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Colorado parents: What are your questions about K-12 education? How do you find out about choices for your child, looming school budgets cuts, teacher quality, healthy schools – and more? Education News Colorado – the only news service offering in-depth coverage of K-12 education – wants to hear from you as it prepares to launch a new Web site section for parents. In the next few days, please complete a short online survey to help us determine what you want to know about K-12 education. The survey takes only 5-10 minutes to complete. Click here to begin.

Dr. Michael Reece from the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation at the Indiana University, Bloomington and Dr. Dennis Fortenberry from the University of Indiana School of Medicine, Indianapolis, presented data from a new survey on sexual health at the National STD Prevention Conference held this week in Atlanta. In his presentation, Dr. Fortenberry showed that among 14-17 year old youth, condom use was high (75% at last vaginal exposure) and, surprisingly, associated with higher levels of sexual enjoyment as reported by women and higher levels of orgasm of partners as reported by both men and women. ”The sexual health perspective may offer an alternative approach [to traditional negative prevention messages]“, he said. As regards condom promotion, “we should consider replacing the old “Use one or die” slogan by the new “Prevention is Pleasure.”  STDPrevention.org 3.11.2010

Test your sexual health knowledge to defeat the Sperminator! Choose a character from the Sex Squad: an elite team of superheroes dedicated to protecting Sex City from STIs. Play now!

Girl2Woman, a project of Pathfinder International, launched an initiative yesterday called 200 Thousand for 200 Million. According to their website, their goal is to achieve 200,000 video shares of the videos on their website by International Women’s Day (this coming Monday, March “to raise critical awareness about the more than 200 million women around the world who lack access to modern contraceptives.” For each time the video is “shared,” a generous donor will contribute $1 to Pathfinder International programs. Share today and help women around the globe!

Your mobile, IM and online accounts are all a part of you. When someone you’re dating is controlling, disrespecting or pressuring you in those spaces that’s not cool. Check it out for hilarious and useful ways to tell someone “that’s not cool”

The New York City Council, together with HIV/AIDS organizations across the five boroughs, has launched a YouTube-based HIV/AIDS awareness channel, I Talk Because, that began on World AIDS Day December 1, 2009.  Join the conversation! Film and upload your own testimonial.  Share why talking about HIV/AIDS to the people in your life is important to you.

Thank you to RH Reality Check for this round-up of top stories:

• Dr. Tiller’s Extraordinary Life and His Untimely Death
• The inauguration of President Barack Obama – a pro-choice President after eight long years
• Sonia Sotomayor makes history as she is sworn-in as the first Latina U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• Levi Johnston makes a name for himself…and leaves an impression
• Obama’s Speech at Notre Dame
• Secretary Hillary Clinton defends reproductive rights and family planning
• The media mangles Caster Semenya’s story but Shawn Syms gets it right.
• Nadya Suleman’s “Octo-mom” saga sheds light on what “choice” really means – and the bio-ethics surrounding assisted reproductive technology…but it may not be over just yet.
• The mystery $200 million dollar budget item in the stimulus package proposal that never actually was in the proposal and the accompanying Republican tittering over getting to say “stimulus” and “condoms” in the same sentence on television…and Rep. John Boehner getting schooled by real reproductive health experts.
• The RNC discovers halfway through their temper tantrum over private insurance coverage of abortion in the health care proposal that they have, in fact, been paying for abortion coverage in their own insurance package…and then promptly pulls the coverage for their female employees.
• Rep. Ryan calls out Democrats for Life for booting him because of his support for contraception.
• Governor Paterson signs an anti-shackling bill into New York state law, joining only a handful of states in outlawing the cruel and unusual punishment of shackling pregnant prisoners during labor and childbirth.
• Women’s health advocates rally together behind the I Am Not a Pre-Existing Condition campaign and succeed in ensuring, in health care reform legislation, the exclusion of harmful pre-existing conditions that discriminate against women: cesarean sections as reasons to deny coverage; lack of maternity coverage in individual plans; using rape as a “pre-existing condition” and more.
• “The Monumental Setback” also known as the Stupak-Pitts Amendment enrages women, health advocates of all ages, providers, and religious leaders one and all.
• Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state adds a provision to the Senate health care reform bill that would require Medicaid to reimburse licensed birth attendants who provide services in licensed birth centers benefiting Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) and expanding birthing and provider options for U.S women.
• Uganda’s anti-gay law on the table, in front of their Parliament, will impose the death penalty on homosexuals, in certain circumstances, if enacte. But thanks to the good work of Political Research Associates, the American influence is exposed highlighting how U.S. fundamentalist Christian churches play a part in fomenting the homophobic environment in African nations, via African churches, that leads to violent legislation like this (with Rwanda not far behind).
• Repeal of the global gag rule and reinvestment in UNFPA after eight years of withholding of funds for family planning efforts internationally, and U.S. censorship on reproductive health centers.
• Keeping tabs on female soldiers in the U.S. millitary and the ways in which reproductive health care and treatment are denied to them.
• Afghanistan’s midwives work to address critical Afghan women’s maternal health issues, as American troops and American influence remains (In Afghanistan a woman dies in childbirth every 30 min; the country has the second highest death rate in women during pregnancy and childbirth in the world)
• Women’s health advocates, feminists and journalists raise awareness and expose the ways in which the mainstream health care delivery system has built barriers to women’s safe birthing options, paving the way for expanded birthing and care options for pregnant and laboring women.

Findings from a recent study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy show a large gap in sexual health knowledge among youth in the USA. In fact, the knowledge most youth did have was incorrect. For example 28% of surveyed men incorrectly believed that using two condoms provided extra protection – a practice that actually leads to condom breakage. Test your knowledge about condoms, contraception and pregnancy by checking out this document of myths and facts: Contraception and Pregnancy: The True and the False

In this article, CNN reports on a recent study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The study surveys young adults ages 18-29 on their knowledge of pregnancy and contraception. It shows a remarkable difference between participants intentions and their behavior. Experts surmise the gap is due to the recent emphasis on Abstinence-Only education. To read the complete article from CNN.com, click here. To view the National Campaign’s study, click here.

We found an interesting blog that discusses youth, the media and sexuality. The blog is authored by Dr. Kris, a sex educator who runs the Virtual Mystery Tour in Portland, Oregon. Her posts explore “how the Internet impacts teen sexuality for better or for worse. We talk about MySpace, sex education, online romance, and internet predators — anything that ties teen sexuality to cyberspace.” Click here to check it out!