Torch
Teens
Teaching Teens About Safer Sex
By Marianna
Rybak
 |
Twice
a week, Latasha Mercer, 17, stands in front of an auditorium full
of teens she’s never met and talks about sex. She tells them
about ways to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancies
and STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), and explains their rights
to confidential health care.
Latasha and her fellow peer educators at TORCH (Teen Outreach
Reproductive Challenge) get their audience laughing, calling out
opinions and participating in discussions.
“Our presentations are interactive and audience-friendly,”
said Latasha, who’s a senior at William C. Bryant HS. TORCH
is a project of the NARAL/NY Foundation, and provides education
about sexual health and reproductive rights.
Teens Relate Better to Each Other
The peer educators I spoke to explained that most teens don’t
get enough sexual information from a parent or at school. They
rely on their peers for information, which is often wrong. Every
day, more than 2,000 American teenagers get pregnant, and 3 million
catch sexually transmitted diseases every year.
The idea behind peer education is that “adolescents respond
better to their peers; they can understand and relate to each
other,” said Daphne Dumornay, 17, a TORCH peer educator and
senior at Metropolitan Corporate Academy.
“It’s easier for teens to learn [from other teens] because
they’re not intimidated by an age gap,” said peer educator
Jasmine Chauca, 16, a junior at A. Philip Randolph HS. The peer
educators’ presentations give teens a chance to voice their
opinions, and make them feel like they’re not alone.
Nervous for Two Minutes
Peer educators go through nine weeks of training, from December
to March, before they can start teaching. The training involves
in-depth discussions about topics that they discuss at their presentations.
Then, it’s time to go public.
“The first time I stepped onto a podium to give a speech
for the presentation, I was nervous for about two minutes,”
said Latasha. “After that, I relaxed and felt at ease, because
the audience was funny, easy to talk to, and eager to participate.”
TORCH peer educators learn in their training that if they want
to be effective in getting their message across, they have to
engage the audience.
“Most of our audience is concerned about entertainment,”
explained peer educator Ashley Morgan, 17, a senior at A. Philip
Randolph HS.
“We constantly need to think of ways to keep our listeners
attentive,” said Daphne.
“It takes the audience a minute to warm up and start contributing
their thoughts, but once they realize that we’re not trying
to lecture them, they become more comfortable with us and start
participating,” Jasmine said.
There are two to four peer leaders at each presentation, and they
take turns speaking, asking for people’s opinions, and playing
games with the audience. For some presentations, like “Keeping
It Real With Your Doctor,” they perform a skit.
Acting Out Scenes
The “Keeping It Real” skit portrays the barriers of
communication that can arise between a doctor and a teen. It starts
out with a teenage female patient in the doctor’s office
with her mother. The doctor asks the girl whether she’s sexually
active and the mother cuts in.
“Of course she’s not,” the mother yells. Embarrassed,
the daughter turns away from her mother’s angry stare.
The skit ends and the TORCH peer educators discuss why that’s
an inappropriate meeting between the doctor and the patient. Then
they show the appropriate way to communicate.
In the next part of the skit, the doctor asks the hostile mother
to leave the room, and finally has a confidential chat with the
girl about her sexual health and informs her about contraception
and her reproductive rights. The audience often laughs during
the skits.
“We get the audience up on their feet and give them a chance
to voice their opinions,” said Latasha. If the presenters
feel that someone isn’t paying attention, they usually stop
the presentation and won’t continue until everyone is ready
to listen.
Advice for Teen in Abusive Relationship
Daphne feels good about helping one girl who came up to her after
a presentation called “Healthy Adolescent Relationships”
and said that her boyfriend was verbally abusive. Daphne advised
her to leave the relationship before she got hurt not only emotionally,
but physically. A couple of weeks later, the girl called Daphne
and told her that she broke up with her boyfriend.
“I believe that by teaching our peers about different issues
in today’s world, we help them prevent dangerous situations
from happening,” said Ashley. TORCH not only gives teens
information, but asks them to think about their choices.
The TORCH peer educators said that the program has raised their
own awareness about sex and health issues and made them feel more
in control of their lives. Plus, added Jasmine, “I [can]
help my friends outside the program by giving out condoms and
teaching them about methods of protection.”
If
you’re interested in joining TORCH as an intern, volunteer,
or paid peer educator, call
212-343-0114.
