(Photo Credit http://www.gardasil.com/hpv)

This blog was originally posted on CHATpdx.org as a program of CHATpdx For more information check out: www.facebook.com/chatpdx

In the US, it’s estimated that a majority (75%-80%) of men and women will be infected with the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). With about 6 million new cases of genital HPV every year (there are over 30 genital HPV types) and a majority of these (about 74%) of them occurring in 15-24 year olds, the need for effective prevention programs directed to youth is crucial. The new HPV vaccines protect against the two types of HPV that cause a majority of cervical cancer and genital warts cases. These vaccines, however, are only effective if they are taken BEFORE someone is infected with HPV. HPV often has no signs or symptoms and partners engaging in sex (or any other kind of genital contact) may be transmitting HPV without even knowing they have it. Recently the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended HPV vaccination for girls 11-26 and have stated that Gardasil can also be given to boys ages 9-26. In women HPV can cause serious health problems including genital warts, cervical cancer, vaginal cancer and vulvar cancer. These cancers can cause death or infertility in women. Men on the other hand usually only develop genital warts. While this is a small percentage of men that could develop HPV-related cancer of the anus or penis, it is much less common.

Subsequently, I believe that men have a pretty important role to play in the prevention of HPV. Likelihood of developing cervical cancer is greatly reduced if the vaccine is used. Unfortunately, it is too common for women (particularly women of color) to have barriers to screening services or accessing this vaccine because of the stigma around accessing sexual health services. This reality makes it even more important for men to seek the vaccine and to encourage the women in their lives (particularly the ones they are having sex with) to also receive the vaccine. I have encouraged many of the women in my life to get the vaccine whether or not they have been sexually active or think they are at risk. Men have the same responsibility to help prevent HPV even if they do not suffer the same consequences as women. As allies, men can play an important role in helping to reduce HPV transmission. It’s time that men stand in solidarity with our friends, sisters and mothers by encouraging them to seek pap smears as part of a well-women’s annual checkup as well as the HPV vaccine.


(Photo Credit http://www.gardasil.com/hpv)

Speaking of mothers, my own mama had such a hard time talking about her own health growing up. I remember her waiting for us to leave for school before she would call our neighbor to talk about a yeast infection she once had. This kind of taboo, to not even want to say the word “Vagina” like it was some sort of dirty word only reinforced my ideas as a kid that we weren’t supposed to talk about our bits and pieces. I was lucky to even get a pack of condoms on my nightstand when she thought I was having sex with a note that said “no seas guey” (don’t be dumb). Growing up in an undocumented Latino family we never dreamed of going to the hospital unless our arm had actually fallen off, yet alone to receive preventative care. Our fear of getting deported was much worse than the fear of cervical cancer. Growing up I’ve had to learn to talk about sex and sexual health in a way that resonates with my mother and with my siblings. At times it can be hard, but for the women in my family, I knew it would be the only way I could convince them to talk to a doctor and get the care they needed. They may roll their eyes or not want to talk about it, but I care about the health of the vaginas in my family, just like all men should care about the vaginas in theirs.

What do you see as the role of men and boys? How can you advocate for the health of women in your life?

-Ernesto
edominguez@cascadeaids.org

World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. HIV/AIDS has been a global epidemic for more than 27 years. Most of today’s youth have never known a world without it. As CHATpdx (a coalition of organizations that are working to Curb HIV/AIDS Transmission among youth in Portland) we having been working to change how youth view and are impacted by HIV.

This World AIDS Day we are asking folks to take a simple, but powerful step of making this image their profile image until World AIDS Day. We hope to have hundreds of people (and organizations) make their profile RED and show our social media world that we can also Facebook for Social good. So what are you waiting for, download the image and upload it to facebook and join us. Advocates for Youth did...  http://www.facebook.com/Advocates4Youth

For more information about CHATpdx or its programs, please visit our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/chatpdx) or contact Ernesto at edominguez@cascadeaids.org.

Folks start to walk in and already there are murmurs of the decision by NCLR to move all the Lideres participants to an “overflow” room to watch President Obama speak at the Summit.

A little background: President Obama is scheduled to speak at the NCLR Annual Conference. Both the NCLR Annual Conference and the Lideres Summit run co-currently and hence the Summit participants are always invited to conference events. Last night at the “Notche De Premios,” Lideres participants were asked to give up their tickets to enter the Monday Luncheon event and hence give up to the chance to be in the same room that President Obama would be giving his remarks from.

Participants were told that “seats have sold out to the lunch event, and to make sure youth get to see the President (over view screens), they were told to go to the overflow room only and give up their seats to “others."



Of course, Lideres Summit participants are upset at the idea that they won't be able to attend the lunch and see President Obama, but what is even more striking is that their seats are then going to be given to “others” to watch. I have to assume that these “others” are adults. This action further shows young people that they are not equal in the eyes of NCLR. Upsetting news to hear for a Summit whose motto this year is “Moving Forward, Together.” It sounds to me that NCLR wants to Move Forward, but with their youth dragging behind.

Janet Murguia, President and CEO of NCLR responds to this move stating that:

We’re especially proud of Liders staff, and their work on the Lideres Summit. We are looking for an opportunity for everyone to see the President in the ballroom and I belive the overflow room will be a little more intimate, “full view of the screen.” I will ask President Obama to come to the overflow room.

...I ask that you withhold criticism until after the lunch on Monday. We ask everyone to make sacrifices at this summit...“Judge me when this is all over.” I believe we can deliver the President, and we will see what happens.

What do you think?

-Ernesto Dominguez-
at the National Council of La Raza Annual Conference in Washington, DC

Update: Here's a video of the full resposne from NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguía:

To read more of my blogs visit:
http://chatmosphere.wordpress.com/

*Names changed

Our motto is PLUR: Peace, Love, Unity and Respect. We borrow this philosophy from the hippies. Our drug culture stems directly from the 1960′s, just with new lingo. We brought back the sexual revolution of second wave feminism. Or so I thought.
Yeah it's a blog urging rave ladies to stand up for respect, maybe it's just unclear. Feel free to edit it. A picture like this?
We wear outrageous, themed lingerie costumes. We wear rainbow bikinis, fuzzy leg-warmers, and neon fishnets. We express ourselves in the way we never can in our daily lives at work and school. But we are not dancing topless at Woodstock. We are not free.

Chelsea’s boyfriend told her not to gogo anymore because he believes they are basically strippers and treated as such. However unlike strippers (many, not all), gogos are not forced into their jobs by anyone or anything, nor are they exploited by it. But even these beautiful, talented, untouchable dancers are not free from degradation. Chelsea had enjoyed her gogoing days but was happy to agree to her boyfriend’s request.

Michael asks, “When you go out in your corsets and miniskirts, are you really that surprised when you get raped?” Katie, Jessica and I facetiously agreed that yes, we are ‘surprised’ whenever we get raped. But on a serious note, I was truly surprised to find this rape culture perpetuated in rave culture.

We have our own brand of victim-blaming; if you react too strongly to unwanted groping at the hands of high kids, you are causing drama AKA being un-PLUR. I’m, forced to laugh it off, yell, “Fingering me is not a dance move!” and write ‘NO MEANS NO’ with Sharpie on the backs of passed out drunk guys. This is not the movement I thought it was. Rave culture is expanding and we need to preserve its integrity. We must demand the R(espect) in PLUR from those who may grope and degrade us. They are intimidated by the freedom of our bodies. We, the ladies of raveland, are beautiful forces of nature, dancing spirits, and fierce goddesses. We will not be inhibited. This is our dance floor too. Revolution: Rave Is Queen.

To read more of my blogs visit:
http://chatmosphere.wordpress.com/

In Portland we’ve seen a little of the anti-abortion activism that goes on in this country, but only a small amount. I remember driving by the empty space on Martin Luther King Boulevard where a Planned Parenthood was going to be put in and seeing a small group of people protesting with their picket signs. And from time to time I would also see them on Fremont and 15^th, near an already opened Planned Parenthood. This was already scary enough to me, to see people simply protesting against an organization that I really like.

The recent sting operations against Planned Parenthood definitely scare me more, and this is the second time something like this has happened to them.

Just this January, an anti-abortion group called Live Action had 12 men acting as pimps go into Planned Parenthoods in 6 different states and ask about receiving medical care, birth control and abortions for their prostitutes, giving ages as young as fourteen. The experiences the men had were recorded. Two videos have been released since, though analysis shows they were doctored before being released. One Planned Parenthood Manager in one video was fired for her upsetting behavior and comments that were recorded, while the other woman recorded is said to have accurately represented Planned Parenthood’s values. Live Action is trying to “expose” Planned Parenthood for breaking state and federal laws and for covering up abuse against young girls that the organization says they protect. They are ultimately trying to cut Planned Parenthood’s funding.

To read a full article on the situation, go here. You can also read about Live Action, the doctoring of the tapes, and Planned Parenthood’s reaction on their website here.

This extreme scenario of trying to access services for underage prostitutes is a perfect way to get Planned Parenthood in trouble – one wrong word in a situation like this and you are the bad guy. It’s also perfect because it would be making them out to be abusing a group of people they want to protect, young women being coerced into prostitution. This is harassment against individual workers, however, not a productive way to fight Planned Parenthood’s values. Instead of gaining social momentum and using people as power behind their movement, they are using shallow tactics to try to disrupt or end Planned Parenthood. Also, since the videos were edited, then who knows how the exchange even happened? It’s clear that what occurred in these videos do not represent what Planned Parenthood truly stands for. As for the manager that got fired, it is quite unfortunate she acted the way she did (though again, it would be useful to see the unedited footage), and her firing is an appropriate response. Planned Parenthood reacted quickly and how their supporters would want them to, showing they are still protecting their own values.

This is a different approach to undermining and trying to exterminate Planned Parenthood, one that is scarier than protesters. What else are these groups willing to do to end this organization? And what does it mean to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood? It means taking away a huge resource for women, for men, for young people, for us. I use Planned Parenthood’s services, as do many of my friends. I knew the name Planned Parenthood before I ever knew what birth control was. Threatening a leader organization in reproductive rights is expected, but it doesn’t mean it’s not scary. Planned Parenthood stands for so much to so many people; this is a threat to more than the workers that were recorded and the specific locations that were targeted. This is a threat to the entire movement of reproductive rights, healthy sexuality, and access to cheap, safe and affordable reproductive healthcare.

To me this was a reminder that I need to protect Planned Parenthood and organizations like it when I can. As established as Planned Parenthood may seem, there are those who still fight against them. I don’t want to fight against the fighters, but I want to protect what they are attacking.

What does Planned Parenthood mean to you? What would it mean if these sting operations were ever powerful enough to affect their funding? What can you do to protect things like Planned Parenthood? Remember to vote if you can, and take action through volunteering and talking with your peers.

To read more of my blogs visit:
http://chatmosphere.wordpress.com/

This blog post is meant to help deflate and hopefully answer some of the tricky questions surrounding cheating. No for those who might be a little lost, I am not talking about cheating as in the "hiding an ace in your sleeve", or "having insider information." I am talking about relationships and my views around the ideas of physical, mental, emotional cheating.

I have had this conversation with a number of people in my life (some of these people have been people I have dated) and each person seems to have different views on this subject. At first the answers to some of the basic questions (ie. is cheating bad, what is cheating, can you forgive someone who cheated, can cheating be good etc.) seem simple and people tend to have a straight forward answer, but after more questions as to how some of these things are negotiated, many people seem thrown off and confused. 

Now this kind of brings me to my second point. What is cheating? Some would say it is having sex with/being sexual with someone outside of your relationship. Others would say is has less to do with action and more to do with connection. This could be physical, or mental, even a social attraction can exist. I believe that it is more about intent: If someone in a relationship is having dinner with a friend it can be seen as innocent. If that same person is having dinner with a friend that they find attractive and are trying to find a way to test the "relationship waters," then it is cheating. Also if someone is making friends (usually through social networking sites) and is doing so with the intent to maybe later "hook up." Again to me this is cheating. Wether the relationship is physical, or not has little to nothing to do with cheating. 

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Using your head when giving head:

Let’s talk blow jobs.  This is the mouth on penis action.  If you want to eliminate any possible risk of STDs then use a polyurethane, polyisoprene, or latex condom.  Don’t like the taste of condoms?  Fear not, there are condoms that come in different flavors!

OK, OK… I can actually hear you sighing from here.  I know, using condoms for oral sex isn’t realistic for everyone.  The good news is that if barriers aren’t your thing there are still ways to lower your risk.

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“90% of people admit to masturbating, the other 10 percent are liars.”
                                                -unknown

May 1st marked the first day of National Masturbation Month. Yes I said it, Masturbation. If you didn’t know about this, well, you’re not alone. I’ll even admit that I didn’t know this national day existed or that it has been around for 25 years. For some reason it isn’t surprising that National Masturbation Month isn’t as high-profile as Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, or Easter, but then again these holidays have cute animals or make belief characters attached to them.

I remember the first time I heard about masturbation on TV was when the cast of Jerry Seinfeld made a bet to see who could keep themselves from doing it the longest. I remember being really curious about this subject, but was afraid someone would catch me watching a TV show about this kind of bet. This really points out how ridiculous the stigma and lack of knowledge that youth (or anyone really) have about masturbation. Up until this point all I had heard about masturbation were all the horrible myths about the effects of masturbation on little bunnies and kittens.

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It's time to start talking seriously about sex. No mind you I do consider myself a kind of expert in this field and so some of what I say next may or may not apply to your life. It is important however to begin to talk about all the taboos we see in sex. When was the last time a conversation about "tossed salads" went well?

A warning, this post may not be for all audiences.

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Starting the morning off at 9AM after a long night chatting with the NGLTF staff took its toll as I rushed to make my first workshop on time.

The Youth of Color Organizing Summit put on by FIERCE, was fierce. There were about 40 youth of color who come from so many different walks of life with just one goal. How to better organize ourselves and our peers. The amount of energy in that room was AMAZING. I love being surrounded by so many like-minded, brilliant, youth. They each shared so much about themselves and the work they day. It was great to have youth opening up so much about the folks they work with and the issues that they may be facing.

I was in a very small set of youth that work within organizations that practice equitable youth adult partnerships and authentic youth voice. Makes me love my city of PDX all that much more.

Topics covered included, systems of oppression, types of discrimination, building your (membership) base, organizational structuring and even got to learn a little more about FIERCE (an organization that was created for and by youth) that made me reflect back to my organizations at home. I felt at home with all of these youth and it was very easy to share what we do to deal with issues as they arise.

Near the end we split up into 4 groups to talk about specific issues youth were having in their organizations. Building membership base, including allies, youth adult partnerships, retention/aging out of members. These topics built off of the training we had taken earlier on scripting recruitment and starting a campaign. We used a lot of real life examples and how to strategically win a campaign lead by youth.

I think my biggest take home today revolved around the fact that most youth still don’t understand the power the hold in an organization. That by the mere fact that we are the service recipients we control the power and should advise our organizations about the needs we have. It is important to note that although we suffer many forms of oppression, we have a unique ability and power to overcome any obstacle we face.

Can’t wait for what day two will hold.

P.S. I started a Twitter Account recently and am having a hard time figuring out all the @ and #’s and where they go/what they do, so if you have advice please share.