might want a pregnancy at some point, but aren't taking the necessary precautions to ensure that that time isn't NOW. The writer of this article is confused, as am I. Is the answer better sex ed? More sex ed? Different sex ed? Probably. But something has gotta change.

Definitely check it out here!

Should Teen Vogue have pulled this cover?

Teen Vogue's November cover has caused quite a stir. Though it is not evident from the picture, one of the models on this cover is a teenager, and pregnant. Jourdan Dunn is not visibly pregnant on the cover, but the 19-year-old reveals this information inside the magazine.

Many parents, teens, and teen-pregnancy prevention groups were not happy that a popular publication like Teen Vogue, a magazine that many teenage girls read, had a pregnant model in the magazine, without an accompanying article that states that teen pregnancy is "not OK".

I personally think that they are blowing the issue out of proportion. The cover only shows the models from the chest up and does not show any physical evidence of Jourdan's pregnancy. While it is stated in the magazine, the article in no way advocates teen pregnancy.

Instead of reprimanding Teen Vogue, I think parents should actually use this cover as a "teachable moment" to talk to their daughters about how to prevent pregnancy until it is the right time in their lives. The average age of Teen Vogue readers is 18, so pregnancy is an applicable topic that they should be educated on and not be afraid to talk about. If parents are so afraid that the media their daughters are consuming will have an adverse affect on them, then they should intervene when they see a topic like this brought up and use it as an opportunity to open the lines of communication.

Abstinence-Only MISeducation

I went to high school in diverse, liberal White Plains, New York. The health classes I had were more honest and less shameful than most of my friends went through. I remember my teacher putting a condom on my friend's head in 7th grade, to show how strong and durable they were (and to prove that nobody is "too big" for a normal sized condom, but that's another story). I learned all about birth control and contraception very early on, and although it wasn't always gay-friendly or perfect in all respects, I was happy with my sexual education, especially after it was supplemented by my openminded mother.

That is, until high school. Which is strange. We still had the openminded curriculum, the table full of different birth control methods (so many choices!), but we also had a textbook. A textbook from Texas. ok. And in the index, the word "condom" was not found.

I wrote an editorial for the my high school newspaper, The Orange, about how misleading this was. And how even though my teacher supplemented the curriculum with that table covered in birth control choices, it wasn't right to have that abstinence-only textbook. Not in my liberal school district. My editorial was met with scorn from the health department - my teacher cornered me in the hallway and reminded me about how well they taught birth control. And I reminded her that I really appreciated that - and that if we support teaching that, we shouldn't have been using a textbook that didn't uphold those beliefs. I'm still kind of impressed that my highschool-self had the foresight to feel so strongly about that. I wonder if they still use those textbooks.

Ok, what am I trying to say? I remember from that textbook, the chapter on STDs said, under the heading "how to avoid contracting an STD" something along the lines of "have a high self esteem! So you can't be coerced into having sex." There wasn't anything overt about shame, or about how sex is bad and dirty (not that I remember, anyway) - but even so, I couldn't take it.

Abstinence-only sex education is unacceptable. Not only does it not work (which ought to be enough, right?) but it instills shame and fear in everyone. And it's dangerous! Even if everyone listened and decided to be abstinent until marriage (63% of high school seniors have had sex), they wouldn't know how to use a condom when they got around to it. STDs and unplanned pregnancies don't just go away once you get married. IF you get married.

That's why we need REAL sex ed! This post over at RHrealitycheck details some of the more shameful tactics abstinence-only people are using, and explains how the industry is changing. As more people reject abstinence-only sex ed, the less government money goes toward it, the people proliferating it are going to have to change their tactics - and we need to watch out for that underlying shame!

International Sex-Ed

UNESCO, an education based agency of the United Nations has proposed setting voluntary universal sexual education guidelines for all UN members in what is titled International Guidelines for Sexuality Education. The initiative aims at reducing H.I.V. infections as well as other STI’s among young people, teaching the right to obtain an abortion as a fundamental human value, instructing on the different ways to have safe sex and educating on sexualities other than heterosexual as well as on masturbation. UNESCO states the guidelines are based on 87 studies from around the world and review curriculum's from 12 different countries. The guidelines, which are evidence-informed and rights-based in content, explain what sexual education is and why it is important to teach.

According to International Planned Parenthood Federation, at least 111 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted diseases occur among young people (ages 15-24) every single year which many, including UNESCO officials, believe is due to lack of education on safe sex. “Math and Science are valued as important knowledge for young people to have for their own sake, a sound sexuality education should be equally valued” states co-author Nanette Ecker. And she makes a valid point; education is recognized as progress in any country so why should sexual education be any different?

The guidelines have raised a lot of criticism from conservative and religious groups stating the content counters their personal beliefs and therefore is culturally insensitive. Strange, I was not aware of any culture that prescribed to ignorance. Teaching acceptance, safe sex practices and educating for safe healthy abortion rights simply means that those who want to exercise these rights will be better informed and lead healthier lives. No where in the guidelines does it advocate for young people to do anything except make healthy and safe life choices of their own and accept the choices of others. The simple purpose of these proposed guidelines is to educate kids on all the alternatives they have when it comes to their sexual health and everyone should be educated on their right to choose, what they choose is up to them.

Being Honest About Sex When Teaching Kids

I first heard about this new sex-ed approach happening in the UK from Jenna, PPRSR's Education and Outreach specialist, who provided an article that you can link to through the title of this entry.

But, here's the gist for you: the Center for HIV and Sexual Health at NHS Sheffield published a booklet on talking with youth about sex and sexual pleasure.

Wow! I think this is great. The booklet promotes masturbation, age-appropriate attention to anatomy (i.e. not just talking about vaginas but also the clitoris), breaking traditional views of sex (i.e. sex=penetration), and condom use. I think that this type of sex-ed can help foster dialogue among young people about sex and make it more comfortable for them to talk about sex with each other and their partners.

As Simon Blake, cheif executive of the young people's sexual health charity Brook, says "We need to do more to find out why people are so afraid to talk about sexual pleasure."

Furthermore, Roger Ingham, professor of health psychology at the University of Southampton's Center for Sexual Health Research, says that countries who approach education about sex and relationships in a more open and positive way have much better sexual health outcomes.

So let's hear it for sex-positive, honest, open discussion. Horay!

Learning to Embrace Your Sexuality - or - How I finally stopped listening to judgmental jerks and you should, too!

(I filled in this month for KaeLyn on the Vagina Dialogues column.. and I decided to share it here so the rest of y'all can check it out.)

I’m sure many of you are reading that title and thinking “Yeah, alright… I got there five years ago,” but I know there HAVE to be more of you (no matter what age) out there like me who just haven’t quite been able to do your own thing without letting the disapproving looks of your friends and peers burn a hole in your face.

By “do your own thing,” I assume you know I mean “have sex.” Freely. Making your own individual choices. I am talking about sex that is consensual, sex that is safe, sex that happens because you want it to, and sex that makes you feel good.

I want to make something very clear: nothing you are doing is wrong. “Wrong” is a social construction. Your sexual choices may not work for everyone, but if they make you happy and don’t threaten the safety of yourself or others, then gosh darnit please keep doing what you’re doing.

The problem is sex is still hard to talk about for many people. I grew up in a loving and accepting family, but we never talked about sex. Ever. I couldn’t say “sex” to my mom until I was 17. And don’t get me started on the lack of comprehensive sexual health education in schools, or worse, the lack of sex-positive sexual education in general.

If we can’t talk about sex then how will we ever figure it out? And if sex continues to be characterized as bad, as scary, as wrong… then where does that leave us? Stuck in a world where a group of people who think sex is the end of Western civilization try to control the dialogue. And that’s just not fair. It means that for the 95% of Americans who are having sex before marriage, there is a lack of comfort, resources, and openness for talking about sex.

So, how did I finally accept my own sexual identity and expression? I realized that I wasn’t wrong, that I make my choices for me and not the people judging me, and that thinking about and talking about sex help make sense of it. Really, it’s true. The first step was to be honest and frank with myself.

The bottom line: you’re sexuality is YOURS. Not your neighbor’s, not your brother’s, not the person sitting across from you at lunch. I may not know a whole lot in this world but I can tell you that life is far more rewarding and fulfilling when you find your own path and follow it.

So, what steps should we take when embracing our sexuality, however and with whomever we choose to experience it with?

1. Remember that the choices you make are yours. They need not apply to your best friend, your neighbor, or your parents. You have power over your individual choices.

2. Always, always, always make sure you are well stocked with safe sex materials: condoms, dental dams, finger cots, whatever. Besides that, keep some fun stuff around, too: lube, toys, whatever. And please make sure you and your partner(s) aren’t allergic to things like latex, certain lubricants, et cetera.

3. Communicate your needs and expectations, and be certain that your partner(s) is/are, also. And while you’re communicating, you might as well talk about your fantasies, too!

4. You can have erotic experiences without even having sex. And they don’t even have to be with people – they can be with the sky, the way the air smells, the way your cotton sheets feel. Get in tune with your erotic, sensual self.

5. Masturbate! Please. That way you know what you like and you will feel far more comfortable with talking about and having sex. Sex with yourself is just as legitimate and fulfilling as sex with other people.

6. Support age-appropriate, medically-accurate sex education that gives young people all the resources they need to make informed and safe decisions about sex and sexuality. You can learn more about how to support real sex ed at www.plannedparenthoodaction.org.

Get out there and enjoy your sexuality, no matter how you express it. But always remember, it’s about making choices that you feel good about.

National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Today, May 6, is the eighth annual National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy!

Though teen pregnancy is often discussed in the media in a sensationalistic manner, we rarely have a chance to sit down and have a serious discussion about the causes of teen pregnancy and how the rates of teen pregnancy can be lowered. Among comparable countries, the U.S. has the highest teen pregnancy rate (pdf). That might be shocking to hear, but it's also important to know! Because with rates like that, it's about time to get serious about the issue.

Study after study has shown that comprehensive sex education works, and abstinence-only education fails. Teens who use condoms, of course, are less likely to become pregnant -- and in order to use condoms, teens need to know both how to put them on and how to negotiate condom use with a partner.

Read more at Stand Up South Dakota, and while you're at it, tell Congress to support comprehensive sex education. Because isn't it about time we gave all teens the information they need to keep themselves safe?

(If you're a teen looking for information on how to prevent pregnancy, head on over to Teenwire to find what you need.)

Abstinence-Only Education Sends Dangerous Messages to Youth

As per usual, the Amplify blog, run by the great organization Advocates for Youth, has some chilling information on what is being actually taught in publicly-funding abstinence-only education programs.

We talk about these programs in the abstract an awful lot, and how they're not teaching teens the tools they need to keep themselves safe and make smart choices about their sexual health. But it's also a good idea to take a look at what they actually are teaching teens. And the truth about what they're up to goes far beyond even the dangerous myths that "condoms don't work," and into the realm of reinforcing out-dated and oppressive gender roles with regards to sex.

Just a couple excerpts from what Amplify found:

In South Carolina, Heritage Community Services (currently receives a CBAE grant of $600,000 per year from 2006-2011) teaches girls that conservative attire is necessary, or those poor boys will virtually attack you. Here is an excerpt from their classroom curriculum:

“Males and females are aroused at different levels of intimacy. Males are more sight oriented, whereas females are more touch oriented. This is why girls need to be careful with what they wear, because males are looking! The girl might be thinking fashion, while the boy is thinking sex. For this reason, girls have a responsibility to wear modest clothing that doesn’t invite lustful thoughts.”

Yes indeed, girls. It is your duty to the country. More from HCS’s website:

“a good minimum guideline is to declare everything covered by a bathing suit as off limits. Everyone needs to know his or her boundaries before getting in a risky situation. Once someone is excited physically, it can be difficult to stop.”

Far from teaching girls the useful skills of how to assert themselves in sexual situations and clearly say what they do and do not want to do, this kind of curriculum doesn't even acknowledge that girls and women have their own sexual thoughts and desires. Indeed, another example found over at Amplify's blog post shows curriculum that asserts male sexual desire as erratic based on physical attraction, with female sexual desire as harder to come by and based in emotion.

And worst of all, these kinds of attitudes are the exact same ones that promote victim-blaming with regards to rape and sexual assault. These attitudes being taught to students put the onus on girls and women to not "provoke" the sexual attraction and attention of men, rather than the onus on boys and men to control themselves and act respectfully. Amplify has even yet another example, where this attitude gets particularly explicit -- in an abstinence-only story which asserts that a girl who claimed to be raped is not credible, due to her promiscuous reputation.

Read the full Amplify post here, and remember that not only are our teens being given dangerous, harmful and sexist messages -- they're also being funded by our tax dollars! You can ask President Obama to zero-out funding for abstinence-only education here.

Rates of Teen Sex Are Lower Than Most Think

Parents everywhere will likely be relieved to hear this news. The idea of today's teenagers engaging in rampant, promiscuous and unprotected sex is just what many of us have been claiming all along . . . a myth.

The news is troubling, but it’s also misleading. While some young people are clearly engaging in risky sexual behavior, a vast majority are not. The reality is that in many ways, today’s teenagers are more conservative about sex than previous generations.

Today, fewer than half of all high school students have had sex: 47.8 percent as of 2007, according to the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, down from 54.1 percent in 1991.

A less recent report suggests that teenagers are also waiting longer to have sex than they did in the past. A 2002 report from the Department of Health and Human Services found that 30 percent of 15- to 17-year-old girls had experienced sex, down from 38 percent in 1995. During the same period, the percentage of sexually experienced boys in that age group dropped to 31 percent from 43 percent.

The rates also went down among younger teenagers. In 1995, about 20 percent said they had had sex before age 15, but by 2002 those numbers had dropped to 13 percent of girls and 15 percent of boys.

[. . .]

As for that supposed epidemic of oral sex, especially among younger teenagers: national statistics on the behavior have only recently been collected, and they are not as alarming as some reports would have you believe. About 16 percent of teenagers say they have had oral sex but haven’t yet had intercourse. Researchers say children’s more relaxed attitude about oral sex probably reflects a similar change among adults since the 1950s. In addition, some teenagers may view oral sex as “safer,” since unplanned pregnancy is not an issue.

In other words, the fact that teenagers are seemingly somewhat more comfortable discussing sex than their parents were doesn't necessarily mean that they're engaging in risky behaviors. Of course, proponents of comprehensive sex education have been arguing the same thing -- that being open and honest about sex isn't the same as having more of it -- for many years!

It is, however, important to note that while promiscuity among teens is not a major problem, there are other sexual issues involving teens that need addressing. The fact that the teen birth rates have risen for the first time in 15 years, as well as the high rates of STD transmission, both need our immediate attention. And as the NY Times notes, if these trends are not due to increased rates of sexual activity, they're almost certainly due to a decrease in the use of condoms and other contraception. That's something important to chew on -- and to remember when abstinence-only supporters try to take credit for this study's findings.

Kicking the Year off Right in Albany!

On Monday, January 12, the first day of the new legislative session, over 300 advocates gathered in Albany to proclaim "Women's Health Matters!" to our legislators and state officials. Of course, Planned Parenthood of the Rochester/Syracuse Region was there with a bus full of Rochester and Syracuse advocates to join in the celebration and the fight. We gathered in the Well, a central location in the Legislative Office Building where we knew we'd get lots of attention.

The new President and CEO of Family Planning Advocates, Tracey Brooks, kicked off the morning rally. There was an awards presentation honoring our courageous advocates in the NYS legislature. The Margaret Sanger Award was presented to Senator Eric Schneiderman and Assemblymember Naomi Rivera and the Champion of Choice Award was given to Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

There were many exciting speakers, including Assembly Speaker, Assemblymember Sheldon Silver; NYS Commissioner of Health, Dr. Richard Daines; NYS Comptroller, Thomas
DiNapoli; Senate Majority Leader, Senator Malcolm Smith; and Executive Deputy Attorney General for Social Justice, Mylan Denerstein. The excitement in the air was palpable and it was clear that 2009 would be a year of great hope and progress in Albany!

I had the honor of introducing the keynote speaker, a woman I have immense admiration for, 23-year-old sexual education activist, feminist, and youth empowerment organizer, Shelby Knox. Shelby spoke eloquently about her seven year fight for comprehensive sex ed, literally coming to tears when she predicted that in 2009, the Healthy Teens Act will finally become law in New York.

After the rally in the Well, advocates scattered throughout the Legislative Office Building and Capitol to meet with legislators. Our group met with twenty-one elected officials from the Rochester/Syracuse region, advocating for the Healthy Teens Act, Reproductive Health Act, and investing funding in family planning services. When the bus rolled into Rochester for the last drop-off at 7:00 PM, we were tired, but we knew our actions made a difference.

The School to Prison Pipeline and What It Means for Repro Justice

Yesterday, we co-sponsored Human Rights Day in Rochester to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The evening event included a potluck dinner, reading of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a panel discussion on the "School to Prison Pipeline." The topic was coincidentally timely given the local buzz about a school safety issue at East High in Rochester and Superintendent Brizard's in-school suspension policy. The local chapter of the NYCLU (New York Civil Liberties Union) was one of the lead organizations planning Human Rights Day; they invited a NYCLU attorney that works on the School to Prison Pipeline to speak on the panel. This morning, I had an opportunity to have breakfast with her and learn more about the School to Prison Pipeline. According to the NYCLU website:

The School to Prison Pipeline is a nationwide system of local, state and federal education and public safety policies that pushes students out of school and into the criminal justice system. This system disproportionately targets youth of color and youth with disabilities. Inequities in areas such as school discipline, policing practices, high-stakes testing and the prison industry contribute to the pipeline.

So you may be scratching your head trying to figure out how this relates to the work of Planned Parenthood. The work of the NYCLU addresses many civil liberties issues, including access to reproductive health care, comprehensive sex education, and privacy rights. It's easy to connect those issues with the advocacy work of Planned Parenthood. However, the NYCLU also addresses advocacy issues like immigrants' rights, LGBT rights, police accountability and criminal justice reform, protecting protest, and national security. From a reproductive justice framework, all civil liberties issues intersect in some way with sexual and reproductive health and rights.

In the example of the School to Prison Pipeline, Planned Parenthood does have a vested interest in helping youth succeed in school and become empowered citizens. The solutions that the School to Prison Pipeline suggests to decrease drop-out rates and address violence in schools are similar to the initiatives that help teens prevent unintended pregnancy and transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STI's).

Some things that the School to Prison Pipeline suggests as possible solutions are peer mediation, conflict resolution, after school programs, truancy intervention, guidance counseling, mentoring, character education, teacher training on classroom management, and parental and community involvement initiatives. These programs would not only keep teens off the street, but would help them succeed in school and, if combined with comprehensive sexuality education, will also help teens prevent unintended pregnancy and STI's.

In fact, Planned Parenthood's teen programs in Syracuse and Rochester focus on engaging teens in peer education, community outreach, leadership development, and operating after school programs that provide a safe and supportive environment for teens. The School to Prison Pipeline also disproportionately affects teens of color and urban populations, demographic groups that we also know are disproportionately affected by unintended teen pregnancy and lack of access to reproductive health care. By working together with organizations like the NYCLU, we can achieve the PPRSR mission of helping people "lead a healthy and fulfilling life."

Take Care Down There

Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette has started a new website called Take Care Down There, designed to promote positive attitudes towards sexual health. It's filled with educational and irreverent videos. I personally like this one a whole lot:



The other videos are funny and reference the fact that talking about sex can often be uncomfortable, but is still necessary. You can watch them all here. Due to the frank and unembarrassed nature of a lot of the videos, anti-choicers have already taken issue with the material and labeled it "revolting." In my book, that's how you know it's honest, quality stuff -- especially since the videos contain material less explicit than that on most cable networks. And in any case, if you want to teach about sex, you've got to talk about sex.

Nice work, Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette! Keep it up.

Most Teens Not Having Oral or Anal Sex as a Substitute for Vaginal Intercourse

A new study by the Guttmacher Institute has debunked the myth that heterosexual teens have increasingly engaged in oral and anal sex as a way to "technically" remain virgins. In fact, straight teens are much more likely to engage in oral and anal sex after they've had vaginal intercourse.

The analysis of a federal survey of more than 2,200 males and females aged 15 to 19, released yesterday, found that more than half reported having had oral sex. But those who described themselves as virgins were far less likely to say they had tried it than those who had had intercourse.

"There's a popular perception that teens are engaging in serial oral sex as a strategy to avoid vaginal intercourse," said Rachel Jones of the Guttmacher Institute, a private, nonprofit research organization based in New York, who helped do the study. "Our research suggests that's a misperception."

Instead, the study found that teens tend to become sexually active in many ways at about the same time. For example, although only one in four teenage virgins had engaged in oral sex, within six months after their first intercourse more than four out of five adolescents reported having oral sex.

"That suggests that oral and vaginal sex are closely linked," said Jones, whose findings will be published in the July issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. "Most teens don't have oral sex until they have had vaginal sex."

A criticism of abstinence-only sex education has been that it defines virginity as having abstained from vaginal intercourse, and therefore may lead teens to engage in other sexual activity that puts them at risk for STDs. But there are in fact many other criticisms of abstinence-only education -- and as supporters of comprehensive sex ed have noted, oral and anal sex do carry a risk of STD transmission, and the study shows that teens are engaging in these acts at high rates. So the findings actually further prove that the need for proper education about safer sex is increasing.

"More than half of our teens are having sex -- vaginal and oral," said James Wagoner, president of the group Advocates for Youth. "We can't afford the luxury of denial. Abstinence-only programs are the embodiment of denial. They have been proven not to work, and it's time to invest in real sex education, including condoms."

[. . .]

"More than half of our teens are having sex -- vaginal and oral," said James Wagoner, president of the group Advocates for Youth. "We can't afford the luxury of denial. Abstinence-only programs are the embodiment of denial. They have been proven not to work, and it's time to invest in real sex education, including condoms."

There definitely are teens engaging in oral and anal sex before having had vaginal sex. Twenty-three percent of straight teens who did not report having vaginal intercourse did report having oral sex, and one percent reported having anal sex. But those numbers are very drastically lower than among those who have engaged in vaginal intercourse.

The study had other important and interesting findings. Researchers found that the longer the amount of time since a teen had first engaged in vaginal intercourse, the more likely he or she was to report having had oral or anal sex. They also found that many more teens of both sexes reported receiving oral sex than giving it, with male and female teens reporting having receievd oral sex at similar rates, but with more females having reported giving oral sex. This indicates that performing heterosexual oral sex is seen as more taboo than receiving it, particularly when it comes to oral sex performed on female partners. Differences in willingness to report having given oral sex also fall along racial lines.

You can read the full results here (pdf). One thing seems certain: teens are engaging in a wide variety of sexual activity, and that means they need more than abstinence-only education, or even pregnancy prevention education, in order to keep themselves safe and make informed choices.

One in Four Teen Girls Has an STD

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has just released an alarming study which shows that one in four teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 19 have a sexually transmitted infection. The disturbing news continues, though: among those who admitted to having sex, the rate of infection was a staggering 40%. Worse yet, the study only tested for four common STDs, which means that total rates are most likely higher. Among the infected patients, 15% had more than one of the diseases.

The four STDs that patients were tested for are HPV, chlamydia, trichomoniasis and genital herpes. HPV had the highest rate of infection, with 18% of participants testing positive. While HPV often shows no symptoms, is can cause genital warts and cervical cancer. Chlamydia, which 4% of patients had, also generally has no symptoms but can lead to infertility. Two and a half percent of patients had trichomonisasis and 2% had genital herpes.

As Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards says, this is yet more evidence that abstinence-only education programs don't work and endanger youth. It also provides more reason for girls to get the HPV vaccine -- though many worry (without any proven reason) that giving the vaccine would encourage promiscuity, this study reinforces that we're dealing with an issue of health.

The results point to another problem: the likelihood of having an STD increases dramatically for black teens. A startling 50% of black teen girls were found to have an STD, compared with 20% for teens identified as white and Mexican-American. This shows yet again that there are enormous racial disparities in access to health care services and comprehensive sex education. Clearly, black communities are not receiving the resources they need to prevent sexual health related problems and to treat them once they occur.

These rates of infection are clearly not acceptable -- but the release of this study is enormously important to educate the public about the need to do better for teenagers. Abstinence is a great idea. But simply, it's one that a lot of teens just don't choose. Isn't it more important for teens to know the importance of using condoms and getting tested than it is to keep the rest of us from feeling uncomfortable? So far, we've spent $1.5 billion on abstinence-only programs -- how many STDs could have been prevented if that money had been used for sex education that actually works?