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March 2008 update on new publications, actions you can take, and more!
Advocates for Youth's e-News Update
News You Can Use
March 10th is National Women and Girls HIV Awareness Day
The proportion of HIV and AIDS cases in the United States in women has been increasing since the beginning of the HIV and AIDS epidemic. According to the Office of Women's Health, in 2005, 27 percent of new AIDS cases were in women, and 80 percent of these cases were in women of color.
Women and girls can take action in the fight against HIV/AIDS in a variety of ways, including getting tested for HIV; practicing safer sex to prevent HIV; deciding not to engage in high risk behaviors; talking about HIV prevention with family, friends and colleagues; empowering themselves, and providing support to those living with HIV/AIDS.
Read our publications on youth and HIV.
For more information about the day, and to get materials, please visit http://www.womenshealth.gov/hiv/NWGHAAD/.
March 20th is National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
This day is an opportunity to increase awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS on American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.
HIV/AIDS continues to increase among Native people. Per population, American Indians/Alaska Natives have the third highest rates of HIV/AIDS behind Blacks and Hispanics. Native people are more likely to live in rural areas where there are limited HIV testing services. Stigma about HIV and fear of seeing people they know at local health care facilities also act as barriers in preventing people from getting tested.
National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is an opportunity for Native people and others to create greater awareness about the risks of HIV/AIDS in their communities; to remember those who have died from AIDS; to acknowledge those who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS; to call for increased resources for testing; and to seek support for increasing treatment and care options.
Read our publication on American Indian/Alaska Native Young Women.
For more information about this day, please visit http://www.hhs.gov/aidsawarenessdays/days/native/index.html.
New Research
Each month we will bring to you abstracts from the newest research on adolescent and sexual health. Don't miss these important findings!
PSEXINFO: A Sexual Health Text Messaging Service for San Francisco Youth
American Journal of Public Health
This article describes the text messaging service created by Internet Sexuality Education Services (ISIS), a group Advocates has worked with to reach youth with new technologies. The service allows San Francisco residents to request and receive information about pregnancy and STDs via text message. The article describes the development and rollout of the service and describes what focus groups had to say about it.
Read the abstract here:
http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/98/3/393
Sexuality Education Among Latinas: Experiences, Preferences, Attitudes and Risk Behavior
American Journal of Sexuality Education
Researchers surveyed a sample of Latinas to explore their sexual behaviors and what methods and sources of sexuality education were most effective. From the abstract: "Nearly half of sexually active women (having ever had sex) reported condom use and 36.7% reported discussing sexual history with new sexual partners. Self-discovery, friends and media were the most commonly reported sources of sexuality education. Almost 60% of participants thought that both parents and teachers should be responsible for their children's sexuality education. Lower education and lower acculturation were related to reporting peers and media as primary sources of sexuality education. Participants whose parents discussed at least one sexuality related topic with them reported higher frequency of condom use."
Read the abstract here:
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/haworth/ajse/2008/00000002/00000004/art00003
Check out other new research or go directly to the article abstracts:
Take Action
We are at a pivotal point in the fight to win full access to emergency contraception (EC) for all women, and we need your help!
The Center for Reproductive Rights - a legal advocacy organization that promotes and defends the reproductive rights of women worldwide - recently filed a lawsuit to force the FDA to reverse its decision to restrict young women's access to Plan B without a prescription.
Advocates for Youth and Choice USA have launched a 10,000 signature petition drive to keep pressure on the FDA. It's time to make sure that ALL women have access to emergency contraception - not just women 18 and older!
Click here to download the Petition Kit! Collect signatures on your campus and in your community and send them in by fax or mail. We will deliver completed petitions to the FDA later this spring. 
News of the Absurd
Suspended for Spreading Condom Awareness?! Are You Serious?
Illinois junior high school students were suspended for wearing condom packages pinned to their shirts in protest of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.
Watch This Video!
Who are YOU calling a Slut?
Speaking at a GOP Caucus meeting on February 6, Colorado State Representative Larry Liston said, "In my parents' day and age, (unmarried teen parents) were sent away, they were shunned, they were called what they are. There was at least a sense of shame."
He continued, "There's no sense of shame today. Society condones it. . .I think it's wrong. They're sluts. And I don't mean just the women, I mean the men, too."
The four women in the House Republican Caucus issued a statement calling the comments "inappropriate and unacceptable" and saying his language "distracted from an important caucus discussion of meaningful health care reform."
Teens who become pregnant face enough challenges without being denounced and belittled in the name of politics. It is Liston who should be ashamed.
Don't let State Representative Liston insult young women and men - - send him a message [larry.liston.house@state.co.us] letting him know how you feel about his degrading remarks.
Read the complete Gazette story
New At Advocates
Job Openings at Advocates!
State Strategies Manager
The State Strategies Program Manager will work with state advocacy coalitions to build their capacity to improve adolescent reproductive and sexual health policies in target states. The Manager will be responsible for working in coalition with national colleague organizations to identify state needs, work with state coalitions, assist in the development of advocacy messages, conduct policy analysis, develop and/or catalogue model legislation, identify successful advocacy strategies, provide logistical support for state-based programs, and draft and disseminate state-specific advocacy alerts.
Manager of Individual Giving
The Manager of Individual Giving will expand and sustain individual fundraising efforts at Advocates for Youth. This is a new position, and the successful candidate will develop and execute a plan to scale-up Advocates' existing individual donor program, including the development of a major donor program for the organization.
Click here for more details.
Creating Change Conference
Advocates for Youth staff and youth activists attended the annual Creating Change Conference, hosted by the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce on February 6-10 in Detroit, Michigan. Each year, the National Conference provides a space where over 2,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights advocates from every corner of the country gather to strategize, socialize and mobilize for LGBT equality.
Workshops by Advocates for Youth included: How Comprehensive Sex Education is an LGBT Issue; Coming Out as Muslim; and Advocates for Youth's Anti-homophobia Project: An Effective Strategy to Provide Capacity Building to Communities of Color.
Read the blogs from youth activists about Creating Change 2008.
In the Spotlight
Keeping it REAL with the PTSA!
Ashley is a member of the High School Organizing Team with Advocates for Youth
The bell rang. School was out, but I was not leaving. Today I was not catching the bus to go home. Today was the result of everything I had been preparing for. This was it. This was the day that I was to introduce the idea of REAL comprehensive sexual education into my school. I was going to give a presentation about the need for honest sexual health education to a hundred parents and their children at a Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) meeting. I created an extensive power point presentation and invited Mimi Melles and Tom Klaus, representatives from Advocates for Youth to be on a panel of experts. They brought all sorts of material to pass out, and I had found them to be excellent at providing support for me, calming the nerves of parents and teachers alike, and answering the hard questions.
Read Ashley's article!
You can help Advocates for Youth with a contribution today. To donate, visit http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/about/donatetoday.htm
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