The Wrong Question

Today, I'm giving my blog over to Julie Bentley, Chief Executive of FPA who has given a great deal of thought to the sex-selection debate from a feminist, pro-choice perspective.

The stories in the press over the past weeks, instigated by The Daily Telegraph undercover investigation into sex selective abortions, have left me, as a pro-choice feminist, struggling with the issue and frustrated by the public debate. I have felt personally conflicted on the matter and I don’t think I have been alone in that. This doesn’t make me a hypocrite or water down my pro-choice values. But it does mean I’m asking myself some really difficult questions.

The debate has been focused around the rights or wrongs, lawfulness or not of such abortions. The 1967 Abortion Act does not list all the circumstances in which an abortion is considered lawful; rather it requires that certain grounds for abortion are met. This includes ‘that the continuation of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy was terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family; or that the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman, or that the continuation of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy was terminated.’

There is a range of different factors that might mean these grounds were fulfilled, such as already having several children and feeling that economically another would not be possible to support – or for darker reasons, such as pregnancy resulting from rape.

The headlines have focused on the hysterical demonization of abortion professionals and the condemnation of the pursuit of ‘designer babies’, but I fear we are missing the point. Abortion is a red herring. We should be asking ourselves, why? Why are women requesting to abort female fetuses?

The reality is that through history and across cultures girls are not consistently valued equally. For generations women have found themselves pressurised into ‘producing a boy’. This ‘expectation’ can manifest itself in numerous ways and with varying degrees of seriousness. In the most serious cases, sex selective abortions can, regrettably, fall under the grounds of grave permanent injury to the mental health of a pregnant woman, even possibly the physical health of that woman.

My dilemma is this; if sex-selection abortion is rooted in the most unacceptable gender discrimination, how should a feminist who is pro-choice respond? If we accept sex-selection on the grounds that the woman’s wellbeing is at risk if the pregnancy continues, are we also indirectly colluding with unacceptable discrimination? And therefore, allowing it to go on unchallenged for generations to come.

Conversely if we know that women are facing an indescribable pressure not to bear a girl, are we further oppressing and isolating those women (or possibly putting their lives at risk) by not affording them access to safe, legal abortion?

I don’t think there are simple answers to dilemmas of this complexity and I’m not afraid to say I certainly don’t have them. But I do know that if a woman is pregnant and doesn’t feel confident that the future child will be fully supported, or that her physical or mental health would be at risk, they must have the choice not to continue with the pregnancy.

We must trust health professionals to do their job

Here is my article in the Huffington Post about young people's rights to contraceptive advice and treatment, and the importance of trusting professionals to do their job

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/simon-blake/underage-contraceptive-implant-schools_b_1271636.html?ref=uk-lifestyle

Education for Choice celebrates 20 years of excellence

Here I hand over my blog to Lisa Hallgarten to reflect on the past 20 years of work at Education for Choice....

This year Education For Choice (EFC) will celebrate its 20^th birthday, but we’ve got something else to celebrate as well. In January this year we became a project within Brook and are proud to now be part of Brook’s amazing work helping young people maintain and improve their sexual health and wellbeing.

EFC was set up to provide good quality education about abortion to young people in schools in England. For our first few years direct work with students in London schools was our main focus, but with the advent of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy in 1999, we were able to plug into a national network of professionals who cared about young people’s sexual health too. We developed a training programme that has now been delivered to 4,000 professionals from Newcastle in the North East to Truro in the South West and about 65 towns and cities in between. As well as our training and schools work, we have produced resources for young people and professionals. We have been a source of reliable research and accurate information on abortion and young people for policy makers, media, and professionals as well as parents and young people.

In 2003 the Government’s Independent Advisory Group on HIV and Sexual Health flagged EFC up as a model of good practice in educating young people about abortion; and in 2010 we were delighted to be joint winners of the fpa’s Pamela Sheridan Award for good practice in Sex and Relationships Education, for our Talk About Choice schools programme. We were really chuffed to share the prize with Brook Wirral which delivers brilliant resources and workshops for young people, as well as being a fab team.

Much as prizes and public acknowledgement are nice, our biggest achievements are probably captured best by the lovely comments we get on our evaluation forms from young people and professionals alike; the repeat bookings we receive for our training; and the respect and affection with which EFC is regarded by people from lofty Whitehall to lowly youth centres.

In the past two years the EFC staff team has worked hard to build our profile and spread our message that all young people should be able to access evidence-based information; and that anyone experiencing unintended pregnancy should be able to expect impartial support with pregnancy decision-making. We have used Twitter (www.twitter.com/edforchoice) our blog (www.educationforchoice.blogspot.com) and every occasion possible to promote young people’s rights to this whoever they are and wherever they are.

Now we have to make sure that diminishing funds don’t diminish our work. After 20 years, there’s more to do than ever. We’ve learned that when it comes to sexual health and reproductive rights you need to keep winning the same arguments again and again. There’s no room for complacency. People are amazed to hear that organisations that deliberately disseminate misinformation about abortion, and prejudice about homosexuality are still routinely invited into schools to provide workshops and presentations for our young people. They’re shocked that those who oppose contraception and abortion are able to set up pregnancy advice centres to ‘counsel’ women and are even trying to get paid by the NHS for doing so.

So, what are we going to do about it?

Our immediate plans include:

• continued advocacy to tackle misinformation in schools and pregnancy advice centres;
• information and support for people to respond to the forthcoming Department of Health consultation on abortion counselling;
• continuing to provide information, resources and training to young people and professionals;
• enthusing Brook with our passion for young people’s right to informed choice on pregnancy and abortion, and sharing our knowledge and expertise with the staff teams to deliver workshops
• helping local areas address repeat abortion rates;
• tweeting, blogging, meeting, talking...

I don’t know about the next 20 years, but that’s the next 20 months sorted.

Lisa EFC@Brook

www.efc.org.uk

Contraception and under 16s

In the news today is coverage about giving contraception to under 16s.

Most young people under the age of 16 are not having sex, but Brook believes it’s vital that all young people – particularly those who are younger and may be more vulnerable – have a safe, confidential place to access advice, information, and support around sexual health and relationships.

You can read the full commentary piece on this from me published in the Telegraph today here.

Follow Brook on twitter @brookcharity; @besexpositive or follow me @simonablake

Sex Appeal: More sex please, we're British!

Months ago our ambassador Zoe Margolis had the idea of putting on a comedy night in aid of Brook. On Friday, after months of hard work, favours and commitment from many people that idea became a ‘pinch yourself it's not a dream’ reality at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. With a stellar line up of guests equal to, and better than, any you would see at Edinburgh Festival ‘Comedy Best of the Fest’, ‘Sex Appeal: More Sex Please, We're British’ was a fantastically funny evening. As one person said on twitter at half time, “at comedy sex, it’s half time and my sides ache already.”

All the comedians gave their time free of charge to challenge through comedy any negative attitudes about sex, sex and relationships education, and to help Brook raise funds to carry out our campaigning work. More information from the evening will be available at http://www.brook.org.uk/ in the coming weeks.

As well as making us laugh throughout the evening, beforehand each of the comedians told Brook why they support our work to make sex and relationships education relevant for the 21st Century (if you haven't signed our petition please do so at http://www.sexpositive.org.uk/).

The host Al Murray, The Pub Landlord, said: “Sex ed is important because it's something that's personal but that can impact on other people as well. The more you know, the better equipped for life you are.”

Helen Arney, a musical comedian said: “Good sex ed is about more than just educating, it's about young people finding out about the difference between truth and fiction. If I had to be young again (a horrible thought) I'd want my first introduction to sex and relationships to be from someone who knows what these things actually are, and not fifth-hand garbled gossip from Stacey whispered under coats at breaktime. Good sex education sticks, but so does all the wrong stuff about sex if it gets there first. If I still believed everything Stacey said, because no-one had told me otherwise, I'd still think the word 'dude' means 'elephant dung'. Which it does. Right Guys?”

David Baddiel, known by many for The Mary Whitehouse Experience, said: “I'm very keen on the idea of sex education for children particularly as it means I don't have to talk about it to my own children. I also think it may have moved on since I was in school where it consisted almost entirely of diagrams that could easily be mistaken for the opening credits of Dad's Army.”

Musical comedian Mitch Benn, hit the nail on the head, “Sex education is important because sex is important and education is important. It's importance squared, if you will. I wish I'd had some, I might be better at it.”

We were warned that it doesn't pay to take offence at comedy by San Franciscan actor and comedian Scott Capurro. About sex education he believes, “More should be taught. I received a scattered rather toothy blowjob in Rome and the scabs are still healing.”

Richard Herring warned of setting traditions in relationships if they cannot be future proofed and told us, “Sex is important and education is important, so sex education is doubly important. No one worries that if we teach children history that they will go out and start wars – we hope that given the facts they might learn to behave more responsibly. So let's give them the facts about this vital and joyful part of being alive, because most problems regarding sex grow out of ignorance and secrecy.”

Robin Ince took many on a trip down sex education memory lane with his reading of the Giant Crabs, “The vast majority of evidence I have seen makes it clear that educating young people does not turn them into crazed sex devils rutting in alleyways but actually cuts down on behaviour that enrages the censorious. Of course it does, once young people find out how disgusting and pointless sex is they can get back to reading books in the library.”

About sex education Shappi Khorsandi told us, “We need to allow young people to be more open and honest about their thoughts and feelings about sex. Early sex education keeps dialogue open and information flowing so young people can make mature, informed decisions.”

Mathematician and comedian Matt Parker left a few of us at Brook red faced when he pointed out early in his show that Brook had some of our Maths wrong but we remain together on sex ed, “Just telling young people what they should and shouldn't do is counterproductive. They need to make up their own minds and the skills to rationally analyse new information as they stumble across it on the internet. This is what good sex education should provide.”

Jay Rayner, son of the leading sex educator, Claire Rayner told us, “I was raised in a household where sex education was the family business; was taught from a very early age that sex only becomes a problem when people don't talk about it. And that's a lesson every generation has to learn. Good sex education isn't a luxury. It isn't a privilege. It's a basic human right.”

Kate Smurthwaite, political comedian and feminist activist said, “Understanding how our bodies work is a fundamental human right. For our young people to grow into sensible adults who can make wise decisions about their sex lives they must first understand what is there and how it works, in terms of reproduction, in terms of risk and in terms of pleasure. These should be non-negotiable components of the National Curriculum, taught without fuss or debate as soon as children are old enough to understand them – and well before they begin puberty.”

Writer and comedian Catie Wilkins was clear, “I think sex ed is important for young people so that they can make balanced and informed decisions about one of the most crucial areas of life. Forewarned is for-armed'.”

As well as being the first big laugh of 2012, the event had a serious point to make – we fail young people if we do not provide them with high quality, evidence based and accurate sex and relationships education – and some serious funds to raise to help Brook with our continued campaign to ensure we have sex and relationships education fit for the 21st Century.

I owe enormous thanks to everyone who made the evening happen, and who gave up their time and skills freely to do so – first off Zoe Margolis for having the idea and vision and turning it into reality with her friends and colleagues who helped with the website www.comedysex.org (Ian Dickerson), with stage management (Kirsty Chestnutt and James Knight) and with promotions, also thanks to photographer Elliott Franks. Thanks to Al Murray for hosting the evening and to all the comedians for giving their time and for making us laugh. Thank you.

Thank you to our sponsors and supporters; PSUK, Mates SKYN, Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium, MOO.COM, Chinawhite, CM Print and Sparkloop.

And finally thank you to all the Brook staff who volunteered to help; Joy, Natalie, Sian, Lisa, Rachael, Josina, Mariana, Daniel and Glen. Particular thanks to those who worked so hard they didn't even get to see the show. Photos of the evening can be found here and you can also follow the conversation on Twitter using #comedysex.

Follow Brook on twitter @brookcharity; @besexpositive or follow me @simonablake

Education For Choice becomes a project within Brook

I am delighted to announce that Education For Choice (EFC) has now become part of Brook. The two organisations have always been closely aligned in outlook and this move will turn a long-standing professional friendship into a vibrant partnership.

EFC will become a project within Brook, and will continue to deliver specialist education, training and advocacy work around young people, pregnancy choices, decision-making and abortion. EFC has 20 years experience of providing specialist education on issues relating to abortion and ensuring young people can make and act on informed choices about pregnancy and abortion.

This move will complement the work that Brook already does across the UK in providing young people with information and support around all sexual health issues. It also provides great opportunities to utilise and share expertise. All young people have a right to receive high quality information, education and support on pregnancy decision-making and abortion and this move allows us to reach more young people.

Follow Brook on twitter @brookcharity; @besexpositive or follow me @simonablake

Goodbye 2011: Hello 2012

It hardly seems conceivable, or indeed bearable that a year ago today I was frantically piecing together my fancy dress outfit for NYE. Whilst most things around us are changing rapidly, some things remain - true to form I have left it until the last minute to get my costume ready again. Ushering in the new year it is important to reflect on the successes and the disappointments of the year gone by as well as look to the opportunities and challenges of the year ahead.

Some of Brook's key successes this year have been;

Making the transition to become one unified organisation in April - the energy, commitment and determination of managers and trustees from the 16 organisations that made up the Brook Network was awesome through the review that led to a decision to change our constitution. This was critical to ensuring a smooth transition.

Any organisational change of this size requires all of us involved to look at things differently and to change our world views. And through this transitional year I have appreciated enormously the support and challenge of colleagues - trustees, managers and staff - to keep us on track and make sure that different perspectives are understood. And amongst all the internal change, business as usual has continued, continuing to secure and contracts and funding so we can provide education and services across the country to those young people who need them most.



If I was to have the last 8 months again, there would be many things I would do the same, and there would of course be things I would do differently. But what I still know to be true is that Brook people remain determinedly focused on young people - developing creative and innovative responses to their needs in the face of major internal and external change. And I appreciate this commitment and professionalism enormously.

This year we launched a formal collaboration with FPA over the year, and this partnership has allowed us to focus our resources effectively, reducing duplication and maximising our expertise. I look forward to continuing this exciting collaboration in 2012 which includes the first ever UK Sexual Health Awards on March 15th 2012 - find out more at http://www.brook.org.uk/

At the same time we have been a loud and vociferous voice in support of relationships and sex education - as part of our Sex: Positive campaign developed by our young volunteers, we launched the 21st Century SRE campaign which has already got over 2200 supporters including boyband JLS. If you haven't already you can sign up at http://www.sexpositive.org.uk/ As someone who disagrees vehemently with me about the importance of RSE said in a recent [heated] phone call, 'like what you and your organisation stand for or not I have to say your views have really been loud and clear this year.'

It was fantastic again this year to see the sustained reduction in teenage pregnancy rates when the data was published for the final year of the previous government's strategy. Evidence that we do know what works, and that if you get all the elements right including support for parents, SRE in schools, access to contraception and effective youth provision then teenage pregnancy rates can and will fall.

And given that a central plank of success in reducing teenage prenancy is good education it is so disappointing that progress on getting Relationships and Sex Education a normal everyday part of school life has slowed. The politicisation and polarisation of ideas and views about RSE have been disappointing. We know the consensus in support of RSE remains - most young people, parents and professionals support RSE, and we must ensure that we trust that consensue when some media are deliberately misleading and shrill in their approach. I was unhappy that the government launched the PSHE Education consultation with a closed mind about whether any changes are needed in legislation to improve RSE, particularly when we thought we had been so close to securing a statutory entitlement for all children and young people.

Similarly the politicisation and polemic about abortion, particularly counselling for women considering or seeking an abortion was of great concern this year. Brook of course supports any measure to improve the quality of counselling and support women facing an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy face, we wait with interest to see the government proposals about counselling for women facing a pregnancy choice. But lets be very clear the rhetoric that independent abortion providers have a vested interest in 'pushing women towards abortion above all other pregnancy choices' is offensive to women's ability to make decisions and choices and quite simply untrue. I fully respect people's right to feel morally opposed to abortion. However I cannot respect any drive to limit women's choices and access to services or to influence their decision about abortion with misinformation. We know from evidence from around the world that where abortion access is denied or limited it does not stop abortion, it pushes the procedure underground, making it stigmatised and unsafe. We need only look to Northern Ireland to see how difficult antiquated laws make it for women who want to have an abortion.

As we look to 2012 we know what works and we know there is an economic case for investing in education and services that can see an immediate, and often in year, return on investment. And we know the shifting responsibility for Public Health to Local Authorities could provide new opportunities to think holistically about young people, health and well being.

But there will be challenges: history shows us that when money is tight spend often moves from prevention and early intervention to 'treatment' or unavoidable costs. As a commissioner or a finance director if you are not responsible for the 'treatment' costs and the primary job is to balance the book how do we ensure investment is maintained in the best interest of young people's sexual health? The shift of responsibility for Public Health to Local Authorities will also inevitably be challenging through the transition, and some of the sexual health expertise will undoubtedly be lost.

Sir Stephen Bubb has just sent through his top tips for ACEVO members for 2012 - they were

Look after yourself
Get your personal leadership plan nailed
Stay positive in the face of adversity

Messages that all of us, whatever our role and wherever we work, in the public, private or voluntary sector will do well to take heed of. As a colleague said last week, 2012 won't be easy for young people and sexual health. So let it be the year we look after ourselves and remain committed to our personal and professional development, stay positive in the face of challenge and consistently speak out in support of young people's sexual health and sexual rights. With ever increasing pressures on finances, major change in the health system, a small number of loud voices who oppose young people's sexual rights, and the increased determination of local priorities it will be the confidence that comes with over 45 years experience at Brook that will enable us to keep young people's sexual health on the agenda.

I am proud that i can say with complete and utter confidence that our teams across the country will strive day in day out to deliver the best quality services and education for young people; to be a loud and confident voice in support of young people's sexual rights and advocates and champions for the change we want to see.

Goodbye and thank you 2011, hello and welcome 2012. Right time to get that fancy dress sorted.


You can read more about the difference Brook makes and at http://www.brookannualreview.org.uk/

Follow Brook on twitter @brookcharity; @besexpositive or follow me @simonablake