"Dirty Little Secret" No More

Sex: arguably the most awkward and uncomfortable health topic to discuss. Why do we need to talk about it? My inner nerd would like to highlight some appalling statistics. By a teen's nineteenth birthday, 7 in 10 will have had intercourse. Every year, over 9 million young adults in the United States will contract a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Of the approximately 750,000 teenage pregnancies that occur in the United States each year, 82% are unintended. It is clear that we need comprehensive sexual health education, and we need it now.

As a health educator of four years, I have made it a life goal to provide adolescents with comprehensive sexual education. Growing up, I was never given the'sex talk" nor did I receive any formal sexual health education. Everything I learned about sex came from rumors my friends and I would whisper about at school.'Did you know your penis could fall off from having too much sex?" You would laugh at some of the things I thought were true. It wasn't until I was almost eighteen years old and began working with the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health that I learned some really important information, such as how different STIs are transmitted and that there are multiple forms of birth control. It was then I realized that I needed to provide adolescents with safe and important information about their sexual health; I needed to start the conversation.

After teaching over hundreds of sexual education classes, I decided to take a different educational route this year. This year, I am working with the Smart Chicago Collaborative's Smart Health Centers Project. Their mission is to bridge the connection between technology and healthcare. So I thought,'What better way to plug (literally) young adults into sex ed than through a podcast?" When are teenagers seen without their headphones on? The answer: almost never!

So, Dirty Little Secrets (DLS) was born. DLS is a sexual health education podcast dedicated to debunking myths around sexual health, rights, identity, and reproductive justice. As the host, I guide listeners through a variety of difficult, interesting, and often embarrassing discussions so that sex is no longer a'Dirty Little Secret." We have talked about a variety of topics from different forms of birth control to anal sex. I want to be able to answer the questions everyone is afraid to ask.

Tune in to the first three episodes here:
1. https://soundcloud.com/smart-chicago/dirty-little-secret-the-three-ss-si...
2. https://soundcloud.com/smart-chicago/dirty-little-secrets-episode-2-birt...
3. https://soundcloud.com/smart-chicago/dirty-little-secrets-episode-3-girl...

Don't forget to share what you learned!

This post was written by NHC Chicago member Michelle Vu.

Michelle serves as a Health Navigator at Smart Chicago Collaborative.