by Emily Bridges, Director of Public Information Services

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new research on teen sexual behavior this week.  Researchers examined data from the National Survey on Family Growth, a large survey on how families are created and grow in America, and found that:

• According to their estimates, almost nine million teens in America have ever had sex – 42 percent of males and 43 percent of females.
• Six million are currently sexually active – 31 percent of females and 28 percent of males.
• Many teens used contraception the first time they had sex:  78 percent of males and 85 percent of females.  Many also reported using contraception the most recent time they had sex: 93 percent of males and 86 percent of females used a method at last intercourse.

by Martha Kempner

Originally published on RH Reality Check

The phrase “teachable moments” is an overused education and parenting term that’s supposed to refer to those openings that happen every day for parents to impart information and values to their kids.  As a sex educator and writer who sometimes concentrates on talking to your kids about sex, I must have written this phrase a couple hundred times in the last few years but to tell the truth I don’t really like it.

Somehow it doesn’t sound authentic—like it was made up by a committee of publicists or marketers. But more importantly, it sounds formal like something that parents have to look for, recognize, and act on immediately.  I prefer the idea that as parents we just have conversations with our kids and maybe in the process they learn something from us. 

In the last few months, I have spent a lot of time alone with my older daughter – who at five seems newly ready to take on more complicated concepts.  While my little one is still in our great daycare center which is almost never closed, the older one skipped the last session of camp and now operates on a public school schedule which includes things like half-days for teacher conferences and two days off for the Jewish holidays.  So we have had a lot of mommy-Charlie days and during them a lot of really interesting conversations.   

Not surprisingly, many of them had at least a little bit to do with sexuality.  Here’s a sample:

Message: You have to really know someone before you decide you love them and want to marry them.

How it started: The 112th reading of a Disney Sleeping Beauty book.

by Janine Kossen, Director, Public Policy

Well, they’re at it again.  Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee are using smoke and mirrors to try to distract us all from their real intentions of being the most anti-woman, anti-life crusaders the U.S. Congress has seen in decades.  But, we’re not falling for their thinly-veiled hypocrisy.  And neither should the US public.

Republicans voted eleven separate times yesterday to block funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).  That’s right, eleven separate times in the span of just three hours.   What exactly were they voting against?  For starters, they voted against continued funding for prevention and treatment of obstetric fistula, a debilitating condition that results from obstructed and prolonged labor and leaves women shunned by their families and their communities.  Who could possibly vote to continue the needless suffering of such women?  How about Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) who has made it his mantra to prevent and treat this exact condition?  Yes, that’s right, the very man who never shies away from taking credit for the creation of USAID’s obstetric fistula program voted against support for this same service.  But, he wasn’t the only one—all Republicans on the committee voted against funding for the prevention and treatment of obstetric fistula.

October is Let's Talk Month, a time to remember the importance of parent-child communication:  it's vital in helping teens develop their values around sexuality and skills to protect themselves. Let's Talk Month is also an opportunity for community agencies, religious institutions, businesses, schools, media, parent groups and health providers to plan programs and activities which encourage parent/child communication about sexuality.

What can you do to encourage parent-child communication this month?  Start here for communication tips for parents and ways organizations can get involved.  Then visit the Parents Sex Ed Center for much more information about starting and continuing the conversation.  Make it a great October!

by Debra Hauser, Executive Vice President

1 in 3 women will have an abortion in her lifetime, but we almost never talk about it. Not really. We may talk about abortion as an “issue,” but too often we remain silent about our own personal experiences. 

We have all been frustrated by the unprecedented legislative and cultural attacks on abortion access, and we wanted to figure out a new way to organize, proactively and on our own terms. So, Advocates for Youth began working with Choice USA and Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom to form a new campaign to destigmatize women’s experiences with abortion and protect access to this basic health care service. 

It starts by sharing our stories.

Today, we are launching the 1 in 3 Campaign – and we are asking you to join us. The 1 in 3 Campaign is a grassroots movement to start a new conversation about abortion – telling our stories, on our own terms. 

Will you take 3 minutes to listen to mine?

By Advocates Staff

As awards season begins (congrats, Modern Family!), Advocates is delighted to announce two winners in our own activism family.

Danny of the Ohio Advocates, a part of the Cultural Advocacy and Mobilization Initiative with partner organization AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, received the Choice USA Excellence in Leadership Award.  Danny was a driving force behind eliminating abstinence-only programs from Parma's schools, and with the Ohio Advocates is active in many other initiatives to help protect the sexual health and rights of Ohio's young people.

Urooj Arshad, Associate Director, Racial/Ethnic Disparities and Social Justice at Advocates for Youth, has been named an honoree at the Young Women of Color HIV/AIDS Coalition We Speak Awards.  The We Speak Awards recognize individuals and agencies in various sectors – non-profit, philanthropy, for-profit that support leadership development and HIV prevention for young women of color.

Congratulations to Urooj and Danny - it's great to see your hard work recognized!

by Emily Bridges, Director, Public Information Services

Last weekend, over 130 young people from 24 states and five countries converged on the District of Columbia for an amazing weekend of training, sharing our experiences, and educating our legislators.  And it was an inspiring and moving experience for young people and staff alike!

Young people from MySistahs/YWOCLC, YouthResource, CAMI, iYSO, Contraceptive Access YANs, and IYLC, and newcomers iGLBTQ (international youth leaders working on LGBT issues) were immersed in trainings in their program work, with returning youth co-leading many trainings.  Youth also had the opportunity to create and lead trainings, and shared their expertise on topics as diverse as creative organizing; sexuality and disability; inclusive sex education; and LGBT activism.

by Emily Bridges, Director, Public Information Services

Every year around the beginning of school, Beloit College releases its  notorious “mindset list” : statements that describe cultural realities for entering freshmen. The statements, like this year’s “The Communist Party has never been the official political party in Russia” or “Men have always been Martians, women, Venusians” remind older folks of how times have changed – or not.

In the spirit of Beloit’s work, I’ve compiled a few facts about reproductive and sexual health that have always been true for young people starting college this year (the class of 2015). Some are good news, while in other areas, there’s still some work to be done.

If you are an entering freshman, what would you add to the list? How have these realities shaped your perceptions?

 - All federal funding for sex education in public schools, throughout their education, went to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which taught that “sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical side effects.”  Source

 - There have always been very famous, well-loved, openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. 

 - Films with excessive nudity, violence, or swearing have always been rated NC-17, not X.

 - From their birth to their senior year of high school, people in the military who are LGBT faced discharge if they were found out.  

 - RU-486 has always provided women with a medication option for abortion.