A quarterly international newsletter on sexuality, sexual health, and sexuality education.
Volume 4, Issue 1 - Spring 2005
First-Hand Account: European and American Youth Talk Sex and Health, Demand Education and Services
Max Ciardullo, Public Policy Assistant
On February 15th and 16th, I joined 49 sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) advocates ages 18-25, from across the European Union and America in Brussels, Belgium for the first European/American Youth Advocacy Summit. Recognizing that young people are often excluded from discussions about our SRHR, SIECUS, Advocates for Youth, YouAct, and Marie Stopes International organized the summit to bring young people together to share our concerns and strategize ways to amplify our voices at the local, national, and international level. Hearing all of the participants' situations and experiences, from long-standing successful policies to triumphs over opposition, will be invaluable to me as an advocate in the U.S. for health and rights.
The delegates at the summit provided striking examples of the disparities in policies and rights that exist across Europe. For example, delegates spoke of Women on Waves, a Dutch organization that attempts to provide a full range of reproductive health services and education to women in neighboring European countries where abortion is illegal.1 Women on Waves operates a mobile clinic aboard a ship that travels to these countries when invited by local SRHR organizations. In the Netherlands, abortion services are, for the most part, available upon request, and the Dutch Ministry of Health has issued medical licenses to Women on Waves. The Portuguese delegates at the summit, however, shared that when the Women on Waves ship sailed into international waters off the coast of Figueira da Foz, Portugal, it was blocked from entering Portuguese national waters by two naval war ships.
Unfortunately, the delegates found that we often face similar opposition when advocating for accurate and respectful policies; in fact, this opposition sometimes comes from the same U.S.-based organizations and leadership. The delegates from Manchester, England had recently attended a Silver Ring Thing event and offered their story as an illustration of the exportation of American abstinence-only-until-marriage programs to Europe. The Silver Ring Thing is a Christian-based program from the state of Pennsylvania that uses a high-tech club-like atmosphere targeting youth to promote virginity pledges and the gospel.2
In facing such opposition in America, the U.S. delegates worried that we often yield the moral high ground to religious conservatives, and our colleagues in the EU provided us with fresh approaches and language to frame our advocacy campaigns. For example, one of the Danish delegates explained that many people in Denmark commend women who have an abortion when they are not ready to care for a child. It is seen as a responsible decision. In stark contrast, women in the U.S. who seek abortions face angry and sometimes violent protesters outside of clinics, photos of dismembered fetuses, accusations of promiscuity, and the overwhelming weight of social stigma. This framework of responsibility can certainly be helpful to American organizations working to secure women's access to reproductive health services.
Similarly, delegates from the Netherlands reminded me of the importance of a simple message: youth sexuality is a reality that must be affirmed rather than repressed. One of my Dutch colleagues was absolutely confused by Americans' "capacity for denial." In her country, acknowledging sexual health concerns and addressing them with medically accurate information is the norm and has led to a teen pregnancy rate of 12 per 1,000 women ages 15-19, compared to a U.S. teen pregnancy rate of 84 per 1,000 women ages 15-19.3 Speaking with youth from such nations allowed me to better understand how these disparities came to exist.
Despite these differences, delegates on both continents faced many common challenges, including a general lack of knowledge among youth about their own sexual and reproductive health. Taboo is a powerful social force that seems to prevent youth from asking questions and seeking information. A participant from Latvia mentioned that there is a long history of taboo surrounding sexuality issues in her country. She revealed that it is sometimes said that "there was no sex in Soviet times." Similarly, a delegate from Bakersfield, California explained that her high school did a very poor job with sexuality education despite the fact that teen pregnancy was so prevalent that the school operated a day care center for the children of students. Unfortunately, the ability of adults and social institutions to look the other way when confronted with youth sexuality was a common theme.
During a small group discussion, we agreed that one of the best ways to combat these attitudes is to promote youth-friendly services. Delegates from Stockholm, Sweden and Portland, Oregon each provided excellent examples of how to attain this goal. In Sweden, access to peer education on sexual and reproductive health is available at any local youth drop-in center. Although many communities may not be ready to implement this system, there are plenty of other outlets for communicating with youth. In Portland, for example, the Cascade AIDS Project does outreach at bars and clubs handing out condoms, zines (low- cost, independently published magazines), and buttons with slogans like "It's Safe to Masturbate!" These two possible solutions both involve youth-created materials and youth-facilitated information.
This Summit was a tremendously powerful tool simply because it provided youth advocates who deal with the spectrum of policies and barriers to SRHR the opportunity to form a network. In bringing this network together, we also succeeded in taking a step toward developing the policies that will affect us. The result of the two days of workshops, discussions, and dialogue by delegates was the creation of a Plan of Action [see Box on page xx] outlining youth concerns and demands surrounding access to services and supplies for young people, HIV/AIDS, and comprehensive sexuality education. The enthusiasm of the participants to engage in this dialogue and create this document is evidence that young people are no longer content to have SRHR policies and programs "done to us." To be effective, policies and programs must instead be based on our experiences and knowledge and be "developed by us."
References
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European/American Youth Advocacy Summit Plan of Action At the recent European/American Youth Advocacy Summit in Brussels, Belgium, 50 youth participants from across the European Union and the United States collaborated on a Plan of Action outlining their concerns and demands for young people's sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). This document represents the common denominators among a wide range of young people's experiences. The participants settled on three over-arching issues: access to services and supplies for young people, HIV/AIDS, and comprehensive sexuality education. The Plan of Action provides analysis of these issues and offers recommendations for governments, communities, and organizations to meet young people's needs. In addition to articulating health and rights issues, these young people agreed that coming together and creating a consensus document addresses one of the biggest problems in SRHR advocacy; young people from Warsaw, Poland to Spokane, Washington are being left out of discussions about their own health and rights. The youth participants will share the Plan of Action with organizations, governments, and young people on both continents as a record of youth involvement in the issues of SRHR. Whether speaking at parent-teacher association meetings, addressing school boards, meeting with Ministry of Health staffers, or writing a letter to their Senators or Representatives, advocates for young people's SRHR will be able to cite the European/American Youth Advocacy Summit Plan of Action as the voice of youth on these topics. |
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