KERA, the NPR TV and Radio station for north Texas, has made a year-long commitment to examing the "complex personal and cultural factors that contribute to the way adolescent girls form and maintain relationships."  The first part of the project is a series of engaging, sobering, and thought-provoking radio biographys of sorts---four teens describe the challenges of their relationships, pregnancies, and raising children.

If nothing else, the KERA series by Sujata Dand makes clear that efforts to prevent too-early pregnancy and childbearing often miss one of the most important topics of all---healthy relationships.  Young people are often told about how to redcue the risk of pregnancy and STIs but rarely are they given guidance on how to successfully navigate the minefield of relationships.

The series is very well done and worth a few minutes of your time. In fact, the series could serve as a terrific tool for those who work directly with teens.  Have them listen and discuss. The Campaign also has some helpful materials for parents on the topic of relationships.  Check 'em out.

 

Campaign CEO Sarah Brown and others guests appeared on NPR's Diane Rehm Show yesterday (CNN pooh bah and all-around-good-egg Frank Sesno was the guest host) for lively discussion of the state of sex education in the United States. 

The one-hour program also featured:

• Valerie Huber, executive director, National Abstinence Education Association
• Debra Hauser, executive vice president, Advocates for Youth
• Stan Weed, director and CEO, Institute for Research and Evaluation
• Douglas Kirby, senior research scientist, Education, Training and Research Associates

To listen in Real Audio move your mouse and click here.

To listen in Windows Media Player make that mouse click here.

Sue Johanson, the 78-year-old sex educator who (sadly) retired last May from her Oxygen television show, "Talk Sex with Sue Johanson," was interviewed this week on NPR's Wisdom Watch, where they ask respected elders to help guide us through today's challenging issues. In addition to noting that some of her assets as a sex educator are being "long in the tooth" and not having "bodacious ta ta's," she also said the following when asked her opinion about abstinence-only education:

Every, single sex educator does emphasize abstinence: 'Please do not have sex.' Now I will never say, 'not until you are married.' I will say, 'Please do not have sex until you know what you're doing, you like your own body, you can think ahead, plan ahead, get a good method of birth control, never let sex just happen, and be able to talk about it with your partner. That's the stumbling block right there. To be able to say to your partner, 'Are we gonna do it? 'Cause if we are, we're gonna use condoms, right? This is not a choice. No condom, no sex. That's it. Game over. Forget it.'

Exactly. It's all so much better in Sue's voice, though, so head over to NPR and give the whole interview a listen.

Listen to this Youth Radio commentary that aired on NPR and weep.  The commentary suggests that sex without condoms is the modern day equivelent of an engagement ring.  What?