sex.txt
The title reads “A new sexual health cell phone text messaging service for young people in San Francisco” on the front page of sextextsf.org. A new website from the folks at ISIS or Internet Sexuality Information Services. The site’s stated purpose is “to give info and advice to San Francisco youth about STDs, HIV, birth control, sexual health services, and more” but seems to be pretty thin so far. Take for example you can read the entire codex of knowledge in one single page and not have to pick up your phone at all. And take for example that they only have 11 questions that you can possibly ask but have 16 people on their advisory board. Honestly. A website hacker and a sex-ed book could have developed this and put in more useful and pertinent info and probably even designed a better looking website in an afternoon. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for sex info for the kids. I just get a little pissy when it’s tax dollars creating a crappy product in the website capitol of the known universe is all. There is more info in this Chronicle article including the estimated cost of the program at $2500 a month. Weak.
Yes, all the information fits on one webpage, but the point of this program is that it allows teenagers/young adults to access the information in privacy over the phone (ever designed a SMS or phone browser based app? you can’t overload the screen with information, or it becomes useless). This isn’t about a pretty website.
And $2500 a month for sex ed in San Francisco (federal money from the CDC, by the way), is really not much money when you conside that federal spending currently averages out to $5.1 million per minute*.
* http://www.mises.org/story/2116
Yes, I’ve designed several SMS apps and it’s not the amount of information that they’re sending per page that I have issue with. It’s this half-assed, kindergarten approach to it. If you’re going to do this then do it right. Jesus, a safe sex tip sms a day would be more useful than 11 of the most basic sex ed questions you can ask for. I think this is a slipshod approach to a very real and serious problem. You want a useful SMS service? Have one whhere they can put in their zipcode and find places that are close to them where they can get free condoms. Now that would be useful and would justify spending taxpayers dollars on.
There are lot lot of people in need of answers to “11 of the most basic sex ed questions you can ask for”, as evidenced by the rise of STDs that this program is in response to.
Good point. Now where is the evidence that this is the most effective way to reach people? Say for example there is going to be a postering campaign:
http://www.sextextsf.org/campaigns.html
Why not put the answers RIGHT ON THE POSTER so everyone can read them and not just people with cell phones? Seems like an unnecessary step to me to make people make a text message for something that can fit in the same area as the poster that is telling me to call. From a usability standpoint alone it’s ridiculous and it excludes people that, I dunno, can’t afford a cell phone.
the good thing about this: they thought of it; they’re sending queer/questioning kids to Dimensions Clinic which is part of LYRIC. This is *San Francisco*, the forefront of technology and sexual education, research and politics — we can do WAY better than this. Also, if they were serious from a public health standpoint, they’d also include a text for finding (clean) needle exchange points. Still, I guess it’s better than if this were done in Utah.
now, for the rest:
* It’s alarming that we have had an organization around since 1970 called San Francisco Sex Information, providing free non-judgemental advice via phone and email — with a lot of teen questions — and none of SFSI are on any of the boards of these orgs (ISIS or SexInfo).
* Who are these people, and what is their direct peer-to-peer sex ed experience? I mean, I’m glad the board of SexInfo includes a member from Juvenile Probation Department, but what can the JPD tell a kid about that sore, or whether oral sex is “real” sex or not? Here’s the SexInfo board:
http://www.sextextsf.org/advisory_board.html
* I am disturbed to see the pastor of Providence Baptist Church among those listed on the SexInfo site; his church is in outspoken opposition of gay marriage, especially in the African-American community. No one needs to argue that HIV/AIDS is racing through the Af-Amer community, particularly the Down Low (straight-idenitified) communities; in SF African Americans living in San Francisco have the highest rate of HIV vs. other ethnicities. Let’s hope (HOPE) Perry Lang form the Black Coalition in AIDS can balance the pastor out.
article about his church and gay marriage:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/15/MNGUP6M3ON1.DTL
* they’re sending kids to New Generations for pregnancy and STD/I testing, which clearly states on their page that if you test positive for an STD/I they’ll report you to the Department of Public Health. Great — they’ll be rushing in to get tested, for sure. Why not send them to Planned Parenthood?
http://www.ucsf.edu/newgen/Services.htm
* Yes, all their info should be on the poster.
* ISIS, welll… they’re a business founded by a woman who wrote a book about cybersex in 1998. She’s an iFriends “expert”:
http://loveandhealth.ifriends.net/Experts_Detail.cfm?Expert=16
That’s got to count for something, right? Let’s face it — eductaors like me and the staff at SFSI have a decade-plus of direct sexual education and piles of bestselling sex books (and syndicated columns) between us, whereas the founder of ISIS and the bizarre boards of directors on ISIS and SexInfo… well, at least one of them wrote a book about cybersex in 1998. That’s got to be worth somehting, right?
* If anyone reading this is interested, two weeks ago I interviewed a 16-year SFSI hotline veteran (and MFA/sexuality grad) about what’s really going on at the anonymous front lines of sex ed, here in the city and nationwide. It’s a funny and intense interview about safer sex, and what we should be doing about that fact that no one (especially teens) are listening to the “safer sex” (aka “just say no”) messages:
http://violetblue.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=82943