2002: governments need to provide sexual health services to their citizens.I am writing to you from the 14th Annual International AIDS Conference Education, networking and the promotion of best practice are essential to enhancing the response to HIV/AIDS. IAS conferences provide opportunities to share experience, and increase the knowledge and expertise of professionals working in HIV/AIDS. in Barcelona, Spain, where more than 10,000 scientists, activists, policymakers, and people living with HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome are meeting to discuss ways to prevent and treat this virus and subsequent disease. This Conference has made one thing crystal clear. With nearly a billion of the world's population between the ages of 15 and 24, it is critical that comprehensive sexuality education programs, including information about both abstinence and condom use, become a key part of any prevention and treatment plan. (1) The statistics about the spread of AIDS around the world paint a picture of people in desperate need of the information that SIECUS SIECUS Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States has long encouraged ... Culturally Relevant Education Programs When developing such programs outside the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , it is critical that social service providers and nongovernmental [organizations]--working in conjunction with government agencies--plan them in a culturally relevant and appropriate manner that address the specific social and cultural issues, contexts, and language needs of the people they are serving. When programs and services are based on such cultural competencies, they have a significantly increased potential to succeed in meeting people's sexual health needs and concerns as well as promoting safer sexual behavior sexual behavior A person's sexual practices–ie, whether he/she engages in heterosexual or homosexual activity. See Sex life, Sexual life. . At the same time, providers must work to change the negative--and ultimately harmful--social and community norms relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc sexuality that are prevalent in so many parts of the world. This is critical if they are going to help people see sexuality education both as a way to create a healthy and positive sexual life and prevent disease ... Controversial Subject Discussion of sexuality is generally a controversial subject all over the world, particularly when it comes to young people and their access to information. Many societies currently view sex and sexuality as shameful. Many also have strong taboos about open discussions relating to sexuality. Strong opposition exists about providing people with the tools, knowledge, and skills they need to empower and protect themselves sexually. Fueled more by adult fears than by research or reality, this opposition denies people life-saving and life-enhancing information. Even those who have access to sexuality education or sexual health services health services Managed care The benefits covered under a health contract find that the programs and curricula are fragmented and limited in scope. People have the right to information, education, and medical services to safeguard their health. It is the responsibility of governments, with the support and assistance of nongovernmental organizations Transnational organizations of private citizens that maintain a consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Nongovernmental organizations may be professional associations, foundations, multinational businesses, or simply groups with a common interest in , to provide and fund such life-saving programs and services. As advocates, we need to include our policymakers in our work to inform people about sexual health. We need to broaden their understanding of the roles they can play in developing and supporting positive and comprehensive sexual health programs. Policymakers have the potential to be one of our greatest allies. We need to continue to work to achieve this goal ... Countries Set Standard We know what we need to do as a global community. We know that prevention programs, comprehensive education, and quality services work to promote healthy sexual behavior and reduce negative sexual health outcomes. We have excellent models that are supported by governments and taken to scale to reach as many people as possible. It is vital that we look to these models to guide our policymaking pol·i·cy·mak·ing or pol·i·cy-mak·ing n. High-level development of policy, especially official government policy. adj. Of, relating to, or involving the making of high-level policy: and program development. One example is the work accomplished in Nigeria by nongovernmental organizations and service providers collaborating with the country's Ministry of Education. Recognizing that sexual health information and education is critical to stemming the rise of HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. , the Ministry of Education has recently implemented a national sexuality education policy and curriculum for secondary school-age youth throughout the country. Another example is the work of the government in Uganda, where comprehensive HIV-prevention programs and condom distribution efforts are supported. As a result, the adult HIV prevalence rate was reduced from 14 percent in the early 1990s to eight percent in 2000, and prevalence rates among teenage women dropped from 28 percent in 1991 to six percent in 1998. (1) A final example is the work in Thailand. With the strong support of policymakers, Thailand's comprehensive prevention efforts have reduced the number of new HIV infections to 30,000 from a high of 140,000 in 1990. (2) Country-specific programs like these are setting the standard that the rest of the world should--and must--follow in order to promote healthy sexuality for all people. Excerpted from SIECUS Report, Volume 30, Number 5, June/July 2002. RELATED ARTICLE: SIECUS' 40 MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS ABOUT SEXUALITY AND RELATED ISSUES (listed by year published) In honor of our 40th Anniversary, SIECUS staff compiled lists of the 40 most influential books, songs, and television shows/movies about sexuality and related issues. These lists were not compiled using any scientific or survey methodology. Instead they represent the books, songs, shows, and movies that consistently rose to the top in our conversations with each other and with our families and friends. 1 Kama Sutra Kamasutram, generally known to the Western world as Kama Sutra, is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on love in Sanskrit literature. This is authored by Mallanaga Vatsyayana. A portion of the work deals with human sexual behavior. (100-400), author unknown 2 Madame Bovary (1856), by Gustauve Flaubert 3 The Woman Rebel (1914), by Margaret Sanger Noun 1. Margaret Sanger - United States nurse who campaigned for birth control and planned parenthood; she challenged Gregory Pincus to develop a birth control pill (1883-1966) Margaret Higgins Sanger, Sanger 4 Lady Chatterly's Lover (1928), by DH Lawrence 5 The Well of Loneliness (1928), by Radclyffe Hall Noun 1. Radclyffe Hall - English writer whose novel about a lesbian relationship was banned in Britain for many years (1883-1943) Marguerite Radclyffe Hall, Hall 6 Sexual Behavior in the Human Male/Female (1948/53), by Alfred Kinsey Alfred Charles Kinsey (June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956), was an American biologist and professor of entomology and zoology who in 1947 founded the Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University, now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in 7 The Second Sex (1949), by Simone de Beauvior 8 The Feminine Mystique (1963), by Betty Friedan 9 Human Sexual Response (1966), by William Howell Master and Virginia Eshelman Johnson 10 Are You There God? It's Me Margaret (1970), by Judy Blume 11 Our Bodies Ourselves (first edition 1970), by Boston Women's Health Women's Health Definition Women's health is the effect of gender on disease and health that encompasses a broad range of biological and psychosocial issues. Book Collective 12 Sexual Politics (1970), by Kate Millet 13 The Joy of Sex (1972), by Alex Comfort 14 Fear of Flying (1973), by Erica Jong 15 My Secret Garden (1973), by Nancy Friday 16 Rubyfruit Jungle (1973), by Rita Mae Brown Rita Mae Brown (b. November 28, 1944) is a prolific American writer, most known for her mysteries and other novels (Rubyfruit Jungle). She is also an Emmy-nominated screenwriter. 17 The Best Little Boy in the World (1973), by John Reid 18 Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (1975), by Susan Brownmiller 19 History of Sexuality (1976), by Michel Foucault 20 Love and Sex After 60 (1976), by Robert N. Butler and Myrna I. Lewis 21 The Joy of Gay Sex (1977), by Charles Silverstein 22 Embodiment, An Approach to Sexuality and Christian Theology (1978), by James B. Nelson 23 Forever (1982), by Judy Blume 24 The Color Purple (1982), by Alice Walker 25 The Cider House Rules (1983), by John Irving 26 The What's Happening to My Body Book for Mothers and Daughters/Mothers and Sons (1984/91) by Lynda Madaras 27 And the Band Played On And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic is a best-selling work of nonfiction written by San Francisco Chronicle journalist Randy Shilts published in 1987. : Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic (1988), by Randy Shilts 28 Gender Trouble (1990), by Judith Butler 29 Heather Has Two Mommies (1990), by Lelea Newman and Diana Souza 30 Daddy's Roommate (1991), by Michael Wilhoite 31 The Handmaid's Tale (1991), by Margaret Atwood 32 When Sex is the Subject: Attitudes and Answers for Young Children (1991), by Pamela M. Wilson 33 Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (1992), by Susan Faludi 34 Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story (1992), by Paul Monette 35 Sex (1992), by Madonna 36 Stone Butch Blues Stone Butch Blues is a novel written by transgender activist Leslie Feinberg. It tells the story of the life of a masculine girl named Jess Goldberg and the trials and tribulations she faces growing up in the pre-Stonewall era. (1993), by Leslie Feinberg 37 It's Perfectly Normal (1993), by Robie Harris 38 My Gender Workbook (1998), by Kate Bornstein 39 Middlesex (2002), by Jeffrey Eugenides 40 Harmful to Minors (2002), by Judith Levine References 1. UNAIDS UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS , Global Crisis--Global Action (New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : United Nations, 2001). 2. UNAIDS, AIDS Epidemic Update (New York: United Nations, 2001). Tamara Kreinin, M.H.S.A. |
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