As we live our lives we face all sorts of obstacles that  we do not have much control over. But if there is one thing we should the power to take care of individually,  it is our bodies. Young people need to be given the knowledge about how to take care of themselves.

Amber, 19, works with Advocates for Youth and the AIDS Task Force of Greater Cleveland as a member of the Ohio Advocates.

Throughout high school I was a part of an organization determined to give all students the right to an equal public education. We marched down the busiest streets of Philadelphia during rush hour, filled the seats of School board meetings, respectfully invaded the offices of legislatures in our state capitol, and educated one another on the injustices in our society. It was in a support group made up of the young women in our organization that I realized with all the knowledge we had about societal structure, we had no clue about our own structure.

A facilitator taped a diagram of our anatomy on the wall and we all cocked our heads to one side, shocked by all the passage ways, buttons and other doodads.  And as the discussion moved into sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, consent, sexual orientation, gender identity etc. we were even more stunned by all that we didn’t know. That conversation has always stuck with me.

There is a lot of strain on young people, and if you are a young person in a marginalized group the struggle is heightened. As we live our lives we face all sorts of obstacles, that without mobilization we do not have much control over. But if there is one thing we have the power to take care of individually it is our bodies. Young people need to be given the knowledge about how to take care of themselves. Thus, this movement is one that we should be involved in.

We hold the stories and insight into what we need. My hope for  sexual health and rights is that young people are not only able to take care of themselves, but articulate sexual health and rights issues to their elders, and to those who come after them. This taboo is deadly and one of many ways that young people are being oppressed, and therefore stifled from being all they can be. People are not getting all the knowledge and resources they deserve.