Monday, February 8, 2010

HIV and health of all sorts websites

Kids' Health website (Nemours Children's Hospital sponsored site.) This was the only site that I found to be friendly to children, not teens, to be surfing through by themselves. It is aimed at children between grades 2-6 with relatively sophisticated literacy skills. Younger children could access this site with assistance. Children who speak Spanish can access the site en Español.
There are many links to high quality medical information that is in kid-friendly language, about health issues experienced by kids and by grown ups (separate links), Q & A about bodies, a glossary of ailments and body parts, games and quizzes, and other very well written health information for children to access. I found the site easy to navigate, and learned some neat things about skin and hair.
As wonderfully comprehensive as the rest of the site was, I could not find any information about HIV/AIDS or any other sexually/bodily fluid- transmitted diseases and infections. I did find some comprehensive information for children about drugs and what they are, including tobacco, alcohol, and over the counter drugs. There was also a section about supporting a parent who wants to stop smoking tobacco. I'm still looking to see if I can find a kid-friendly website that addresses HIV and other STIs.

AVERT website with HIV/AIDS information. The main site (www.avert.org) is run by an AIDS awareness charity based in the UK. This website is aimed at teenagers and older, though may be helpful for educating children in middle school. There is very plain writing on this website, and the site itself has internal links that address sexuality both in terms of youth who are questioning their orientation and for those who already know. There are vast stores of information that appears to be quite up-to-date about AIDS in different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, as well as very clear information for anyone who wishes to know how to prevent the spread of the disease through both personal actions (i.e. safer sex) or through education and activism. The information is pretty clearly aimed at young people, but is also presented in such a way as to be useful for a teacher struggling with how and how much to teach students about the kinds of safer sex to engage in to be most protected against contracting the disease; there is the assumption that it is healthy for young people to want to engage in sex, but that they must be educated about the relative merits and drawbacks to doing so. The language used is clear and nonjudgmental. There are links specifically for youth who are gay or who have friends who are gay.

I Wanna Know: Sexual Health Information for Teens from The American Social Health Association. This website is also aimed primarily at teenagers, though it could be used with a class of middle schoolers with the proper scaffolding. There are links to specific STIs that can be clicked, these links provide clear and accurate information about causes, infectiousness, and how/if those STIs can be treated. There are links to commonly asked questions or common issues, like condom use and feelings of rejection and danger among queer youth, as well as links to “sex ed 101” and ways to best prevent contracting/spreading STIs. Clear language, comprehensive information.

Planned Parenthood's website specifically for teens, “Teen Talk”. This website is also available en Español. The site has articles and answers to frequently asked questions, as well as resources for teens who want to be tested for STIs, pregnancy, or who simply want to be proactive about their sexual health before anything like that happens. There are some mildly silly but very informative flash videos about things like HPV, how to use a condom, and the shapes of peoples' genitalia that can be watched from the site, as well as a significant amount of nonjudgmental information for teens who are queer or questioning. Planned Parenthood is kind of a standby for a reason, and appears to be going out of their collective way to remain up to date on ways to communicate important information about sexual and other body health to young people.

Scarleteen, "sex ed for the real world". This website is also aimed at teens, and is a website I was familiar with before I went looking for sites that addressed HIV and sexual health. It is, as far as I know, mostly volunteer run by young people who are sex-positive and willing to answer questions pretty much round the clock. From the "about us" section of the site is Scarleteen's statement about what they think responsible and comprehensive sex education should look like:
“We feel that the best model for lifelong sexual education is as follows:
Providing information which educates in ALL aspects of sexuality, for all sexes, economic classes, genders and orientations, including birth control, safer sex and sexually transmitted diseases, masturbation, anatomy, diverse sexual orientation and identification, gender roles, pleasure, self-esteem, body image, sexual and romantic relationship and communication tools, and care and compassion in sexual enactment.
A nonjudgmental and unbiased attitude of tolerance and understanding for teens, whether they choose to be sexually active or not.
Tools to encourage celibacy from ANY sexual activities until reasonable readiness for them, such as information on masturbation, support for delaying activity, and to do so from a standpoint of embracing safe, positive sexuality and having sex only when it is fully wanted and something young people truly feel able to handle, rather than anti-sex approaches, misinformation, scare tactics, religious edicts or shaming.
Encouragement to know as much as possible, and from an educated standpoint, to make sound choices based on personal ethics and values gleaned from family, role models, life experience and oneself.
Open, ongoing and moderated conversation about sex and sexuality in a safe, supportive and inclusive environment.”
The whole site is dedicated to providing this type of sex education, specifically feminist, inclusive sex education; the founder and the volunteers who run the site make an active attempt to provide honest and clear, nonjudgmental information to all kinds of young people.
I wish I could see clear to using this website with younger children, but I worry that the site's content could be called into question by parents as inappropriate for use with their children. With older, teenaged people, I could see fit to argue that there is information there that is immediately relevant to their lives and making certain that they conduct themselves sexually in a safe and responsible manner. I realize this argument may not work out with some parents no matter the age of their child.
I'll leave you all with this pointed argument against abstinence only sex education: I Guess You Just Have To Be Prepared To Die

No comments:

Post a Comment