Reproductive Justice Matters!

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Read our Letter to the Editor in regards to the 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade yesterday, the rise in legislation restricting safe and legal access to abortion, and working across movements to fight for reproductive justice.

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We had a great time educating our community on HIV/AIDS, distributing condoms, and fighting for the healthiest generation in honor of World AIDS Day 2013.

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Today on World AIDS Day and every day, Planned Parenthood is a leading provider of HIV prevention, screening, and referrals. Click here to find out where you can get tested at a Planned Parenthood health center.  http://pplm.org/locations We're fighting for the healthiest generation!

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We had some Peer Health Educators come and host an amazing Sex Pictionary workshop. It was fun, educational, and informative!

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Sex Ed in Westchester County NY

It was great. I had it sophomore year and my teacher was hysterical. She was also pregnant at the time which made it even better. LGBQ was included, and she demonstrated on some model penis how to put a condom on (apparently the model ejaculated but it gets messy so she didn't do that...). We played a game where we all had signs with different "steps" to putting on, properly using and taking off a  condom, and we had to arrange ourselves in the proper order. That was "condom day," and it included female condoms and dental dams too. Then there was "birth control day" where she went over all forms of female birth control...the pill, nuva ring, IUDs, diaphrams, patches.....We learned about male and female anatomy, we talked about oral sex and how it's "in style right now." The sex ed unit of our semester long health class was only about 2 weeks, but it was...."memorable." Oh and we watched a video about conception and saw a woman give birth.

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Today, we recognize the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

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An incredible series of infographics by Fenway Health on health disparities faced by the transgender community.

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Just another reason why it is so important that sex education programs are comprehensive and inclusive to ALL gender identities.

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The Center for Women and Community provided us with an amazing workshop on Building Healthy Relationships!

Here are some take-aways for building equal power through your communication with your friend, partner(s), etc.

1. Secure you center

2.) Ask clarifying questions

3.) Find out what your partner's feelings are.

4.) Express your feelings.

5.) Determine what's important to you

6.) Acknowledge what's important your partner.

7.) Think about your similarities and differences

8.) Exchange ideas for a possible solution. 

Check out the Center for Women and Community and all of the great things they do including providing counseling, information and referral services, support groups, educational workshops, and advocacy!

http://www.umass.edu/ewc/

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The Benefits of a Comprehensive Sex Education Program

When it comes to Sex Ed, I was very fortunate to have a school system that started teaching about the body at a young age. In fifth grade, everyone was to watch what was referred to as “the movie” which was about our changing bodies during puberty. We had to watch both the video for males and females as a class and were able to ask questions freely. We continued Sex Ed through our sophomore year of high school within our health classes and always had units that covered a variety of issues within the realm of Sex Ed.

I really appreciated how we weren’t just preached to about abstinence; their theory was that many teenagers have sex, so they want to make sure teens have sex in the safest and most informed way possible. We learned about puberty, reproductive organs and sex, consent, rape and date rape, different forms of birth control (male and female), STDs, pregnancy, teen parenthood, abusive relationships, and it was LGBT inclusive.

While we spent many class periods watching informational videos, Degrassi episodes, and the occasional Lifetime movie on these topics, I found that our school excelled in its Sex Ed curriculum because it was also very hands-on and was greatly informative. As we got older, the topics grew more serious and age appropriate. I am privileged to have had such a comprehensive Sex Ed experience in my hometown, but unfortunately not everyone is as lucky as I was. This is why I am in full support of the Healthy Youth Bill. Everyone deserves the right to proper Sex Ed and to be informed about his and her bodies. The Healthy Youth Bill will give every student in Massachusetts the ability to be an informed adolescent who can make conscience, independent sexual decisions.

-Sabrina

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Sex Ed Matters because THIS is not okay.

Sign our petition to get comprehensive sex ed passed in MA today: http://www.sex-edmatters.org/get-involved/sign-our-petition/

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We had such a blast tabling at Earthfoods Cafe today asking people why Sex Ed Matters to them and their own experiences with sex education.

What's your experience with sex education? Submit your story today!

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Pretty close to Comprehensive Sex, but still a way to go...

I am from a high school that was extremely progressive in many ways. We got taught sexual health in a comprehensive way. We learned about the different Gender roles and how society enforces them on us and how to recognize that. We were taught about the male and female anatomy as well as what they are used for. We were taught how to put on a male condom and that they come in different colors, flavors and what not. So, what was wrong with what my high school taught me. To me they taught me too late. I had been sexually active for a while and new most of this stuff. What they didn't teach me soon enough was about consent. If I had know about what it meant to give consent to someone in 6th grade I think I would have had an easier time with some relationships. If I had been given the notion that I could say no and did't have to do what any guy wanted me to I would have saved myself from a lot of pain. If I had known that it was wrong for someone to push someone to do something even after saying no earlier than life could have been happier. There were a lot of things that were great about the sexual health curriculum that I got taught, but timing was of the essence and they failed with that.

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C'mon, Massachusetts you are slacking.

Sign our petition today to get the Healthy Youth Bill passed: http://www.sex-edmatters.org/get-involved/sign-our-petition/

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Welcome!

We are VOX UMass: Students for Reproductive Justice, a student-run organization affiliated with Planned Parenthood on the UMass Amherst campus dedicated to organizing and advocating around issues of sexual health and reproductive justice.

Currently, we are hosting a “Sex Ed Matters” month on our campus to raise awareness around the Healthy Youth Bill in Massachusetts. This bill would require that if public schools teach sex education, it has to be comprehensive, medically-accurate, age-appropriate, LGBT-inclusive, and focus on the importance of consent and healthy relationships.

We are launching this Tumblr because we want to hear from YOU!

Now we’ve all had all sorts of various experiences with sex education. What’s your story? We want to hear EVERYTHING. The awesome comprehensive sex education classes you’ve had. Your lack of sex education classes. Your horror story of a religious group coming into your PUBLIC school and “teaching” you “sex education” (yeah, that happened to me). 

So, what are you waiting for? Share your story today!