how to bring good sex ed to my city

[phantomdog]

hi guys,

so for some background info, i live in a SUPER diverse city -- racially, ethnically, economically, and culturally -- that really is a melting pot from all over. we have a really bad poverty and drug addiction issue here - which of course entails higher instances of sexually transmitted infections. not only is the sex ed in our massive school inconsistent (if present at all; some classes get it, some don't), our head of school is very reluctant to do much of anything to improve the school. even though my city's community health center is working really hard to make sexual healthcare accessible and affordable, from offering 100% free sti testing, to reduced cost plan b, to free condoms and even referrals to harm reduction programs for those who inject drugs, i feel the sex ed area is really lacking. what good is a condom if people don't know how or why to use one? especially among the students in my school, i think comprehensive sex ed is really important given our diversity and how many lgbt kids we have. i've been thinking about it a lot and i really want to do something to make good sexual education accessible and easy to understand for everybody. how would i go about taking on such a project?

[Heather]

Do you mind telling me which city (Boston?)? I ask because I would be happy to get you connected to local sex educators or sex education organizations to ask about this, but I'd have to have a better sense of where you are.

That said, it does sound like you already have connected with one, the community center you mentioned: have yoiu asked them about this?

[phantomdog]

i'm in lowell, ma :3 the community center is great, and really competent with treating lgbt patients, but i don't really know who i would talk to there to get a project like this going.

[Heather]

I'm so sorry, I remember now. I'd forgotten that I'd asked you before.

What I'd do is try and start by connecting to that community center. If you don't know who to ask, I'd ask anyone who works there who THEY think you could ask!

Ultimately, you probably don't want to try and reinvent the wheel: that rarely goes well. You can probably be assured that others have been trying to work on this in one way or another before you, or already are: they probably know things already about all of this (what the barriers are, what the inroads might be, not to mention how to organize in this way), and could probably use the help! If you can get involved with something already in the works a) there's a better chance of success and b) you don't have to worry about flying solo or c) looking to do something now it might take years to develop all the skills to do well.

Another possibility for you might be asking someone at UMass about this. It looks like a school/campus that has some good sexual violence prevention work going on, and often people who are connected to that kind of work also have connections to broader sex education work. If I were looking into this, I'd email the Title IX coordinator listed on this page and ask if they know of anyone already working on this or who you might be able to connect with about it: https://www.uml.edu/prevent/

It also looks like you have some positive change in the pipes, speaking of people who have already been working on this: http://www.lowellsun.com/editorials/ci_ ... hy-choices

I'd read that and then also look into connecting with your local representative's office!

Hope that helps with a place to start!

[phantomdog]

:0 thank you!! i'm going to the health center tomorrow and can talk to someone then, but that sounds really cool i didn't know about that new bill.

[Siân]

Great! Let us know how it goes