Pho: Interview With Shameka & Gabrielle, Founders of The Minority Sex Report

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You are both sexual health educators, what led you to this career path?

Gabrielle: So, when I was in Undergrad one of my friends got an STI. I started looking into preventative ways to avoid that for myself and those around me. That’s what led me into sexual and reproductive health. I wanted to educate people so they’d know what practices to use to reduce that risk of contracting STI’s and unintended pregnancy.

Shemeka: I actually was kind of thrown into this work. I was a case manager at my old job and they received a grant to do sexuality education with middle and high school students. This grant was given about two months after I’d gotten there. They decided to move me to that department and after a while I realized I enjoyed the work. Now over the past 2-3 years I’ve been working more so with college students. There’s a need for sexual health, with both of us coming of age in rural areas we’ve witnessed what happens when that need is not met. Also, learning the sexual education, we got

Gabrielle: You mean the education we didn’t get

Shemeka: (laughing)

How was Minority Sex Report birthed and what was that journey like?

Shemeka: I just moved back from Florida last year. Gabby’s career in sexual education was really blossoming, she was working on her master’s degree at UNCG. With her being Native-American and myself being African-American I felt the opportunity for us to create something great. There aren’t a lot of platforms for African-American sexuality educators. Then Native Americans are often ignored within the field. So, we wanted to create a platform to talk about sexuality within both of our communities. Kids need a “familiar” space to become comfortable enough to ask questions about sexuality. Growing up in North Carolina most of my gym teachers, whom also taught sex-ed, were white males.

Gabrielle: I agree that coming from a rural town, sex-ed was taught only in 8th grade within a P.E class and I had a white female instructor. Aside from that P.E. class, my step-father sat me down one day and gave me "the talk"m but I lied to him about what I did and did not know because I didn't want to talk about sex, especially with a parent.

In his book The Mis-education of the Negro Carter G. Woodson says, “Play up before the Negro, then, his crimes and shortcomings. Let him learn to admire the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin and the Teuton. Lead the Negro to detest the man of African blood--to hate himself.” I noticed on each of your bio’s that you wish to extend your knowledge into the underserved communities of color. In your respective programs, is it taboo to learn of communities of color or is it taboo to care for communities of color?

Shemeka: In our program, I’ve learned that it’s more taboo to learn of communities of color. Everyone for the most part is genuinely trying to learn of different cultures and communities. Of course, that value varies. We just did a presentation on the stats of black and native teens in sexual health research. We spoke of how Native teens are never focused on and funding has a lot to do with that…

Gabrielle: …And people don’t know we still exist

Shemeka: Gabby always gets questioned on her race. They’ll ask her, “what are you?” I’ll say for the most part the people we work with are trying to learn of how they, despite their race/culture can help. When we attend conferences most of the people are white. This is because those are the people which are hired most often.

Gabrielle: As she said it does vary. In the professional world, most people are genuine in their want to know rather than tacitly choosing ignorance. Over the last 2 years I could definitely feel a change for the better in people genuinely caring about the demographics they study.

What do you believe communities of color need most to ensure proper resources for sexual health and education?

Gabrielle: I think communities of color need more people who look like them. Especially for Natives it’s hard for an outsider to go to those communities because 1) Trust must be earned not expected 2) Keeping cultural traditions alive provides difficulty as well 3) Before entering a community you should build a relationship. Though we are being studied, you can't make us feel like research subjects. We are people and need to be treated as such.

Shemeka: I would add that black communities are always presented as high risk. Though those health disparities are real, people don’t often take the time to see the cause of those problems. We need to focus on what community collaboration can do. Churches get so much money and resources. My church back home does health fairs. Churches are big within most Black communities. Though there’s plenty of people putting in the work, money is needed more than anything.

Gabrielle: A few months ago, I taught sexual education in a church. Because we live in the Bible Belt I was nervous, but it went really good.

What are the difficulties in providing a voice and teaching such a taboo subject within communities that it seems society is bent on erasing and disenfranchising?

Shemeka: For me, I feel like one of the hardest parts is that you’re talking but no one’s listening. In times such as those I like to look at other people of color who’ve been doing this longer than us, and seeing where their motivations come from and the different obstacles they faced. For example, we were talking about teen birth rates. It was noted that black teen birth rates were the highest of all the other demographics. So, when Gabby and I present on teen birth rates we only focus on black and native teen mothers from the 1990’s to now. When presented on a smaller scale you notice that a big positive difference has been made. When compared to the majority of course we have all these different health disparities. When the difference is seen in how drastically low the birthrates are for black women compared to how high they were in the 1990’s the good work is seen. Reframing and being careful of how the work we’re doing is portrayed is very important.

Gabrielle: Another challenge is the older demographics use of the “hush” treatment. Finding a way to have them see sexuality as an open topic is very needed.

Shemeka: Reframing portrayal is also needed for classism being used to judge those of a lower socioeconomic standing than one’s own. In having pre-marital sex the only difference between you and them is that you had access to birth control. We don’t want to bring other communities down based off one decision.

Gabrielle: To think of ways you can make a difference instead of passing judgement is so necessary. Ask yourself, “Why don’t they have access to contraceptives and what can I do to change that?”

Why do you believe it will take for the *virginity myth to disappear?

Gabrielle: People have different beliefs and values though we aren’t all afforded the same circumstances. Some lost their virginity unwillingly. Practicing celibacy is a healthy and positive ways to gain back that power that was lost, if a person decides that's a route they wish to take.

Shemeka: Religion has a lot to do with that. As a southern black woman, I can attest to how deep religion runs within black communities. Communication is needed. If older generations would be more open about the pre-marital sex, they participated in instead of shunning the younger generations who do the same it would make a huge difference.. Less than 20% of people under the age of 25 are virgins. That’s extremely low so obviously, pre-marital sex is more popular than people would like to admit.

What advice do you have for women of color coming in to their sexuality?

Shemeka: People need to find a person they believe is a safe space. Most people find that person during college. To have a space to ask questions that were once off limits.

Gabrielle: From my experience, people are still timid about asking questions. That’s why when we teach, we have an anonymous questions box.

Shemeka: That idea came from when I taught middle school children. I had a question box and if they wanted one-on-one counseling they’d write their name on the back. While if they wanted their answer to be public they’d leave their name unwritten. Allowing for everyone in the group to get a question answered that they may not have known to ask/had the nerve to ask themselves.

#Black #Native #Sex #Virginity #safespace