At Jahajee Sisters, we recognize the need for young women to understand their bodies and know how to keep themselves safe. We are also aware that education policy and cultural stigma can prevent youth from getting all the information they need to be healthy. With this in mind, we are leading an effort to ensure young women are learning about their bodies, how to prevent disease and unwanted pregnancy, and how to maintain emotional health in the complicated world they are navigating today.

Scroll down to read about:

• Why Indo-Caribbean Youth Need Sex-Ed
• Starting an Inter-generational Dialogue
• New York City's Sex-Ed Mandate
• Implementing Holistic Sex-Ed

YOUTH ARE SEXUALLY ACTIVE: Many teens and pre-teens are already sexually active but don't know how to care for their reproductive selves. Forty-two percent (42%) of NYC high school students have had intercourse. The rate of sexual experience goes up from 28.4% in 9th grade to 56.5% in the 12th. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene)

TO PREVENT DISEASE: Sex-ed makes sure our youth know how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV/AIDS, chlamydia, and gonorrhea, so they can stay healthy.

TO REDUCE PREGNANCY AND ABORTION RATES: Sex-ed results in lower levels of teen pregnancy and abortion. In New York City, where most Indo-Caribbean teens reside, the teen pregnancy rate is at least double the rate in the rest of the state. (New York State Department of Health Report)

TO ENSURE OVERALL WELL-BEING: Holistic and comprehensive sex-ed goes beyond a disease and pregnancy prevention and abstinence only framework to address other important aspects of well-being. For example, it develops decision-making and communication skills, teaches what a healthy relationship looks like, explores gender identity and expression, and builds healthy self-esteem. 

YOUTH ARE LEARNING FROM MEDIA AND PEERS: Cultural taboos make it difficult for parents to talk about sex with their children. Moreover, the most popular sources of information for youth on sex and sexuality are media (television, magazines, the internet, etc.) and friends. Without sex-ed, students will not have reliable sources of information. 

GOOD HEALTH=BETTER GRADES: Having an STD can lead to emotional distress and painful symptoms that negatively impact school attendance and performance. Further, teen pregnancy causes a major disruption in a teen's life, leading to lower grades and higher dropout rates. By providing youth with the information they need to stay healthy, we can help make sure they reach their full potential. (Advocates for Youth: Comprehensive Sex Education and Academic Success)

Parents play a big role in shaping their children's values and life skills, and have the potential to be great sources for information on sex and sexuality. Unfortunately, cultural taboos prevent open, honest conversations about our bodies and overall well-being between parents and their children. These are difficult conversations, but conversations that need to be had to make sure our young people are healthy and safe. Ideally, youth should be getting reliable information from trained educators and parents, NOT media and their peers. 

Over the next year, we will start an inter-generational dialogue that aims to bring mothers and daughters closer together, explore our community's values, and discuss how we as a community can encourage the overall health of our youth. 

In August 2011, New York City announced that sex education will be mandated for public schools.  We are excited about this step toward accurate and unbiased sex education, and applaud Mayor Bloomberg for his leadership. 

WHAT DOES THE MANDATE DO?
The city’s mandate calls for schools to teach a semester of sex education in 6th or 7th grade, and again in 9th or 10th grade, suggesting they use HealthSmart and Reducing the Risk, out-of-the-box sets of lessons that have been recommended since 2007. The curriculum will be age-appropriate. That is, younger students will not be exposed to details they are not ready for. 

Despite use of the term "mandate," parents will be able to have their children opt out of the lessons on birth-control methods. While the focus is to get students to wait until they are older to have sex, the Bloomberg administration knows that many teenagers are sexually active and wants to teach them about safe sex in the hopes of reducing pregnancy, disease and dropouts.

WHAT WERE SCHOOLS DOING BEFORE THE MANDATE?
Before this mandate, individual principals were allowed to determine what- if anything- students would learn about sex. While some schools did provide comprehensive sex education under this muddled system, a significant number of students were not receiving sex education at all, or were receiving abstinence-only sex education. 

Many students never learned the basics: how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and how to use birth control methods. Many more students never received what we call holistic sex education, which allows students to explore and define their values for themselves, as well as the values of their families and communities, and includes information on a wide variety of sexuality-related topics, including: healthy relationships, sexual expression, sexual orientation, and how to prevent rape and sexual assault. 

Jahajee Sisters supports New York City's sex education mandate, because we believe students are more likely to be well-informed about their bodies and how to maintain physical, mental, and spiritual health. However, there is more work to be done. We must make sure the sex education mandate is enforced, and that the information being delivered is holistic. We will be working with ally organizations in New York City toward this end.

WHAT IS HOLISTIC SEX-ED?
Holistic sex education goes beyond the prevention model to care for a person's whole self. Specifically, holistic sex-ed:

• Addresses both abstinence and age-appropriate, medically accurate information about contraception
• Introduces information on healthy relationships, decision-making, and skill building to resist social/peer pressure
• Promotes positive body image and self-esteem
• Teaches with an awareness of how gender impacts sex and sexuality 
• Is culturally appropriate for the communities of youth it is being taught in
• Is inclusive of various sexual orientations
• Recognizes sexuality as a natural part of human development 

Click here to learn more about holistic sex-ed from Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice.