February is Body Acceptance Month, a time to celebrate positive body image and, perhaps, to begin cultivating it. Unfortunately, most people don’t accept their bodies or have a positive relationship with them. Yahoo! Health conducted a study in January as a part of their Body Peace Resolution […]
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Wondering how to engage youth in conversations about condoms? It doesn’t have to be tricky. Condoms are part of our modern culture, and young people follow the age old trend of being more comfortable about sex than previous generations (don’t even get us started on sexting and […]
Read more →Today’s teens have tech-saturated lives. And although smartphones and social media offer young people unique ways to connect and share like never before, threats to online personal safety and privacy are still a risk. Do teens care about online privacy? Yes, but they think about it very differently than […]
Read more →It’s June, and YTH is celebrating LGBTQ Pride Month by giving props to four groups that are doing great work online and offline to promote pride and health for LGBTQ youth. Forty to None Project The Forty to None Project gets that homelessness is a big issue with […]
Read more →Improve Your Social Media Skills Interested in using blogs, podcasts, Facebook and Twitter, but not sure where to start? Want to increase your organization’s reach? If you are attending YTH Live, volunteers from YTH’s Youth Advisory Board will be available to answer your social media questions in […]
Read more →Social media has become the new black when it comes to platforms that are used by young activists to create positive changes in society. Some successful, spontaneous social movements that received attention around the world started on social media. Check out #YesAllWomen, #YouOKSis, and #BlackLivesMatter — do […]
Read more →YTH: Igniting Impact in 2014 and Beyond
As we prepare for Thanksgiving, the YTH team is grateful for another amazing year of advancing technology for youth health and wellness. As you know, time flies when you’re having fun. It’s been a busy year for YTH, as we commemorate our 1-year anniversary with our Executive […]
Read more →On April 7th, 2014, I turned 20 (eek!). I also tried to register as a member of an online sexuality and sexual health resource for teens and got rejected. They explained why: I’m no longer a teenager. I’m now in that murky area of young adulthood where I’m […]
Read more →I’ve been in attendance at YTH Live for the past two years and I have to say that it’s one of the most interesting, dynamic conferences I’ve ever been to. Not only does it engage you on an academic level (trust me, you’ll learn a lot!), but it […]
Read more →Back to School…and Beyond
Over and over in issues of health, particularly sexual health, we run into the problem of education. It’s difficult to convince someone to use a condom or get that rash checked out if they don’t understand the consequences. In part, the issue needs to be addressed in […]
Read more →GirlZone is an online community where teenage girls can be themselves. Members play games and take quizzes to build a unique floral profile. There are articles and advice on crafts, fashion, sex, movies, and so much more. Girl Zone recently came out with a new app, the Girl […]
Read more →Amplify your Voice: Digital Storytelling for Social Change
“The anthropologists got it wrong when they named our species Homo sapiens (‘wise man’). In any case it’s an arrogant and bigheaded thing to say, wisdom being one of our least evident features. In reality, we are Pan narrans, the storytelling chimpanzee.” ― Terry Pratchett, The Science of Discworld […]
Read more →By Erin McKelle and Gloria Malone You probably have heard about the recent Supreme Court case involving craft retailer Hobby Lobby (Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby),which now allows employers to deny people contraceptive coverage based on their own religious beliefs. Hobby Lobby owners believed that Plan B, Ella, […]
Read more →#YTHHIV: A Conversation about Youth HIV Prevention
Attention service providers! Community health workers! Educators! Medical professionals! Youth! You are all invited to participate in #YTHHIV, a live tweetchat hosted by YTH (@YTHorg) on Wednesday, June 25 from 10:30 – 11:30am, to discuss the many questions surrounding youth HIV prevention and sexual health. According to the […]
Read more →YTH Youth Advisor Interviews Jackie Emerson of She’s So Boss
Jacqueline “Jackie” Emerson is by no means a typical nineteen-year-old. Within the span of less than two decades, she has starred in a major Hollywood blockbuster alongside Jennifer Lawrence, started two organizations, and sang in a band! We were so fortunate to have her moderate the opening plenary on Youth […]
Read more →Ever Feel “Out of Your League”?: On Impostor Syndrome and Youth Innovation
Here is the opening plenary from YTH Live: This video captures the first panel at YTH Live, featuring six bright minds and young leaders making a difference in health and tech. When I saw it, I was awestruck and mostly speechless. It was absolutely thrilling to learn about my […]
Read more →Preventing Violence with Youth Health Technology
What is “violence” and how do we stop it? As a society, we often answer that question with the obvious: war is violent; we try diplomacy and economic sanctions. Football is violent; we give the players helmets and padding. Sexual assault, verbal assault, harassment, intimate partner violence, […]
Read more →Are you a millennial? Have you ever interviewed for a position where potential employers expected you to have an inherent ability for all things social media (but you’ve never blogged before or you’ve only used Twitter for keeping up with friends and celebrities)? I feel you. As a […]
Read more →New Campaign Draws Attention to Microaggressions
Microaggressions: small, common acts of aggression that can be verbal, behavioral, or environmental, often committed without the aggressor being aware. They happen to everyone on a daily basis, especially LGBTQ communities, women, and people of color. They are acts that do not need to be tolerated or accepted by […]
Read more →YTH Youth Advisor Interviews Alex Medina of Answer
If there is one person in the world who is the most passionate about working with youth, it is Alex Medina. Alex is currently the Coordinator of Web Content and Social Networking at Answer. Answer is an award-winning, national organization that provides invaluable sexuality education resources to […]
Read more →Media Advisory: Youth Innovation in Health Tech at YTHLive
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Deb Levine [email protected] | (415)215-6184 April 3, 2014 MEDIA ADVISORY April 6-8th at the Hotel Kabuki, San Francisco Sunday, April 6th marks the start of YTH Live in San Francisco. The opening plenary, sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, features the voices of dynamic young […]
Read more →YTH Youth Advisor Interviews Hollaback’s Emily May
Street harassment is a pervasive problem that affects almost every woman and LGBTQ person in our society and across the globe. Emily May, co-founder and Executive Director of Hollaback!, helped start the international movement to end street harassment. She is one of the brightest, most engaged feminist activists, […]
Read more →This April, the brightest minds working in youth advocacy, health and technology will gather at YTH Live. Taking place on April 6-8 in San Francisco, this conference showcases new technologies that are advancing the health and wellness of youth, young adults, and other underserved populations. Over 600 […]
Read more →Rubber Love: National Condom Month 2014
This February, we have an entire month to give some extra love to the workhorse of the sexual health world: the condom! Of all the birth control available, the condom is the most frequently used method that not only has a high contraceptive rate (98% effectiveness rate […]
Read more →February 7, 2014 marks the 14-year anniversary of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD)—an initiative that established a day of action for African American communities to do the following: Get educated about the basics of HIV and AIDS in and out of their local communities. Get tested […]
Read more →Drug Use & Co-Occurring Disorders: How Can Social Media Help?
Each year, The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) works to shatter myths teens have about drugs and substance abuse. Through their National Drug Facts Week, they provide a chat between students and scientists, contests, and events. This year, I’m using NIDA’s week to discuss and raise […]
Read more →If you’re a parent of a college student, forget about notebooks, binders and pens, and think condoms and mobile apps when you think back to school.
Read more →With all the money pouring into online interactive education, you’d think online sex ed would have been tackled by now.
Read more →There’s been a quietly brewing debate about teen pregnancy in the US: Is it a public health issue or a race and class issue? Social media campaigns weigh in.
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