Texas Teens' Film Promoting Condom Use To Be Shown in Sex Ed Classes Nationwide, on Showtime Cable Network
May 17, 2005
A short film promoting condom use based on a story written by four teenagers from Mission, Texas, and produced by Scenarios USA, an organization that educates teens about pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, is scheduled to be shown on the cable network Showtime, at film festivals and in sex education classes nationwide, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports. The 16-minute film —titled "Toothpaste," a teen code word for condoms—tells the story of two teen girls who are deciding whether to have sex with their boyfriends. In the film, one girl in a yearlong relationship decides against sex, while the other girl decides to have unprotected sex with a boyfriend of three weeks after he says he loves her. The story was written two years ago by Kristal Villarreal, Laura Coria, Gladys Sanchez and Amanda Ramirez when they were high school students and was selected out of hundreds of submissions for Scenarios USA's REAL DEAL contest. The students, who are from the South Texas region known as the Valley, said they were inspired to write the story after learning that 37 of every 1,000 girls in the area become pregnant by age 17, one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the United States. In addition, although the state of Texas allows teachers at public schools to discuss contraception in sex education classes, the state recommends against such discussion and most schools in South Texas do not teach students about contraception. The filmmakers, all of whom are now attending college, said they would like to see contraception information added to the Texas sex education curriculum, according to the AP/Chronicle (Brezosky, AP/Houston Chronicle, 5/16).
Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, and sign up for E-mail delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro. The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of the Kaiser Family Foundation, by The Advisory Board Company. © 2005 by The Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
 Send this page to a friend >>
|
