17 May, 2017

Change The Narrative: Focusing on the Strengths of Young Women of Color

By |2021-08-19T19:33:52-04:00May 17th, 2017|Categories: Equity & Justice|Tags: , |0 Comments

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Over a year ago, I was invited to join a New York City-based initiative to provide recommendations on improving the health and lived experiences of New York City young  women of color.  In one of our first meetings, we were asked to identify the struggles that young women of color face in the city. With flip chart papers labeled as “reproductive health”, “education”, “access to physical exercise”, and others, we divided  into groups and developed lists of things we felt were impacting young women of color negatively.

When we were done, each flip chart was filled to capacity. It seemed good because we were able to identify so much that we can pull from related to providing recommendations to the city. But as I looked around the room at the other flip charts, I felt incredibly drained. “What are the solutions to all of this?” I asked myself.

I’m glad I wasn’t alone in my concerns, because another person in the room made a crucial observation: First, we were a room full of adults, and while we may work with (or do research on) young women of color and have a pulse on what the issues may be, we’re nowhere near being youth. Second:

There's danger in focusing solely on what's wrong with young women of color. This leads to fear-based solutions. Share on X

It’s draining to focus on what’s wrong, especially when those problems are highlighted within your communities or within the communities you serve or ally with.

This isn’t to say that we should turn a blind eye to the challenges facing our communities. But what if there’s a better way?

What if we identified not only the problems, but the ways in which young women of color show resiliency? What if we asked young women of color to show us what the solutions are?

(more…)

25 Aug, 2014

Sound Off: One in Three U.S. Teens Are Unaware That HIV is a Sexually Transmitted Infection, Survey Reports

By |2021-08-19T18:37:49-04:00August 25th, 2014|Categories: Equity & Justice|Tags: , |0 Comments

(Image courtesy)

A recent report released by the MAC AIDS Fund, reports that U.S. teens can benefit from more education on HIV. The survey, conducted by Kelton Research between May 22-June 5, 2014, surveyed 1,039 American teens ages 12-17 on their views on HIV stigma, transmission, and prevention.

Some of the highlights from the report include:

* 9 out of 10 (88%) believe they are not at risk for contracting HIV. Also, one-third (33%) were not aware that HIV is a sexually transmitted infection.

* 50% of respondents are afraid of contracting HIV and would be nervous if they were to get an HIV positive diagnosis (93%), around the same percentage as if they were to get a positive pregnancy test (94%) or have to engage in first-time sexual activity (91%)

*While the belief that their risk of contracting HIV is low, the respondents were far more likely to believe they are at greater risk for developing cancer (38%), diabetes (33%), heart disease (28%) or obesity (22%) during their lifetime.

*While most believed that using a condom (71%), abstaining from sex (58%), or getting testing for HIV regularly can prevent the spread of HIV (55%), most did not know that HIV prevention also includes reducing the amount of sexual partners (47%), not using alcohol or drugs (33%) or talking with others about prevent HIV prevention (29%).

*While teens feel they can benefit from more education on HIV and AIDS and are open to having more discussions on prevention and transmission (59%), 45% admit that having these conversations makes them uncomfortable.

*Teens would feel ashamed (53%), scared (69%), and feel that others would be afraid of them (50%) if they were to be diagnosed with HIV. Also, if they were to meet someone with HIV, 24% wouldn’t want to share food or drink with that person, touch them (31%), or treat them as a normal person (51%).

Nicole’s take: Other than age, we don’t know much else about the survey respondents. Where’s the rest of the information? Can we at least get a breakdown of the data based on age range? I understand that not all quantitative data collection is solid, but I feel that we’re missing some valuable information by not including other factors. It would have also been great to see how the beliefs of the respondents break down based on geographic region, gender, race and ethnicity, urban versus suburban or rural location, grade level, or age of onset of sexual activity. That would have also been interesting to know if the students who reported receiving sex education from schools (56%) or from family members (38%) were receiving abstinence-only education or comprehensive sex education. (more…)

11 Aug, 2014

Sound Off: Researchers Recommend Sex Ed Classes Starts as Early as Age 10

By |2021-08-19T18:35:51-04:00August 11th, 2014|Categories: Equity & Justice|Tags: , |0 Comments

(Image Credit: Shuttershock)

Each week, I bring you a current news article, along with my commentary, to raise your voice about. Share your thoughts on topic in the comments section below. Agreeing to disagree is always great, but please be sure to keep it respectful. Nicole Clark Consulting reserves the right to remove disrespectful, off-topic, and threatening comments.

A new study reported by Georgetown University Institute for Reproductive Health recommends that children should start receiving comprehensive sex education as early as age 10.

The study, called “Investing in Very Young Adolescents’ Sexual and Reproductive Health”, gives this recommendation from a global health perspective, highlighting the need for a more global view of harm reduction and prevention that not only benefits health professionals and researchers conducting research that will lead to better health guidelines, but can encourage more effective policies and more community involvement.

Think Progress reports that one of the fears in mandating a national standard for sex education as been in large part due to the support around “abstinence-only until marriage” programs. Coupled with the belief that teaching young people about sex and sexuality outside of the confides of marriage is wrong, there is the fear that teaching children about sex will encourage them to become sexually active sooner.

In discussion about this latest research and the fears mentioned above, Victoria Jennings, director of Georgetown’s Institute for Reproductive Health told the Chicago Tribune: “[Teaching children about sex] has to be done in the context of helping them develop healthy self-esteem and the ability to negotiate their way in the world and develop expectations for themselves and their lives that will cause them to make decisions that will lead to positive outcomes.”

Nicole’s take: Have you heard of the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act? This bill, co-authored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and the late Senator Frank Launtenberg (D-NJ), was re-introduced in the 2013 congressional legislature. This bill, if passed, will set the vision for comprehensive sex education in the United States. Originally named the “Responsible Education About Life Act”, this bill has been introduced to Congress since 2001. While it receives support from other Congress leaders, families, and organizations that support comprehensive sex education,  it never gets enough votes to pass both the House of Representatives or the Senate.

(more…)

24 Jul, 2013

Try This: Including Pleasure in Youth Sex Education

By |2021-08-19T18:13:59-04:00July 24th, 2013|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: , |0 Comments

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When we talk with young people about sex and sexuality,  pleasure is often the last thing we want to focus on, especially because we often correlate discussions of pleasure with a higher increase in risky behavior. Whether you’re a service provider, a parent, or a young person, it’s always helpful to know that, while discussions on unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections are important, talking about pleasure is also a great way to help build a healthy mindset around sex and sexuality.

I recently attended a training at Planned Parenthood of New York City called “Don’t Forget the ‘Pleasure’ in Sex Education”. The focus of the training was 1) how pleasure plays a role in how we view sexuality within a variety of lenses, including society/culture, sexual behaviors, sexual/reproductive health, and sexualization/objectification; and 2) how to effectively incorporate pleasure with sex education (which often focuses more on avoiding pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections). It was a really great training, and I invite you to check out PPNYC’s Training Institute calendar for future trainings.

During the training, we were given an exercise: create a one-on-one role play or a group activity that generates discussion on making sex education more fun and appealing. I decided to create an activity for an adolescent co-ed group between the ages of 15-18. My activity focused on what could enhance pleasure and what could decrease pleasure, making sure that the answer choices had the potential to encourage discussion with participants.

Here’s how to set up this activity: (more…)

3 Apr, 2013

Tackling Teen Pregnancy Prevention: A Comparison of Solutions

By |2021-08-19T18:08:47-04:00April 3rd, 2013|Categories: Research & Evaluation|Tags: , |0 Comments

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(Image from Teens in New York City Protection+ app, by of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene)

Since the New York City Human Resources Administration launched its “Think Being a Teen Parent Won’t Cost You?” campaign aimed at lowering the city’s teen pregnancy rates a month ago, the campaign (and its ads that are now featured at city bus stops and inside the subways) has been under fire locally and nationally. I’ve been one of those vocal opponents of the messaging of this campaign, and together with the New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice, the No Stigma! No Shame! Campaign began in response to the HRA.

This week, I happened to notice a local news report on a new phone app developed by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, aimed to not only reduce the numbers of teen pregnancy in the city (which has dropped to around 30% within the past decade) but to also show teens where to go for information on birth control, condoms, and testing.

Piquing my interest, I downloaded the app to test it out. I also signed up for the HRA’s texting game by texting “NOTNOW” to 877877 to compare the two. I don’t have to tell you that the outcomes were VERY different.

Here are my observations: (more…)

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