Monday 9 July 2007

Six things i have said a lot recently and need others to say them to.

I have found myself saying the following things a lot to young people we work with, journalists, friends, my partner, family, parents, carers and professional colleagues over the last month or so - please pass them on to others by making people aware of this blog or email me and I can send them to you.

1. Most young people under the age of 16 do not have sex and if we forget this we contribute to young people's belief that everyone else is doing it
2. Teenage pregnancy rates in the UK are the lowest they have been for over twenty years and nationally the rates are continuing to go down
3. Sexually transmitted infection rates are increasing at least in part because we are encouraging more young people to get tested - eight years or so ago when we were developing the national sexual health strategy for England we did predict rates would go up before we expected to see them coming down
4. Celebrity culture is only one aspect of our culture around sex, sexuality and relationships - we must not get overly distracted by this and our challenge is to keep our eye on the big picture to promote a culture that values young people's developing sense of identity and sexuality and respects their rights
5. There is no scientific evidence to support reducing the time limit for abortion and we must maintain the upper limit at 24 weeks
6. Not all young people receive good quality Personal, Social and Health Education in schools (this is the subject in which teaching about sex and relationships takes place).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i just wanted to leave a quick comment to say that i have been reading this blog since i was told about it, not long after you started writing it and i find it thoroughly interesting, insightful and inspiring!

it is important that these points are reinforced because they are the very facts that will be abused to create negativity. After all there are lies, damn lies and statistics, and with statistics that are paraded as fact it is good to know we can present a solid counter argument!

i look forward to reading more!