Teens take safe-sex message to the street; Plan to target
festivals, nightclubs, cafes; GETTING SMARTER
Publication title: Edmonton Journal
Pages: B.3
Section: CITY
Publication date: Jul 13, 1996
ProQuest document ID: 252329981
Copyright: (Copyright The Edmonton Journal)
Abstract:
Last weekend, Cheryl, Clare and Lana went to a “rave’’ in Sherwood Park , packing
dozens of condoms.
“It was our biggest engagement yet,’’ said Cheryl Beattie,
the 18-year-old executive director of the Smart Sex Campaign Office that opened
on Whyte Avenue at 103rd Street two weeks ago -- just in time for the kickoff
of Edmonton’s festival season.
Clare is referring to the plastic packet of lubricating
jelly, a component of the Smart Sex kit the office distributes. The small
cardboard box also contains a condom, a coaster urging HIV testing, a safe-sex
manual and a treatise on the joys of safe sex.
Full text:
Last weekend, Cheryl, Clare and Lana went to a “rave’’ in Sherwood Park , packing
dozens of condoms.
The three teenagers disposed of them all by handing them out
to revellers as part of a citywide safe-sex campaign.
“It was our biggest engagement yet,’’ said Cheryl Beattie,
the 18-year-old executive director of the Smart Sex Campaign Office that opened
on Whyte Avenue at 103rd Street two weeks ago -- just in time for the kickoff
of Edmonton’s festival season.
“It was really good. People were curious, they were asking
us questions. It’s shocking how little people know.’’
“Nobody knows what the lube is for,’’ added Clare Budnitsky,
19, the assistant co-ordinator. “They think it’s soya sauce.’’
Clare is referring to the plastic packet of lubricating
jelly, a component of the Smart Sex kit the office distributes. The small
cardboard box also contains a condom, a coaster urging HIV testing, a safe-sex
manual and a treatise on the joys of safe sex.
The pamphlets are explicit, using nude photography and
street language to describe sexual acts. The material is considerably more
graphic than last year’s kit, because the goal is to get the message out to
people between 16 and 25, Cheryl said.
“It’s so much more effective. If someone who’s 40 comes to
chat with you, you block it out.’’
So far, they’ve had no complaints about the pamphlets, which
are similar to safe-sex campaigns across the country. But they know some people
might find them offensive.
The Smart Sex campaign was launched in 1994 by the Edmonton
AIDS Network as a two-month pilot project targeting teens and young adults. The
campaign was renewed for two months last summer. This year, the project runs
from June to December with its own small office, a new set of posters and a
staff of three that is expected to grow to seven or eight in the months to
come.
For now, Cheryl, Clare and Lana van der Giessen, a
16-year-old Grade 12 student working as the office manager for the summer, are
thinking of ways to get their posters and kits before the public eye.
The three spent the first two weeks packing 5,000 safe-sex
kits, which they will distribute over the summer at the Fringe Festival, cafes,
nightclubs and the big warehouse dances called raves.
“We just look at what’s going on and if we think it’s a
target group for us, we go,’’ said Cheryl.
They plan to set up a speakers’ bureau and a Youth Health
Advisory Council that will meet and discuss AIDS issues and prevention
campaigns.
GETTING SMARTER
In 1992, 2,100 male Albertans and 4,935 female Albertans
between the ages of 15 and 24 reported contracting an STD, according to the
province’s Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic.
In 1995, that dropped to 1,672 males and 3,672 females in
the same age group.
“There’s been a steady decrease,’’ observed Dr. Barbara
Romanowski, clinic director.
Why? “We are better able to diagnose, we have better and
easier-to-take antibiotics, and we have finally convinced people of the need
for preventive measures.’’
Illustration: Black & White Photo; MARIO PIETRAMALA;
CLARE BUDNITSKY, ASSISTANT CO-ORDINATOR OF THE SMART SEX CAMPAIGN THAT IS RUN
OUT OF AN OFFICE ON WHYTE AVENUE, HELPS PACKAGE AND DISTRIBUTE A HARD-HITTING
MESSAGE ABOUT SAFE SEX TO THE 16-TO-25 AGE GROUP; 960711.PIE -- Credit: THE EDMONTON JOURNAL
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