Grassroots Organizing & Web-Based Resources

Synthesis of Grassroots Organizing

Young people are responsible for a lot of the organizing around sexual health and sexual health education.  They join together and often take to the internet to give their peers necessary and accurate information about sexual health and resources.  Concerned community members and sexual health advocates, many of whom are people who would have benefitted from better sexual health education as children, are also involved in grassroots organizing.  Some teachers and healthcare professionals have seen the effects and failures of current sexual health education programs and are inspired to change the system through grassroots methods.

The message from these organizations is clear.  Youth need information, resources, and support in order to make safe and healthy decisions that are right for them as individuals and these organizations are going to give them just that.  They also encourage parents, school leaders, and policy makers to expand and improve sexual education.

Anyone who is not getting the information they need about sexual health from parents, teachers, and healthcare providers are able to access this information through local centers or online.  Parents are also given resources to help them improve the sexual education they are providing their children.  Concerned individuals are encouraged to support improvements to sexual education and end the stigma and shame around sexual activity, pregnancy, and STIs.

There is a huge amount of stigma and shame around adolescent sexual activity.  Adults tend to not want to think about it, let alone talk to children about sexual activity.  Even through the opposite is true, people are afraid that by talking about the problems related to teenage sexuality they will increase these problems.  Because of this gut reaction it is challenging to reach children with the information they need and convince parents, teachers, school boards, and policy makers that comprehensive sexual education is effective and necessary.

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