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October 2007 update on new publications, actions you can take, and more!
Advocates for Youth's e-News Update
Hey!
I would like to formally introduce myself! My name is Mimi Melles and I'm the new Program Coordinator for the Youth Activist Network. Reproductive and sexual health has always been a passion of mine--even when I didn't have all the information about the issues around comprehensive sex education. Looking back to when I was a pre-teen, my peers and the media were always talking about sex. I practically had to dig anywhere and everywhere to find more information, because I surely wasn't getting it from school. Many young people are in the same situation, and have to face the consequences of STIs, HIV, or pregnancy that could easily have been prevented with accurate, comprehensive information. We know that young people want the truth and want to keep ourselves healthy! Unfortunately, this is a worldwide problem. If I'm not getting the information I need in the United States, how likely is it that my family in Ethiopia is getting complete and accurate information about sexual health?
Advocates for Youth distributes monthly newsletters and action alerts, so that we can call on YOU to help halt harmful policies that put young people's lives at risk. Power doesn't always have to be in congressional votes or dollar bills--power comes in numbers too! With a database of over 20,000 young activists, we know that it can be done! I'm an activist, because I will not wait for change. I believe in the movement, because we can mobilize ourselves to take action. We have the intelligence, fire, and charisma to take a stand on the policies that directly affect our lives.
Devoting most of my life to activism (such as through awesome organizations like the Student Global AIDS Campaign) AND working in coalition on the grassroots level are the reasons why my passion is fueled through my work on the Youth Activist Network at Advocates for Youth!
I ask you to read the newsletters, participate in the actions, and write to me to tell us what you think--why? Because without you, there is no movement!
Peace,
Mimi
Take Action
In America, where up to 95 percent of the annual 800,000 teenage pregnancies are unintended and quality sexual health services for young women are often limited, activists like you must take action to make emergency contraception more widely available for ALL women.
Advocates for Youth and Choice USA urge you to Take Action! It has been one year since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) ruling to make over-the-counter sales of EC available only to women ages 18 and older.
Sign our petition and demand that the FDA rescind its decision and make EC available without a doctor's prescription for ALL women, including young women under age 18.
Our goal is to collect 50,000 signatures by the 2nd anniversary of the FDA's restrictive decision in August 2008.
This Month
October is Let's Talk Month!
Let's Talk Month is a national public education campaign celebrated in October and coordinated by Advocates for Youth. Let's Talk Month is 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.
October 15th is National Latino AIDS Awareness Day
Latinos in the United States continue to be disproportionately affected by the HIV and AIDS epidemic, with the second highest AIDS case rate in the nation. (Kaiser Family Foundation. HIV/AIDS Policy Fact Sheet: Latinos and HIV/AIDS. February 2006).
Social, economic, and cultural barriers limit the ability of many Latino youth to receive accurate and adequate information on preventing HIV, STIs, and unwanted pregnancy. Latino youth need 1) comprehensive, accurate information and 2) culturally competent, confidential, and affordable services in order to help stop the spread of HIV.
For more information about Latino youth, please read:
Please visit Advocates for Youth Web sites:
For more information about National Latino AIDS Awareness Day, please visit http://www.nlaad.org/.
Youth Activists go to London!
Members of Advocates for Youth's International Youth Leadership Council will attend "Women Deliver," an international conference being held in London from October 18-20th. The conference focus is on efforts to improve the health of women, mothers and newborn babies around the world. IYLCs Haben, Andrew, Lesley and Brian will participate in workshops, blog about their experiences for RhRealityCheck.org, network with other youth activists, and work with the media to ensure that young peoples' voices are a part of the greater dialogue.
Say What?!
It's NOT Perfectly Normal to Steal Library Books
A woman who checked out It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex & Sexual Health from two local libraries, refuses to return copies of the book because she was upset by its content.
"Since I have been sufficiently horrified of the illustrations and the sexually graphic, amoral abnormal contents, I will not be returning the books," JoAnn Karkos wrote the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries last month.
The book, published 14 years ago, uses cartoon illustrations to address topics such as abstinence, and sexually transmitted infections.
Both libraries have reordered the book for their shelves.
Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.wmtw.com/news/14139329/detail.html
New From Advocates' Peer Educators
On YouthResource (http://www.youthresource.com/), Jesse examines the relationship between transphobia and homophobia.
About a year ago a young man approached me at a conference for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) youth and their allies...His question was simple enough: Why do people consider transgender folks to be a part of the lesbian, gay and bisexual community?
Read Jesse's answer here:
http://www.youthresource.com/living/trans/queerphobia.htm
On MySistahs, (http://www.mysistahs.org) Nicole reveals how numbers-based research ignores the real lives of young women of color.
Once again, we are studied, but misunderstood. We are accounted for, but only in part. I often wonder about the effect that constantly being under the microscope has on my community. How does the research color my perception of myself? If I were a teenage mother, how would I feel if I read that my pregnancy is seen as a social ill and that my reason to have a child is being chalked up to me simply not knowing any better? It seems that Black or Latina lives are often reduced to just another statistic.
Read more about empowering young women to avoid being "just another statistic" here: http://www.mysistahs.org/health/teenpregnancy/statistic.htm
You can help Advocates for Youth with a contribution today. To donate, visit http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/about/donatetoday.htm
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