y&tw: what is safe sex? (reflection/conclusion)

I’ve come a long way since when my research into sexual health in our city began in February. In that first post, I breezed over how there is a sparisity of inclusive and helpful curricula explaining how to execute safe sex.  After that initial research, I started collecting information concerning how teens can be affected by the word around them, ultimately being detrimental towards their sexual health. During my original research with SLA’s Sex-Ed teacher, I learned that mental health and drug use strongly affect whether or not you practice safe sex, and furthermore get STDs. That research opened up new possibilities on how to create an agent of change, as there are many perspectives in this city, each dealing with different issues in their own world, and each possibly having different views on what safe sex is. That realization made me decide that the only way to realistically talk about Philadelphia’s teenagers, and how they think of safe sex, is to ask them. I cannot speak for all of them. So, I decided to make a short film, consisting of multiple answers to the same question: “What is safe sex?”

I wanted to create a short film because it would allow me to explain a subject in a broader way, when compared to a poster or a petition that would be created by me. A short film, presented the way I am presenting it, is what it is. It’s not open to interpretation, it’s just a number of perspectives answering a question. My experience actually creating the short film was interesting, as I thought it would be. The structure I created for the film would be a screen with the question, and then the students’ multiple answers to it. In between each question, would be facts I have collected throughout my research which connect to the theme of safe sex. I would try to make it look as visually attractive as possible, not unlike a Buzzfeed or Insider video, so that people are more inclined to keep watching, When I actually went ahead and started finding people to record answers for, there were plenty of people interested in providing a short answer. It was, though, pretty awkward for them. Most students provided a similar answer when I asked them to talk about what they think safe sex is: Use a condom so you will not get STDs. Only one student I talked to mentioned consent , and only one student talked about birth control.

If I could do this project over again, I would definitely spend more time planning the actual short film. I was faced with a bunch of possibilities for the movie, and I should have been more prepared, and I should have made the movie a few days before the due date, if not a whole week or more. I procrastinated, which ended up screwing me over towards the end, but I am glad with how it ended up.