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Advocates Updates
- Muslim Youth Project RFP due March 31, 2010
- Mr. Sidibe’s UNAIDS framework for global HIV/AIDS - Advocates' Blog
- On Wisconsin! - Advocates' Blog
- New article in the Parents Sex Ed Centerby Robie Harris, author of It's Perfectly Normal
- Job opening: Coordinator, Youth Activist Network
New Publications: 
- Prom offers flood in for Mississippi students (USA Today)
An advocacy group for gay students in Mississippi said it has been fielding dozens of offers from around the nation to hold a prom for students of Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Miss. - Doubling of maternal deaths in U.S. 'scandalous,' rights group says (CNN)
Deaths from pregnancy and childbirth in the United States have doubled in the past 20 years, a development that a human rights group called "scandalous and disgraceful" Friday. - More Than Onerous (New York Times)
After a year of national debate, a handful of House Democrats who oppose abortion may be the ones to decide whether health care reform goes forward or not. - At U.N., Clinton rallies for more women's opportunities worldwide (Washington Post)
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told government delegates and activists here Friday that violence against women remains a "global pandemic" and that their "subjugation" constitutes "a threat to the national security of the United States." - Women on birth control pill may live longer (USA Today)
Women who took the birth control pill beginning in the late 1960s lived longer than those never on the pill, a new study says.
Raising Children in a Gender-Specific World
by Martha Kempner
There’s no denying it at this point. My child is a girl. A very girly girl. She’s three-and-a-half. She hasn’t worn pants in over a year (since she stopped letting me pick out her clothes). She often wears a ballet skirt over or under her dress, prefers heels, loves earrings and necklaces, always has her nails done, and steals any of my makeup she can get her hands on (her application process is unique and results in a bizarre war paint look). When she entertains herself, it always involves numerous outfit changes, and lately she’s taken to creating her own clothes. Whether it’s by hanging scarves off the back of dresses to make a train, wrapping fabric around herself and taping it with duct tape, cutting the straps off a summer dress to make one “with no straps and no sleeves,” or layering skirts to make one that goes “all the way to the floor,” the kid knows what she wants and uses the resources at her disposal to make it. Fancy Nancy has nothing on Charlie.
On Wisconsin!
by Meredith Schoenfeld-Hicks, Manager, State Strategies
The Wisconsin Healthy Youth Alliance can pat itself on the back! More than 50 member organizations brought together the public health community, educators, youth serving and advocacy organizations, and student and parent activists throughout the state to pass the Healthy Youth Act (HYA). The Healthy Youth Act passed the State Assembly on November 5th 2009 and the Senate on January 28th 2010. The bill was signed into law by Governor Jim Doyle on February 24th 2010.
This important legislation ensures that the most current standards of sex education are being taught and that public schools are using programs proven to reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates. The bill updates the core elements of what a sex education program must include if offered in Wisconsin and does away with ineffective abstinence only policies. Studies estimate that Wisconsin taxpayers are currently paying $273 million dollars a year to treat teen sexually transmitted diseases and costs associated with teen childbearing.
The Healthy Youth Act has five key components.
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