Youth Radio - Topic: teen sex

Fatalistic Teens Increase Risk of HIV Infection

cfoster — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:53:23 -0500

John was the kind of teenager who’d drive 100 miles per hour without a seatbelt and jump into a pool from the second story of a building. What his parents said no to, he’d do ten times harder.

“I didn’t think I’d live past 21,” says John, who asked us not to use his real name. “I had alcohol poisoning at 15, I was in a coma one stage away from death.”

Adults always say people my age think we’re immortal, and that’s why we take crazy risks. But for John, who’s now 25, it was the opposite.

“People here are so used to seeing people their own age die, that life isn’t as valuable a thing as it should be, especially here in Oakland,” John says. “They’re numb, there’s no emotion there anymore because it’s so common.”

There’s some new research that backs up John’s point. A study this summer from the University of Minnesota reports 1 in 7 teenagers in the US thinks he or she only has a 50-50 shot of making it past 35. That alone may not be so surprising. But what stands out in the research are the consequences of low life-expectancy.

“We also found that those who predicted in the first interview that they would die earlier, were more likely in the later years to begin engaging in these risky behaviors,” says Dr. Iris Borowsky, the study’s lead author.

Youth who thought they’d die young were seven times more likely than their more hopeful counterparts to contract HIV/AIDS. Dr. Borowsky says pediatricians like her should screen their patients about how they view their futures.

“If I find that I have a patient who does not see a long road of opportunity ahead of them, this may be an indicator of multiple issues that deserve attention and also an opportunity to intervene to prevent risky behaviors including behaviors that are associated with HIV AIDS enough to improve health outcomes,” Borowsky says.

Kevin Bynes runs youth services at the aids project of the east bay, and he sees risky behavior first hand—and its effects.

“We talk about violence, substance abuse, a variety of poverty issues, but we rarely talk about HIV as one of those things,” says Bynes. “And it's a growing problem in this area and in the Bay Area.”

The rate of new HIV infections among teens is a problem nation-wide, according to a study released this summer by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of AIDS diagnoses for males age 15 to19 has doubled in the past ten years, and as of 2006 about 22,000 youth are living with AIDS.

Last December, after 10 years of reckless behavior, John became part of the statistic.

“I had been with somebody who had contracted an STD,” John recalls. “And as a precaution I went into a clinic to get tested just to make sure I was OK. When I was there I was offered an HIV test separately from all the STD tests I had taken. It seems like all the STD things came back negative, but the HIV test came back as positive.”

John says he’s still in shock from the diagnosis. The timing of it all made it extra painful, since he says he’d just stopped running wild when he got the bad news. Researchers are hoping their findings will lead to earlier intervention with young people like John whose fatalistic views put them at risk. So that next trip to the doctor’s office results in a discussion about future goals rather than an HIV diagnosis.

Previously:

Ankitha Bharadwaj's story was produced by Youth Radio and BeyondTheOdds.org. It comes to you from Public Radio Makers Quest 2.0, an initiative of AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio, Incorporated. This project is made possible with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Peer-to-Peer Sex Ed

cfoster — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:52:54 -0500

Ever seen a condom key chain?

Last summer, I went to an overnight program at UC Berkeley for high school seniors from all over the state. We stayed in the dorms and at night we went to each other’s room to talk and hang out. On the last night, eight girls came to my room and noticed my condom key chain.

“Wow, is that a condom?” one girl asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Does your school pass out these things?” another asked.

I told her that it was part of our schools’ health campaign and then I asked if anyone knew how to open a condom.

Some girls started to giggle, while others stared down at the floor.

I pulled out the condom and showed them how to open it properly.

“Wow!” they said.

I fielded questions about birth control, condoms and STIs (sexually transmitted infections) until 3 am.

I was lucky that my school had taught me about these issues and I was happy to share my knowledge with these girls. But at the same time, I was upset because their schools weren’t providing the basic information I think they really need.

Wearing Jeans to Raise Awareness [Now With Video]

cfoster — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:54:42 -0500

Students at Roosevelt High in downtown Los Angeles slipped into blue jeans to educate their peers about sexual violence as part of Wednesday’s worldwide commemoration of Denim Day. Among the supporters joining the students was the actress Calista Flockhart, who serves as the spokesperson for Peace Over Violence. The group organized the event in L.A.

Youth Radio’s Summer Sewell was also there to photograph the tabling students and their decorated denims. (See her gallery of photos in the right-hand column.)

The annual event started in 1998 after the Italian Supreme Court decided to let a convicted rapist walk free. The court determined that the victim must have consented to the sex because the jeans she was wearing were too tight to have been taken off her without her assistance and consent. Enraged by the ruling, women in the Italian parliament protested by wearing jeans on the steps of the Supreme Court. Protesters in Europe and the US have held similar demonstrations ever since.

Pairs of jeans were hung across the quad of Roosevelt High School on Denim Day in Boyle Heights as students attended a rally marking the anniversary of an overturned rape conviction in Italy that sparked international outrage.

(download mp3)

Peace Over Violence Executive Director Patti Giggans speaks to an audience of Homeboy Industries members in Los Angeles, shedding light on the often overlooked issue of sexual violence on Denim Day (April 22, 2009). Participants from Homeboy Industries, which is a non-profit aimed at creating job possibilities for ex-gang members, wore white T-shirts and signed a pledge to raise awareness and support an end to sexual assault.

(download mp3)

Actress Calista Flockhart shows her support for Denim Day at Roosevelt High's rally.

A sexual assault survivor addresses a crowd at Homeboy Industries, LA, bringing awareness to the underrepresented issue.

Marshall High student Judith Vargas explains the disturbing story behind Denim Day.

Mom and HIV

wilmer — Fri, 14 May 2010 19:11:10 -0500

Five years ago, when Quincy Mosby was 14, his mother told him she was HIV positive. Even as his mom copes with her illness and tries to embrace life, Quincy says that sometimes, all he can see is her death.

(download mp3)

Abstinence

noah — Fri, 30 Jan 2004 18:06:06 -0600

In his State of the Union address last week, President Bush called for more funds for the nation’s schools to teach abstinence. One federal program that already provides such funds requires that recipients teach, among other things, that “abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage is the expected standard for all school-age children.” A new poll by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government asked adults whether they agree with that statement, and more than six out of ten said they do. What’s more, many of those adults said that when answering the question, they were thinking about kids abstaining from a lot more than sexual intercourse. Large percentages said they included abstaining from intimate touching and passionate kissing, too. We had a suspicion that teenagers might not define abstinence the same way, so we asked Sanovia Jackson, a 17-year-old reporter for Youth Radio, what SHE thought. She asked some girlfriends and sent us this report.

SANOVIA
My mom and I talk about sex all the time. So you’d think she, of all people, would know how I define abstinence.

MOM:
How would YOU define abstinence? (Laughter) I don’t know. What DO you think?

Mom, answer it, how do you think? Mama, just say it.

MOM:
I don’t know!

Well here’s the deal. I believe you can do everything leading up to sexual intercourse, including oral sex, and still be abstinent. Most of my girlfriends in high school seem to look at abstinence the same way I do. But not everybody. Ask 17-year-old Krystle Martin how far you can go, and still be abstinent…

KRYSTLE:
Definitely kissing. Because that’s still pretty innocent. And probably to touch one another, but that probably would be where it stops.

A lot of adults disagree. Can you believe that 63% of them say if you touch each other, you’re NOT abstinent. And talk about old school—40% say passionate kissing is off limits, too. Even Krystle’s definition isn’t uptight enough for her mom.

KRYSTLE:
Well … she’s not really like hip to a lot of things, or updated on a lot of things. Maybe she would think being abstinent is like being completely separate from a boy no contact whatsoever.

This question of how far is too far follows girls into college. 21-year-old Katherine Wilkinson says her definition of abstinence includes some contact, but she’s holding out from going all the way -- even with all the freedom of living away from home.

KATHERINE:
I feel like I have so much to think about and worry about in my life. I don’t want to have to think about whether or not I’m pregnant between school and sports etc…Sex is one of the biggest gifts that you can give of yourself.

Katherine says she’s saving that gift for now, but that doesn’t mean she’ll wait till she’s married to go all the way. About half of adults think girls SHOULD wait that long. The thing is, maybe when our moms were kids, marriage was the ultimate goal, but nowadays, you see sex before marriage everywhere. And Katherine says if parents aren’t careful, their good intentions might only make things worse.

KATHERINE:
I think what turns kids off of abstinence is that they see grown ups making a moral decision for them.

And there’s pressure from all sides. Even our PEERS are trying to change our morals, in the opposite direction. The best solution is keeping your business to yourself. But Krystle knows the questions:

KRYSTLE:
Why aren’t you doing it? What’s wrong with you?

Can you be popular and also abstinent at your school?

KRYSTLE:
I think it is possible for a person to be popular and still abstinent at my school.

But it’s tricky. Those popular kids who say they’re abstinent? Well, their parents might disagree. I can’t tell you how many teens I know who pride themselves on being abstinent, but trust me, they’re doing EVERYTHING but. So before anybody tries to change the way we are, they’d better be sure when talking about abstinence, we all mean the same thing.