IT TAKES A VILLAGE
LESSON PLAN · TEACHING SAFER SEX, VOLUME 2
Prevention Is Everbody’s Business
Objectives
By the end of this lesson, participants will be able to:
1. Evaluate alternative strategies for stemming the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
2. Identify ways adults need to communicate with young people about safer sex.
Rationale
A strong element of shame and guilt surrounds the issue of STIs. Punitive moral judgments may interfere with confronting these infections as a community health problem, while negative feelings discourage the communication between partners that is essential for reducing the risk of infection transmission. This lesson explores the idea that young people who do not practice safer sex are not the only ones responsible for transmission of infection. Parents, teachers and public officials who fail to educate young people in ways that would enable them to overcome the barriers to effective infection prevention are responsible. Silence, both public and private, is dangerous. Everyone needs to speak up for safer sex.
