Say hello to our newest group of youth and young adult partners in the SHARE (Sexual Health for Adolescents Rooted in Equity) Youth Advisory Council!
Comprised of bright minds aged 15-24 hailing from all corners of Mississippi—from the Gulf Coast to Desoto County—this diverse group of young leaders is ready to make a difference in their communities!
This September, we’re celebrating healthy youth and whole communities through Sexual Health Awareness Month. Learn how to take charge of your sexual health this month through these resources.
Sexual Health Resources
Choose Your Method: This tool allows you to choose a contraceptive option that works for you. Users who use this tool can sort through method cards, filtering them based on what they’re looking for in a contraceptive method. Options include preventing pregnancy, preventing STDs and STIs, over-the-counter methods, and ones that can provide painful period relief. The site also has emojis to filter for those with penises and vaginas, and for anal and oral sex. The resulting method cards show options that meet the criteria of the user.
During the 2023 legislative session, Mississippi lawmakers passed a bill that takes the expiration date off the state’s current sex ed law.
The law, originally passed as House Bill 999 in 2011, says that public school districts in Mississippi are required to implement sex education. The law requires each public school district in the state to choose between an “abstinence-only” or “abstinence-plus” sex ed policy and a corresponding sex ed curriculum approved by the Mississippi Department of Education. The law has been reauthorized twice since originally passing (during the 2016 and 2021 legislative sessions).
In addition to May being Sex Ed for All Month, it is also National Adolescent Health Month. This year, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Population Affairs (OPA) has outlined four themes:
Here’s how Teen Health Mississippi (THMS) can help your organization with these themes for every month of the year.
May is Sex Ed for All Month. In Mississippi, however, not all youth are provided with the sex education they need and deserve. Mississippi needs more comprehensive sex education. In 2011, the Mississippi Legislature passed House Bill 999, which requires public schools to adopt and implement an abstinence-based sex ed policy and curriculum. Twelve years later, this law has not changed. We are still waiting for Mississippi to move toward comprehensive sex education. And while we wait, we work. We invite you to do the work with us.