Good sex matters: Pleasure as a driver of online sex education for young people

Background There are few documented examples of online sex education platforms that make an impact on young people’s sexual health and wellbeing, yet research shows that new media has enormous potential to be harnessed in this way. The same is true for a pleasure-positive approach to sex education curricula and programmes. This research provides empirical evidence from the Love Matters' websites in Mexico, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, and India to highlight the prevalence and importance of talking about pleasure-related topics with young people. Methodology Love Matters is an online sex education platform targeting seven countries and attracting 30 million website visits in 2018. We analysed data through Google Analytics to explore the difference between sex education-focused content and pleasure-focused content and how young people engage with different types of sexual health information on the Love Matters platforms. Results Pleasure-focused content is 1.5 times more popular than sex education-focused content across all platforms. However, education-focused content attracts more organic traffic, suggesting young people purposefully search for sexual health information online. Users generally spend longer on the site engaging with sex education-focused content than pleasure-focused content. Conclusion This research provides empirical evidence from five countries in the Global South to support the notion that young people are actively looking for sexual health information that covers the full scope of sexual experience and pleasure, including – but not limited to – the reduction of health risks. This paper furthers the efforts to adopt a pleasure-positive approach to both online and offline sex education interventions.

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Where and how do young People Like to Get their Sexual and Reproductive Health Information? Experiences from Students in Higher Learning Institutions in Tanzania: A Cross-sectional Study

10.21203/rs.3.rs-105796/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ruby Doryn Mcharo ◽

Philippe Mayaud ◽

Sia Emmanueli Msuya

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Sexual Health ◽

Health Information ◽

Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽

Sexual Experience ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Higher Learning ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Sexual Health Information ◽

Learning Institutions

Abstract Background Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) among young adults in developing countries is still a major public health concern. Early school-based sexuality education programs and sexual health information sharing between teachers, parents and young people have been considered protective against sexual health risks that young people are prone to. There is limited information on preferred choices of “where” and “how” young people like to get their SRH information. Here, we describe what young people prefer to learn with regard to sexual matters, where and who they prefer to learn from, and their experiences of parent-child sexuality communication. MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study, conducted from March 2019 to January 2020 among students aged 18-24 years attending Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) within Mbeya. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on SRH education, ability to discuss sexual matters with a parent/guardian, and SRH information gap during early sexual experience. ResultsOut of 504 students that were enrolled, 377 (74.8%) reported to be sexually active with mean age at sexual debut of 18.4 years. Six out of ten students found it difficult to discuss or did not discuss sexual matters with a parent/guardian while growing up at age 12-18 years. Majority learnt about SRH matters from peers (30%) and lessons at schools (23%). We found a gender-biased preference on sexual matters discussions, such that female and male participants preferred discussions with female adults and male adults, respectively. Peers (18%), Media (17%) and schools (13%) were preferred sources of SRH information. On recalling first sexual experience, participants felt they needed to know more about sexual feelings, emotions and relationships (26.9%), safer sex (13.8%), how to be able to say 'No' (10.5%) and how to use a condom correctly (10.2%). ConclusionYoung people have a gender-biased preference when it comes to learning about SRH matters from their parents; however, such conversations seldom occur. Community health IEC should incorporate the agenda on building skills of parents on parent-child communication on sexual matters so as to empower them to confidently initiate and convey appropriate and sufficient sexual health information. Comprehensive SRH education and skills building is needed in the current school SRH curriculum in order need to meet the demand and needs of students’ and teachers’.

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Locked down apps versus the social media ecology: Why do young people and educators disagree on the best delivery platform for digital sexual health entertainment education?

New Media & Society ◽

10.1177/1461444818778255 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 20 (12) ◽

pp. 4571-4589 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alan McKee ◽

Kath Albury ◽

Jean Burgess ◽

Ben Light ◽

Kim Osman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Young People ◽

Sexual Health ◽

Sex Education ◽

Entertainment Education ◽

Sexual Health Information ◽

The Social ◽

Social Media Platforms ◽

Delivery Platform ◽

The Difference

This article reports on focus groups exploring the best way to reach young men with vulgar comedy videos that provide sexual health information. Young people reported that they found the means by which the material was presented – as a locked down app – to be problematic, and that it would better be delivered through social media platforms such as YouTube. This would make it more ‘spreadable’. By contrast, adult sex education stakeholders thought the material should be contained within a locked down, stand-alone app – otherwise it might be seen by children who are too young, and/or young people might misunderstand the messages. We argue that the difference in approach represented by these two sets of opinions represents a fundamental stumbling block for attempts to reach young people with digital sexual health materials, which can be understood through the prism of different cultural forms – education versus entertainment.

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The “Be All and End All”? Young People, Online Sexual Health Information, Science and Skepticism

Qualitative Health Research ◽

10.1177/10497323211003543 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 104973232110035

Author(s):

Adrian Farrugia ◽

Andrea Waling ◽

Kiran Pienaar ◽

Suzanne Fraser

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Sexual Health ◽

Health Information ◽

Information Science ◽

Medical Information ◽

Health Resources ◽

Sexual Practices ◽

Sexual Health Information ◽

Science Society ◽

Online Sources

In this article, we investigate young people’s trust in online sexual health resources. Analyzing interviews with 37 young people in Australia using Irwin and Michael’s account of science–society relations and Warner’s conceptualization of “publics,” we explore the processes by which they assess the credibility of online sexual health information. We suggest that when seeking medical information, young people opt for traditionally authoritative online sources that purport to offer “facts.” By contrast, when seeking information about relationships or sexual practices, participants indicated a preference for websites presenting “experiences” rather than or as well as “facts.” Regardless of content, however, our participants approached online sexual health information skeptically and used various techniques to appraise its quality and trustworthiness. We argue that these young people are productively understood as a skeptical public of sexual health. We conclude by exploring the implications of our analysis for the provision of online sexual health information.

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Making epistemic citizens: Young people and the search for reliable and credible sexual health information

Social Science & Medicine ◽

10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113817 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 276 ◽

pp. 113817

Author(s):

Suzanne Fraser ◽

David Moore ◽

Andrea Waling ◽

Adrian Farrugia

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Sexual Health ◽

Health Information ◽

Sexual Health Information

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Embarrassment as a Key Emotion in Young People Talking about Sexual Health

Sociological Research Online ◽

10.5153/sro.1535 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 1-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Edwin van Teijlingen ◽

Jennifer Reid ◽

Janet Shucksmith ◽

Fiona Harris ◽

Kate Philip ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Sexual Health ◽

Sex Education ◽

Evaluation Study ◽

Health Campaigns ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Sexual Health Information ◽

Sex And Sexuality ◽

Emotional Aspects ◽

Health Studies

This paper highlights embarrassment as one of the often-ignored emotions of young people when it comes to discussing issues around sexual health. There have been many sexual health studies on knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of young people over the past two decades, but emotional aspects have been largely ignored, despite a growing literature in the sociology of emotion. A qualitative approach was adopted in the form of focus group discussions, which included questions on sex education, sexual health campaigns and formal and informal sources of sexual health information and advice. Focus groups were conducted in secondary schools in and around Edinburgh and Aberdeen as part of a four-year evaluation study of a Scottish Demonstration Project on young people's sexual health: ‘Healthy Respect’. We conclude that is it important for policy makers and sexual health promoters to understand young people's notions of embarrassment. Not only are there elements of sex education that (some) young people perceive as embarrassing, they also sense embarrassment in those people providing them with sex education. Young people reported that both professionals (e.g. teachers and doctors) and their parents could be embarrassed about raising the topic of sexual health. Moreover, as one of the goals of sex education is to ensure an open and non-embarrassing attitude towards sex and sexuality, there is still a major gap between the aspirations of health educators and policy makers and the ways that young people experience such education.

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Online STI information seeking behaviour and condom use intentions among young Facebook users in Malaysia

Health Promotion International ◽

10.1093/heapro/daz108 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 35 (5) ◽

pp. 1116-1124 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sharina Mahavera Mohamad Shakir ◽

Li Ping Wong ◽

Khatijah Lim Abdullah ◽

Phillipe Adam

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Sexual Health ◽

Condom Use ◽

Health Information ◽

Online Survey ◽

Internet Access ◽

The Internet ◽

Transmitted Infection ◽

Sti Prevention ◽

Sexual Health Information

Abstract The Internet has opened pathways for youth to find sexual health information which was not easily available to them in the past. Studies have shown that seeking sexual health information online may potentially influence an individuals’ decision-making to change their sexual health behaviours. However, there is a gap in research on the associations of seeking online sexually transmitted infection (STI) information with STI prevention among young people, particularly in Malaysia. This study investigated the associations of seeking STI information online with the intentions of condom use among young adult online users in Malaysia. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among Malaysian youth aged 18–25 years old who were recruited through Facebook. In total, 1530 respondents completed the survey, identifying 874 respondents who had sought STI information online. The majority of respondents had intentions to use condoms as protection against STI. Respondents who sought online STI information were significantly more likely to have the intention to use condoms compared to respondents who did not seek online STI information (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.01–1.76, p = 0.040). Online STI information has the potential to increase access to STI information among young online users in Malaysia amid the stigma surrounding sex-related issues. Providing accurate STI information online from reliable sources may equip young people who have Internet access with awareness of sexual health protective behaviours such as condom use. It is recommended to facilitate Internet access to reach sectors of the population that currently do not have access, as the Internet is useful in STI prevention.

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