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Talks, workshops, at-home activism and campaign contributions: the latest sex & relationships things on the Outspoken radar that you can look into and do right now
TELL YOUR CHILD as a conversation starter that the theme for Sexual Health Week (SHW) – run by Brook, the sexual health charity for under-25s from 10-16 October – is Breaking Barriers. Ask what barriers to accessing or talking about sexual health barriers are there and how can we break them? What topics SHW should cover – and how? Could they get a kick out of how creatively the Different Is Normal resource uses interactive illustrations to learn about vulvas? Do they like Brook’s handouts on porn, consent, condoms and
the LGBT+ ABC? SHW22 highlights: What do we mean by Breaking Barriers? (webinar 10/10), Brook’s Big RSE Lesson Live (livestream 12/10), Ruby Rare Talks: Breaking Barriers (12/10, £10). For details, books and videos for young people & real-life stories check here
ATTEND Festival of the Girl – a nonprofit event to inspire girls aged 7-11 and support parents in raising them in less stereotyped ways. Show up virtually on 11 October (which is International Day of the Girl) and all month for free, and/or rock up in London on 9 October (Business Design Centre: £5 adult & ages 3-4; £8.50 ages 5-15). We’re fans – we’ve been there in person and in 2020 contributed a video on consent
TUNE INTO Quickie: How to keep your kids safe online (30/8/22), a the 17-minute Dirty Mother Pukka podcast in which Anna Whitehouse (aka Mother Pukka) talks to mental-health campaigner Natasha Devon
about the “trad wife” trend among girls, how to talk to your son age 12-14 who might be influenced by Andrew Tate’s violent misogyny and how vital it is to encourage boys to be nurses and teachers…
ASK someone aged 16 to 21 in the UK if they’d like join the Youth Advisory Board for Fumble – the sex-ed charity with a dynamic online presence that’s run by young people for young people – for a year to help shape its content and campaigns on sexual and mental health, relationships and more and to help out on projects. Deadline 5pm on 14 October