Promote national observances that encourage
parent-child communication about sexuality
in your community.
To build the foundation for youth to become sexually healthy, adults can promote national observances in their communities to raise awareness about the important role that family communication about sexuality plays in child and adolescent development.
National Family Sexuality Education Month
Organization: Planned Parenthood Federation of America, New York, NY
Original Target Audience: Parents and caregivers nationwide
Language: Materials available in English and Spanish
Let's Talk Month
Organization: Advocates for Youth, Washington, DC
Original Target Audience: Parents and caregivers nationwide
Language: Materials in English
In the late 1970s, Dr. Sol Gordon, then a professor at Syracuse University, created National Family Sexuality Education Week to help colleagues and organizations support parents in their role as the primary sexuality educators of their children. Now nationally recognized and promoted during October, National Family Sexuality Education Month (NFSEM) and Let's Talk Month—two national campaigns with the same goal—remind parents and caregivers about the importance of communicating with their children about sexuality issues.
For many years, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) has sponsored National Family Sexuality Education Month, supported by a national coalition of more than 50 organizations that meet to discuss the latest research on family communication about sexuality and share what they are doing to promote family communication in October as well as throughout the year. This includes special activities, publications, promotions, and media coverage replicated on the local level.
Since 1995, Advocates for Youth, a member of the coalition, has coordinated Let's Talk Month, with the idea that a smaller sound byte is more appealing to diverse audiences, more proactive about communication, more adaptable for campaign materials, and more successful in generating media coverage.
Today, PPFA and Advocates for Youth collaborate, using the Let's Talk sound byte as part of the National Family Sexuality Education Month campaign.
National Family Sexuality Education Month/Let's Talk Month activities have included workshops or conferences for service providers, parents, and/or teenagers; health fairs; and official endorsements and proclamations.
Some organizations develop library or bookstore displays. For example, in October 2001, Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge in Roanoke,VA, worked with a local bookstore to develop a book display for parents and caregivers highlighting resources on talking to young people about sexuality issues.
Others have created and distributed promotional materials. PPFA creates brochures which are distributed to the 128 Planned Parenthood affiliates and other professionals in the field; posters commemorating NFSEM; and public service announcements (PSAs) in video and audio format, which local affiliates can place on their local television and radio stations. Advocates for Youth publishes a planning guidebook to help organizations, faith communities, schools, health professionals, the media, and others promote this national observance.
As a new and continuing endeavor, SIECUS offered free postcards in October 2001 in both English and Spanish that listed 10 tips from experts to help parents with ongoing discussions with their children. SIECUS distributed over 30,000 postcards to libraries, schools, and other organizations throughout the United States. Due to the demand, SIECUS has redesigned these postcards for use throughout the year.
National Family Sexuality Education Month
"When creating the National Family Sexuality Education Month brochures in Spanish, we would simply translate the English brochure into Spanish. We soon realized however, that this was not the most effective way of delivering our message, because sexuality is communicated differently within Latino families. In the Latino culture, such communication does not just occur between parents and children, but also between grandparents and their grandchildren. The concept of family in Latino culture is much larger and less nuclear than in many English-speaking families. Therefore, the graphics and text for the Spanish language brochures were changed to reflect and respect this difference. We also had to address the fact that the Latino community is disproportionately affected by higher rates of teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS than the general population. We therefore altered the text of the Spanish language materials to reflect our awareness of that reality."
-Planned Parenthood Federation of America
For more information:
National Family Sexuality Education Month
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Estelle Raboni
810 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212/261-4628
Fax: 212/247-6269
E-mail: estelle.raboni@ppfa.org
Web site: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/education
Let's Talk Month
Advocates for Youth
Barbara Huberman
1025 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Suite 200
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202/347-5700
Fax: 202/347-2263
E-mail: barbarah@advocatesforyouth.org
Web site: http://www.advocatesforyouth.org
