In addition to news today that sex ed is not up to snuff in many parts of the country, the completely fascinating (though not-very-catchily-named) Youth Cohort Study and Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England was published today. It's full of detailed information about the behaviour of 18-year-olds across England, including, for the first time, sexual behaviour.
What did we learn? For one thing, despite not always receiving much support from schools and families, most 18-year-olds are doing their best to stay sexually healthy: over half of young people NEVER have sex without "precautions or contraception", while only 2% have unprotected sex all the time. Furthermore, 97% of 18-year-olds who knew they had an STI accessed treatment for it. We didn't really learn anything new about the fact that young people sometimes face unintended pregnancy, and that some of these young people choose to continue their pregnancies, while others opt for abortion.
What did the media learn? I'll give you a hint: it starts with "N" and ends with "othing". Okay, I'm being harsh. But I couldn't help but be disappointed. Despite all this interesting news, the ever-reliable Metro went with "1 in 8 teenagers girls gets pregnant" for a headline. (Apparently no boys were involved, girls just "get" pregnant. Do you think it's airborne? Dust off your swine flu masks, everyone.) Yes, this is a very interesting statistic, and it's worth talking about. But just once, couldn't we start with a pat on the back for young people? While newspapers are busy shouting themselves blue about the "teenage pregnancy epidemic" (see below), young people have been quietly getting on with being really sensible. As the astute Dr. Petra pointed out, couldn't we have a headline about getting these young people better support and better education instead?
Lest I fall into my same old "dang media" ramble, let me add that Metro at least made the link between unintended teenage pregnancy (which, of course, not all teenage conceptions are) and the lack of sex education. That's actually a great start. But until the media catches up with us, let us simply note that in at least one way (and depending on how you feel about eye liner, in so many ways) Alice Cooper was wrong: 18-year-olds do sometimes know what they want. (And they don't have babies' brains- that's a really weird line anyway). Despite not always having someone to talk to or learn from about sexual health, they're trying to take care of themselves, and props to them.
Showing posts with label Teen Pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teen Pregnancy. Show all posts
Friday, July 23, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Outbreak! The teen pregnancy "epidemic"?
The brilliant Choice USA just tweeted (not sure what I mean? Check out our Twitter account!) a Huffington Post article about the myth of the teenage pregnancy epidemic by its director, Kierra Johnson. The article itself is worth a read, not least because of brilliant bits like this:
In the parlance of our times, word.
Although the author refers to many uniquely American phenomena (the abstinence-promoting billboard, for example. A favourite in my home state of Wisconsin informs the driver that true love waits, mother is heart of the family, and you should choose life – 3 messages for the price of one!), the article makes several points that apply to the UK, too. The most interesting and important point the author makes – what is the “problem” with teens having sex? – I couldn’t articulate better.
I think there are several reasons why the idea of the teenage pregnancy “epidemic” is a pretty useless concept. As Johnson points out, it’s not sex or pregnancy that are inherently the problem, it’s a lack of informed choice and support. A more prosaic but nonetheless important reason this “epidemic” is nonsense is the myth about the rates of teenage pregnancy. At a training on Monday, I was reminded of this issue when some participants referred to the “rising teenage pregnancy rate”. Whether or not you think teenage pregnancy is a “problem”, the teenage conception rate in the UK has not risen over the last ten years. In fact, it's fallen. Unfortunately, though, constant media panic about teenage pregnancy and perennial “Teens have sex!” headlines lead even sexual health professionals (I was guilty of this too, trainees, until I started at EFC- I’m not picking on you!) to believe the rates are higher than ever. In fact, teens today are far less likely to become pregnant than they were in Britain in the 1950s. So whenever anyone gets nostalgic for the alleged golden era of “family values” I suggest s/he a) watch Mad Men and think about what it was like to be gay, female, black, or anyone other than Don Draper and b) consider that “kids these days” are just like “kids those days”.
“Teenage pregnancy isn't the epidemic. The lack of information and support for people to make healthy decisions about their lives is the true epidemic. The culture of shame and scapegoating around sex is the real problem. And this epidemic crosses generations, with young people feeling the brunt of it.”
In the parlance of our times, word.
Although the author refers to many uniquely American phenomena (the abstinence-promoting billboard, for example. A favourite in my home state of Wisconsin informs the driver that true love waits, mother is heart of the family, and you should choose life – 3 messages for the price of one!), the article makes several points that apply to the UK, too. The most interesting and important point the author makes – what is the “problem” with teens having sex? – I couldn’t articulate better.
I think there are several reasons why the idea of the teenage pregnancy “epidemic” is a pretty useless concept. As Johnson points out, it’s not sex or pregnancy that are inherently the problem, it’s a lack of informed choice and support. A more prosaic but nonetheless important reason this “epidemic” is nonsense is the myth about the rates of teenage pregnancy. At a training on Monday, I was reminded of this issue when some participants referred to the “rising teenage pregnancy rate”. Whether or not you think teenage pregnancy is a “problem”, the teenage conception rate in the UK has not risen over the last ten years. In fact, it's fallen. Unfortunately, though, constant media panic about teenage pregnancy and perennial “Teens have sex!” headlines lead even sexual health professionals (I was guilty of this too, trainees, until I started at EFC- I’m not picking on you!) to believe the rates are higher than ever. In fact, teens today are far less likely to become pregnant than they were in Britain in the 1950s. So whenever anyone gets nostalgic for the alleged golden era of “family values” I suggest s/he a) watch Mad Men and think about what it was like to be gay, female, black, or anyone other than Don Draper and b) consider that “kids these days” are just like “kids those days”.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Teen Pregnancy Workers: Working Hard to Support All Young People
It’s a daunting task contacting numerous sexual health and pregnancy services for young people around England but it’s turned into an incredibly rewarding one. In order to create service audit tools for three pilot sites in England that I am working with and to learn how other services are evaluating their provision, I’ve been emailing and calling service providers, administrators and many different workers from all along the pregnancy services continuum – sex and relationships education (SRE), contraception, STI testing, and pregnancy testing services, pregnancy decision-making support, antenatal services, abortion services, and post-pregnancy contraception. Phew!
The workers I’ve spoken to all know that there won’t be much money for the vitally important prevention and support work they do. They know the Department for Education will ask local councils to decide how to cut budgets for their programmes, including teenage pregnancy. However, it’s heartening to hear from dedicated workers of their fierce commitment to implementing and maintaining the strongest sexual health and pregnancy services that they can provide for young people.
There is the UR Choice programme, a Sex and Relationships Education programme in Bradford and Airedale schools that hopes to expand into more schools. There is a great new pregnancy pathway resource used by health workers in the southeast to make sure young pregnant women have access to whatever services they need for whichever choice they make about their pregnancy. There is the robust teenage pregnancy team in the northeast that offers a number of education and health services for young people in schools, at clinics, and in other places young people are through outreach. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Our volunteer supporting this project commented on how impressed she was with the sheer number of services for young people in this country and that she wished she knew about them when she was younger (note: the definition of ‘young person’ varies from service to service, Brook accepts clients up to the age of 25 so do a bit of research before you book in; you never know, you might still be categorized as a young person!).
Despite budget cuts and a lack of public recognition, workers in teenage pregnancy services are working harder than ever and their commitment to the issue is crystal clear to me. Let’s give it up for our sexual health and teen pregnancy workers!
(We’re always keen to learn what’s going on in other parts of the country. Why not tell us what’s going on in your area in the comments section below?)
The workers I’ve spoken to all know that there won’t be much money for the vitally important prevention and support work they do. They know the Department for Education will ask local councils to decide how to cut budgets for their programmes, including teenage pregnancy. However, it’s heartening to hear from dedicated workers of their fierce commitment to implementing and maintaining the strongest sexual health and pregnancy services that they can provide for young people.
There is the UR Choice programme, a Sex and Relationships Education programme in Bradford and Airedale schools that hopes to expand into more schools. There is a great new pregnancy pathway resource used by health workers in the southeast to make sure young pregnant women have access to whatever services they need for whichever choice they make about their pregnancy. There is the robust teenage pregnancy team in the northeast that offers a number of education and health services for young people in schools, at clinics, and in other places young people are through outreach. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Our volunteer supporting this project commented on how impressed she was with the sheer number of services for young people in this country and that she wished she knew about them when she was younger (note: the definition of ‘young person’ varies from service to service, Brook accepts clients up to the age of 25 so do a bit of research before you book in; you never know, you might still be categorized as a young person!).
Despite budget cuts and a lack of public recognition, workers in teenage pregnancy services are working harder than ever and their commitment to the issue is crystal clear to me. Let’s give it up for our sexual health and teen pregnancy workers!
(We’re always keen to learn what’s going on in other parts of the country. Why not tell us what’s going on in your area in the comments section below?)
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