A new teaching pack for men has recently been launched to raise awareness about sex and fatherhood.
The pack has been devised to explore a range of issues in relation to masculinity, mental health, sexual health and gender with adolescent men. It has been produced in partnership between Cumbria Teenage Pregnancy Partnership Board, Carlisle & District Primary Care Trust, Workers’ Education Association and the Young Men’s Community Health Workers (funded by Teenage Pregnancy).
The report into teenage pregnancy conducted by the Social Exclusion Unit (1999) reminds us that young men are ‘half of the solution’ and aims to tackle ‘previously overlooked’ young men by providing them with information about the consequence of sex and fatherhood. Boys and young men need to be included boys all strategies that prepare young people to cope with the pressures of an increasingly sexualised society.
Fran Frankland, County Teenage Pregnancy Co-ordinator said:
"Of course boys and young men are half of the solution to the issues raised by teenage pregnancy, however, we need to understand boys’ and young men’s sexual development and behaviour, their attitudes and how they relate to girls and young women as well as to each other, and the meaning they attach to fatherhood.
Teenage pregnancy prevention programmes acknowledge the need for approaches that address the different needs of young men and women. This pack, which was road tested by several groups of young men, has been devised to explore a range of issues to help us tackle teenage pregnancy and provide them with information about the consequences of sex and fatherhood."
For further information about the Teenage Pregnancy please contact Fran Frankland on 01539 742345. For copies of pack please contact Hannah Whiles hannah.whiles@cumbriacc.gov.uk 01228 601212.