Saturday mornings! That said, working with these teens was an incredible opportunity for me to learn and grow as a prevention educator while exercising my skills as a healthy sexuality ally. These tips are good to keep in mind whenever youth are your audience. If you've got a tip or question to share, let us know in the comments!
1. Be accurate. There’s a lot of misinformation out there and chances are that some of it has reached the youth you are speaking with. It’s important to provide youth with medically-accurate information in an accessible voice and to empower them to make their own decisions. As an individual, it’s expected that you have some personal values around sex and sexuality; it’s a time for you to leave these at the door. It’s ok to share an opinion, but be sure to label it as your own perspective and allow room for others to disagree.
2. Do your homework. Most adults
haven’t had the best access to sexuality education, and it’s OK that you
don’t know everything. Youth won’t expect you to have all the answers,
and they will respect the fact that you are honest about what you don’t
know. Doing research ahead of time
is likely to help you feel prepared, and this can also help you uncover
tools to share with your audience for when they have questions.
3. Be open.
Youth don’t often access a lot of spaces where they are being empowered
to discuss sexuality, so it’s important to create an open-minded space
where questions are welcome and concerns can be shared. If you set the
tone that no question is off limits, don’t be surprised if youth take
advantage of this space by asking direct questions or sharing something
unexpected.
4. Ask away. Instead of assuming what information youth have had access to or what messages they have received, start a dialogue by asking youth to share
what they know. You may find that some youth have received solid
information from family and friends, and it’s important to validate this
information and experience. Youth also really like to share their
opinions and asking them to share their reactions and opinions will
teach you about your audience and get a dialogue started.
5. Be real.
If you are nervous, unsure or just don’t know – don’t pretend. Be
honest about your own limitations but confident in the information that
you are able to share. That’s right, if you are going to share a clip
that’s corny or a tool that’s out of date, just be upfront about it.
Young people can easily sniff out when adult is being inauthentic, and
you‘ll feel better as a presenter by putting realistic expectations on
yourself too.
6. Be relevant. Young people are like any other audience, to be effective, you need to know who you are talking to and
what matters to them. This will be different based on age, gender,
race, community and setting, and if you want to share a relevant message
it’s worthwhile to learn about who you’ll be talking to. Will this
audience connect with or crack up at the music video you reference? Is
it really relevant to these youth?
7. Be cool. Not
to worry, I’m not asking you to be hip or check your fanny pack for the
day – we’re being real, remember! But it’s important that when taboo
topics come up that you keep your cool. If you can’t say vagina in a way
that respects the fact this is a medically-appropriate term or start to
blush at the mention of sex, well it’s not doing anything to challenge
the cultural norm of how we talk about sex. Instead, take a deep breath
and say dental dam without cracking a smile, or if you do, try and honor
why a subject or word may feel silly or uncomfortable.
8. Take it slow. Since
it’s important to be medically-accurate and to use appropriate
terminology in discussing healthy sexuality, there’s a chance that some
of this information may be new for your audience. Offer up simple definitions
as you go and feel free to take your time with the difficult concepts.
There’s likely to be a spectrum of knowledge in the group you are
sharing with and for some youth a lot of this information may be very
new.
9. Be interactive. Youth
don’t have short attention spans because they are young people, it’s
because they are people. We all do best when information is presented to
us in an interactive format, and youth often respond very well to
multimedia tools. If you are developing a presentation, consider adding
pictures, art, music and video clips to the content you share. Is there a
hands-on activity that you can involve the youth in to reinforce your
message? Have you added time and space in your material for dialogue,
sharing, reflection?
10. Be a resource.
Share tools with youth that can be resources for accurate information
later on or when other questions come up. There are some really great websites
that have information geared toward youth. Also help youth to identify
other sources or information or resources in their lives and community.
Youth may express that healthy sexuality is something that they want to
discuss with their parents and peers, and as an ally, you can discuss
different ways of starting these conversations and potential outcomes.
Healthy Sexuality Resources for Youth
- Advocates for Youth: www.advocatesforyouth.org
- Answer: http://answer.rutgers.edu
- I Wanna Know: www.iwannaknow.org
- The Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN): www.nativeyouthsexualhealth.com
- Scarleteen: Sex Ed for the Real World: www.scarleteen.com
- Stay teen: www.stayteen.org
- Sex, Etc.: www.sexetc.org
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