Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee

"Do not doubt that a small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead

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PG-13 Players Talk Sex Ed During Condom Week

To Whom It May Concern:

Did you know that the week of February 14th, 2017 is about more than candies, valentines, and flowers? It is also recognized across the United States as National Condom Week. Did you also know that in Davidson County in 2014, 23% of reported STD cases were found in young people, ages 10-19? This is one of the many reasons we know spreading the word about National Condom Week is so important!

We are the PG-13 Players, Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee’s high school peer educators. We are trained to become teen sexuality educators, giving our peers access to medically accurate, age-appropriate, empowering sex education. This skill set is especially important in Tennessee, a state where young people in public schools are only taught to remain abstinent until marriage. We are warned of the “physical, social, emotional, psychological, economic and educational consequences of sex outside of marriage,” but not taught how to properly use a condom. Condoms and birth control aren’t even allowed on public school grounds, even for education purposes.

Data from the CDC shares that in 2013, 52% of Tennessee teens reported being sexually active. 59% of those teens who were currently sexually active did not use a condom the last time they had sex. This is why we need your help, Nashville. We know that not having sex is the only 100% effective way to avoid pregnancy and STDs, but we deserve to learn all the information about risk reduction so that we can make informed choices. Young people are smart, Nashville. Trust us with knowledge—we deserve it.

You can see we are passionate about education and National Condom Week is the perfect week to start conversations with the young people in your life! Use this important week to see what they have (or haven’t) learned in school. Be a nonjudgmental space for what can be an awkward topic. Share your family values with your teen—be sure to share why you hold those values. If you feel your teen deserves to learn more than “abstinence-centered until marriage,” in school—get involved! Go to a school board meeting, share your concerns. We need you, Nashville. Our health depends on it.

There are free condoms all over Nashville. Pick some up this week for you or a loved one! Go to www.getyasumgood.com for a map of all the free condom locations in our city and celebrate National Condom Week safely.

Yours in Safety,

The PG-13 Players

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Tennessee Storytelling Project

I have always thought that women who have had abortions are the best ones to talk about it, and since I have never had one I didn’t feel comfortable putting words on paper about the topic. The women and their families with the firsthand experience of abortion are the best ones to be the voice for why abortion should remain legal and safe and accessible to anyone who may need one.

However… It’s frustrating to constantly read and hear about politicians dedicating so much of their energy to make abortions illegal and creating laws and putting women’s health at risk. Morals and values blatantly based in religion aren’t supposed to play a part of the law making process above facts, but laws surrounding abortion play to people’s feelings instead of supporting the community. It’s discouraging to know this service I could potentially need is constantly being threatened. Abortion is a right that should exist without any protest of it being taken away.

Intern YK

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Visit the Tennessee Stories Project & see how we lift up abortion stories and erase stigma! www.tnstories.org http://thndr.me/PtMGpt

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Virginity Pledges

Abstinence can feel ideal for our youth. If they are being abstinent there aren’t any unplanned pregnancies, it lowers the risk of coming in contact with an STI, and the assumption follows they aren’t experiencing heartbreak. However, that is not a reality for all youth and our reaction shouldn’t be to shame their decisions to have sex. Virginity pledges are promises that youth make to not have sex until marriage, and are generally done at the end of an abstinence-only program. These pledges are not effective and do not prevent youth from staying abstinent until marriage. In fact, most people who take the pledge admit to having participated in vaginal, anal, or oral sex, or some combination of, before marriage. They are also less likely to use contraception than their peers who did not make the same promise. The youth that are able to maintain the promise until marriage, may not able to have a healthy sex life with their partner, because they still have this thought that sex is dirty. Virginity pledges put an unrealistic level of importance on virginity. The idea is that sex is wrong and not something that should happen until you are married, then sex suddenly becomes natural and right. These programs shine a negative light on people that do not keep their virginity until marriage and encourages passing judgment on others personal choices. If we want our youth to grow into well rounded and open-minded adults we need to give factual information to encourage positive decision-making.

Intern YK

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Condoms seem to be everyone favorite safer sex method to complain about. “They don’t feel good” or “the smell is a turn off” and “I can’t finish with one”. Why would you want to put yourself at risk for an infection or, if you’re not ready for it, pregnancy? Condoms are easy to use, cheap, require little effort, make clean up easier, and do a pretty good job of keeping you and your partner safe.

Trying out and experimenting with all of the different options can also be a fun activity and does not have to be viewed as an annoying responsibility. Condom companies are going above and beyond to make condoms a more attractive safer sex option, from the packaging to the textured and glow in the dark, or flavored, and colored condom options (which are only a few of them). So go out and celebrate National Condom Week (and every other week of the year ;-) ) by trying out as many different types of condoms as possible and finding your favorite!

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Condoms!

“In 2008, there were an estimated 110 million prevalent STIs among women and men in the U.S.. Of these, more than 20% (22.1 million) were among women and men aged 15 to 24 years”

How do we PREVENT this from happening again?

CONDOMS! Condoms are an easy and effective way (if used properly) to prevent STI’s. Condoms will protect YOU and your partner. By the way get YOU and your partner checked for STI’S. YOUR body and YOUR health is very important.

HOW TO USE A CONDOM: ***CHECK THE EXPIRATION DATE*** O- Open the condom P-Pinch the tip of the condom as it will be the part of the condom that the semen travels to. R- Roll the condom on to the penis. A- Action... H- Hold the condom.

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In honor of National Condom Week, here are some fun facts about condoms! Enjoy! 

More questions about condoms, or anything about sexual health? First text “TUMBLR” to 57890, then text your questions whenever you have them! 

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Super Bowl Halftime

The 50th Super bowl halftime show is reinforcing the need for equality among every individual in America, despite their color or sexual orientation. The show that included Coldplay, Bruno Mars, and Beyoncé was packed with many empowering messages.  Of those messages LGBTQ and Black Lives Matters were the star of the show with the rainbow colored message “Believe In Love” and Beyoncé’s dancers dressed in black berets similar to the ones worn by the Black Panthers in the 60s. Less than 24 hours before the big Super bowl performance, Beyoncé released her new video named “Formation” which referenced both Hurricane Katrina and the recent mass protests across the US over police killings of unarmed young black men; A powerful, unapologetic message of activism and racial justice. This is one of the first times a positive LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter message has been displayed for over 100 million viewers.  Even two years ago, it wouldn’t have been possible for the Super Bowl to show an unabashedly pro-gay message during the half-time show. Having iconic artists come together to advocate with their music for basic human rights, on such a huge stage like the Super Bowl is something not short of monumental. This performance is important for two reasons; it shows how much compassion these artist have for the people who have their rights taken away from them and to use their fame to advocate for what they believe in, even if it is a sensitive subject. It indicates how far the gay rights and racial movement has come and how far we still have to go where everyone can be who they are, love who they love, and to leave the house without fear of being killed based on their skin tone.

What if every artist used their fame as a platform to bring about change in America? What could we achieve?

Intern L

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Enjoy donuts + STD testing + Birth Control + open communication this Valentine’s Day!

To make an appointment at your nearest Planned Parenthood Health Center, click here or call 1-800-230-PLAN!

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“One woman stared closely at the screen and admitted that she had not known women had three holes—the vagina, the urethra, and the anus. She was 20 years old and had always believed urine came out of her vagina.” If I had not signed up for ecology my junior year of high school, I would probably be in the same boat as her. Any class since then which has touched on sex, will usually ask if anyone has had past sexuality education and maybe 5 to 10 people raise their hands. We are given very little when it comes to sexuality education and are expected to just know, but we don’t. 

Generally, once we turn 18, and are seen as legal adults, it is just assumed we figure out what we need to know about sex and that’s it, and once we have put together our haphazard attempt at understanding sexuality and how our bodies work, we have children. And if we are having children it is assumed we know everything to be successful and raise kids. However, we are not able to adequately teach them how their bodies and how they work, because we still have not been taught, so we think the school will do so…and they don’t either. In reality, less than 50 percent of high schools teach all 16 sexual health topics recommended by the CDC. And so the cycle continues.

Intern YK

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Truth!

Art via AsuRocks

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Saying you don’t need Planned Parenthood because you already have Obamacare is like saying you don’t need a car because you already have auto insurance. #StandWithPP

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“Rape is one of the most underreported crimes, and men are more likely to experience sexual assault than they are to be falsely accused of committing it, but yet we still focus on whether or not an alleged victim’s narrative is “good enough” to be taken seriously.”

via The Huffington Post

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sister, daughter, feminist, reproductive rights advocate :)