Talking to your parents about sex, relationships, and the everyday pressures of being a teen.

               Sex seems to be the thing everyone is talking about, from 6^th graders to older people (such as your grandparents) of both sexes and all sexualities. It’s all over in popular television shows and all over the internet. So naturally one would be safe to assume that it’s just a part of everyday life and society is comfortable with it… Wrong! I have friends who still get uncomfortable if the topic of sex is even slightly mentioned or hinted at. Why is it so weird? Well as I said previously I am going to be a senior in high school and those friends are my age. Those who attend church regularly learn, don’t have sex until you get married. This is a perfectly reasonable idea; however it doesn’t always work out that way. Before you decide to learn through “doing” with sex, ASK your parents. Now I am sure that it may be just as awkward for your parents to give you the sex talk as it is for you (the tween/teen) to receive it. However, it’s important to have it. I know some parents who are very blunt about the topic of sex. They tell their children what they expect out of them when it comes to sex. Such as “wait until marriage”, or “I really don’t want you to be having sex; however if you do please come to me so we can properly protect you against pregnancies/STI’s”.

               Now I know you may or may not be thinking, “yawn”, heard this a million times. But the reason for that is because it’s important. The more you (the teen/tween) talk to your parents about sex, the less uncomfortable it is when hinted at in a movie or the topic being brought up with friends. Just because you’re talking about the topic of sex, doesn’t mean you’re having it! Or even planning on having sex! That’s the big picture that people tend to miss.

Hello all.

Hello, my name is Amanda and I will be taking over the reveal for real blog. To start off, I would like to tell you about myself. I am a senior at Renaissance High School here in Meridian. After high school and undergraduate college, I plan to go onto med school and become an OB/GYN. Due to my interest in reproductive health; I plan to spend the summer volunteering here at the health department.

In my blog, I hope to reach young teens (such as myself) and young adults. I hope to educate that group on reproductive health and talk about issues you want to learn and discuss about.

Final Good Bye

Dear Audience,

Thank you for your time to take a look at my blog. I hope this was useful to you. I’m graduating on the 16^th of May, this is my last day today. It has been fun to write these blogs for your concern. I will not be here, but if you have questions you could ask the Central Health District at Reveal for Real. I wish you best of luck.

Thank You

Healthy Relationships

From my own experience and from my friends most of them don’t really know what a healthy relationship looks like, even when they are in a relationship they still don’t know what a healthy relationship is like. When talking to my friends they would say they wish they would have known what a healthy relationship was before having one. Here are some tips to help you in relationship in future and present.

One thing to make sure of when you are in a relationship is both you and your partner have respect for each other. A good sign of, respect is honoring each other’s boundaries. For example, if your partner saying we are going too fast, a way you would show respect is by saying something like, “ok I respect your boundaries, and I’m sorry that I went too far.” “Would you like to do something else?” Also you need to stick with what you say in order to show respect.  A way for a partner to show respect to you is by him or her listening to you when you are saying things are going too fast, and respecting the boundaries.

Another thing to keep in mind is that trust is an important element in a relationship. Trust is when you can count on someone to be there for you, and for someone to not cheat on you. Without trust the relationship falls apart, because you would have no confidence in that person. It can lead to things like your partner asking where you are all the time or frequent texting which can annoy you. When a partner is annoyed he or she might not be easy to get along with, and can make to relationship miserable.

Respect and trust are important, but can’t happen without good communication. Communication is one of the keys to have in a good relationship. Without healthy communication the relationship can fall apart. How do you know the boundaries unless you speak up? How do you know you can trust someone without talking to them about where you stand? If something wrong in the relationship, you or your partner need to speak up so both of you can solve the problem together.

There are many other things that are important in a relationship such as support and keeping separate identities.

If you have questions or want more information post a comment or go to this link.  

http://teenshealth.org/teen/your_mind/relationships/healthy_relationship.html

What do I do if I have unsafe sex or contraception fails?

While doing my internship at Central Health District, I had a friend ask me what you do if you have unsafe sex or contraception fails. Then I thought that other teens might have the same question. So, I wanted to address this in my blog.

There is this thing called emergency contraception. This is for when people have unsafe sex or their contraception fails. Emergency contraception works by preventing the fertilized ovum from attaching to the lining of the uterus. Also it prevents the sperm form fertilizing the egg or prevents or delays the egg from releasing from the ovaries. The emergency contraception should be taken as soon as possible afterwards. The sooner people get it the better it works. It’s 89% effective for up to five days. If you have miss one or more birth control pills, condom tears or comes off, or IUD comes out of place, it’s recommended that people take the emergency contraception. If you use no protection, and a pregnancy is not desired people need to take the emergency contraception. People can get emergency contraception at the Central Health District on a sliding fee scale or people can get them over the counter for $30-$60, if you are 18 years of age. Emergency contraception is meant for emergencies, and not to take place of birth control pills. There are many form of birth control more effective than emergency contraception. For more information on birth control, click on the birth control tab at Reveal4real.org.   

How can I get protection?

While interning at Central District Health, I have found out that people between the ages 15-24  were at higher risk of getting STDs, and having unplanned pregnancies than any other age group. The question came to mind, “are these people using protection?” When I talked to some of my friends I learned that there were a lot of barriers of to getting protection especially when there is no transportation, and being under the age of 18.

There are many rural areas in Idaho, and without transportation it can be a challenge to get protection. Even when people live in a city areas sometimes without transportation they can’t get to places, because stores are too far walk. The question comes up, “how do I get protection without transportation?” Here are a few ideas how to get protection when transportation is limited.

 They do sell condoms at most grocery stores or convenient stores, some may not sell to people under 18, but the majority of stores do sell condoms to teens. First, I would go to your nearest store that sells them. If you can’t get them there then go to the next nearest store. If your transportation is limited I would recommend buying the 12 or 10 pack condoms, so you won’t have to go back to the store each time you plan to have sex. The 10 or 12 pack cost about 13 to 16 dollars, without tax. If that doesn’t work find a trusted person that does have transportation to get you to the store to buy condoms. If you have no one to take you then go on to a trusted friend’s bus to ride home with them who live close to the store, and get them there. Another thing you can do is you can ask friend that are trusted to see if they have extra condoms. If money is an issue to getting condoms then you can go to your local Planned Parenthood or to the Central District Health and they will give you free condoms. Remember if you plan to be sexually active always use protection whether you are use hormonal contraceptives or not. The condoms can lessen your chance of getting STDs. Always use contraceptives when you are not ready to have a baby, because having a baby can bring challenges to you and your life.

STD Myths

There are a lot of myths my friends says about STDs. For example, they said that using two condoms at once protects you more than one condom. That is just not true. Many people probably are going around thinking these myths are true, and telling these myths to their friends. So, I thought it was important to address these issues.

1.       Using two condoms at once makes having sex safer. Not true, because the two condoms together will cause friction, and then they will tear.

2.     Having sex in the pool kills STDs and sperm. Unfortunately not true. Chlorine is not a disinfectant, and it does not kill STDs or sperm. Use a condom to prevent STDs and getting pregnant.

3.     People can avoid STDs by having anal or oral sex. You hope that‘s true, but it’s not. Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Herpes, HIV, and Syphilis can survive in the mouth, anus, and the genital area.

4.    People can tell when their partner has a STD. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that’s not true. In fact, most  people with STDs have no symptoms. 

5.     People can only get an STD once. So not true. People can get STDs more than once, if you have HPV, HIV, Herpes, Gonorrhea or Chlamydia you can get infected with more of the same virus or bacteria, because you don’t build up any immunity.

6.    If I’m free of STDs, my partner doesn’t need to be tested. Not true. Your partner still needs to get checked for STDs, because he or she could have an STD, and can infect you with it.

7.     People can’t get STDs from skin to skin contact or by sharing sex toys. Not true at all. There are STDs that you can get from skin to skin contact and shared sex toys, like Herpes, Scabies, Trich, and Crabs. Scabies, and Crabs people can get them by sharing bedding or clothing.

8.    People don’t get STDs when using birth control. Never true. Hormonal contraceptives don’t prevent STDs.