The sexual health and behaviour of young people is a critical area in adolescent public health. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises that sexual health ”is not just the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity” but also a “positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.”
what we do
AiCC is working with ethnic minority communities on interventions that they will feel will improve the challenges they experience around sexual, reproductive and relationship health.
Education for Children & Youth (CYP):
STIs are not trivial infections; if left untreated they can cause complications and long term health problems including heart and brain infections, cancer, infertility, disability and death. According to 2022 UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data on STIs, young people (15 to 24 years) are more likely to be diagnosed with an STI. As a marker of highly risky sexual activity, gonorrhoea diagnoses were the highest since records began in 1918 - with young people most affected.
STIs are not trivial infections; if left untreated they can cause complications and long term health problems including heart and brain infections, cancer, infertility, disability and death. According to 2022 UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data on STIs, young people (15 to 24 years) are more likely to be diagnosed with an STI. As a marker of highly risky sexual activity, gonorrhoea diagnoses were the highest since records began in 1918 - with young people most affected.
Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) has become increasingly normalised on social media and traditional media channels, with young people being particularly vulnerable to hits harmful effects. Intimate sexual violence is being promoted as a ‘natural’ expression of innate male sexuality and is rooted in the ways that young people are socialised; reflecting harmful messaging about gender (e.g. toxic masculinity), race (e.g. hyper-sexualised stereotypes of Black women) and sexual identities (e.g. homophobia) that they are receiving.
Sensationalised depictions of sexual relations in the popular media normalise violent and female-degrading sexual behaviours that most boys and young men believe to be true and acceptable to all women. This is particularly concerning because both adolescent boys and girls are subjected to sex-related peer pressure. The pressure for boys to prove their masculinity or girl to prove their desirability through sexual relations can be particularly salient.
Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) conducted a survey of over 7,500 young people (13 to 17-year-olds) in England and Wales that looked into young people’s experiences of violence. The subsequent report, “Children, Violence and Vulnerability” was published November 2023.
- Over a quarter (26%) of children aged 13 to 17 that responded to, reported seeing content on social media that encouraged violence against women and girls. Only 9% said they’d actively searched for such content. For the rest, it was viewed because it appeared on someone else’s profile (50%), was shared with them directly (33%) or was suggested to them by the platform they were using (27%).
- One young contributor to shared her experiences of Tok: “The amount of times I’ve seen on social media, not necessarily someone beating up a woman or beating up a girl, but like rape threats … and in general being degrading towards women. It’s a bit like, ‘Where are you going to draw the line?!’”
- Over a quarter (26%) of children aged 13 to 17 that responded to, reported seeing content on social media that encouraged violence against women and girls. Only 9% said they’d actively searched for such content. For the rest, it was viewed because it appeared on someone else’s profile (50%), was shared with them directly (33%) or was suggested to them by the platform they were using (27%).
- One young contributor to shared her experiences of Tok: “The amount of times I’ve seen on social media, not necessarily someone beating up a woman or beating up a girl, but like rape threats … and in general being degrading towards women. It’s a bit like, ‘Where are you going to draw the line?!’”
From 1 September 2020 Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) became mandatory in all Secondary Schools. Whilst this is a welcome development, its delivery of one-size-fits-all lessons, in school settings, by largely white teachers, fails to address the specific cultural, religious, racial and social challenges facing ethnic minority and mixed-heritage young people.
See the gallery for photos of our collaborative work within SEX, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH & RELATIONSHIPS.
Would you like to partner with us in finding creative solutions to challenges in this area? Simply send us a message HERE for more information.
Gallery
Raise awareness
Inform & Educate
Lived Experience