Hello hello!
It's that time of year y'all, chalky candy hearts season (sorry, Sweethearts™), and with that comes talk of love, relationships, and of course, sex. We wanted to talk about consent, communication, and what "safe sex" is. Especially if you're from a sexual minority population, talking about sex and relationships is not always something that comes up in the classroom. A ridiculous amount of American schools and states in general still mandate abstinence-only or abstinence-focused sex ed, and 8 states still have "No Promo Homo" laws (prohibiting the discussion of ~homosexual behavior~ in a positive light). Check out this sobering Guttmacher Institute report if you want to be even more saddened by the state of sex ed in this country (sneak peek: only 17 states require that sex ed be medically accurate!) [There's also a lot of info on the state of sex ed throughout the world if you're interested, but for now I'm gonna focus on the US.]
We live in an era where a lot of information is disseminated via social media, and although there are a bunch of healthcare professionals giving actual good advice on TikTok (yes, it's not all evil nurses), we at UPHA wanted to spread some more knowledge & some informative links.
(and here's a PDF version to send your friends, your significant other(s), anyone that will appreciate a good meme, etc).
Some really great hubs of information can be found on Planned Parenthood's website (their sections on sex and relationships, STDs, gender identity, and sexual orientation) and also through the CDC's Sexual Health division.
Mere Abrams from Healthline put together a really awesome LGBT safe sex guide page (including how to talk about getting tested and how to talk with partners about testing positive for STIs) that is more informative that I could ever be, and that can be found here.
RAINN, the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, has some really important stuff on consent.
My personal favorite online resource is Beth Thompson & Anna Benbrook's Healthy Bodies, Safer Sex zine, put together for Florida State University. There's a glossary as well as info on sex, relationships, and reproductive health specifically aimed at trans/non-binary people and their partners.
And of course, when it comes to questions about sex, sometimes it's easier to hear it from the mouths of real people, not just the voiceover voice in your head. For example, YouTuber Stevie Boebi is famous for doing lesbian sex ed videos because man, do people have questions!! She also did a cute short interview about the inaccessibility of LGBT sex info for Nylon, and just like with her videos, it's personable in a way that makes talking about ~taboo subjects~ much easier.
Happy Valentines Day, y'all, go forth in communication and love and knowledge!!
XOXO,
PK
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