SL Proposal

Serving Learning Proposal For VOX (Voices for Planned Parenthood)

By: Devorah W., Ashannie C., Chelsea D., Joel K., Zach P., Trinidy M.
September 27, 2012
Meredith Tweed
WST 3015

Community Partner Profile:

Community Partner: VOX, Voices For Planned Parenthood UCF
Contact: Megan Pabian - Leader of communications for Health Services and Anna V. Eskamani - Development Coordinator for Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando.

Community Partner Mission Statement: “VOX is the Latin word for "voice" and VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood is a nationwide program to energize and mobilize the new generation of pro-choice Americans. VOX aims to educate and inspire a new generation of young adults to advocate reproductive freedom.”

Political and/or Social Basis for Organization:
VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood is a sexual health and reproductive rights group. The UCF chapter focuses on education, access and community.  The mission of VOX UCF is to educate the university community about reproductive health and rights, to translate increased awareness into pro-choice activism on campus, and to serve as a coalition partner to state, national, and international reproductive rights efforts.
Community Partner Needs: VOX needs students to help organize public events, to help educate those who are unaware and give more knowledge to those who are already informed. Along with the needs that VOX already imposes we will be working closely with them to petition for free screening twice a month at the UCF campus, which will in turn help VOX reach out to individuals.

 The Proposal:

According to the American Social Health Association more than half of the population will have a Sexually Transmitted Disease/Sexually Transmitted Infection by the age of 25.  Presently it is estimated that 65 million of the American population has a viral STD/STI and every year, there are at least "19 million new cases which some are curable."

HIV testing is readily available on the UCF campus weekly at a low cost although, tests for the other sexually transmitted diseases are offered free once or twice a year. If the screenings were offered more frequently, and information made more available on the prevention and cures of the STD/STI’s, unnecessary spreading would subside. 

Untreated STI’s in women can lead to infertility or cervical cancer such as the Human Papilloma Virus and Chlamydia, which often show no symptoms.  Other STI’s that cannot be “cured” such as Herpes can be managed if detected.  It is estimated that 90 percent of those infected with herpes do not know that they have it.  The CDC recommends that sexually active females 25 and under should be screened at least once a year for Chlamydia, even if no symptoms are present.

Because many young adults are sometimes embarrassed to ask questions and are unaware of STI's there is poor knowledge about the issue and should therefore be implemented any way possible. The reason why the term "young adult" was used is because we are working to create awareness and get these STI screenings on campus, which would be very convenient for individuals. However, STI screenings should not be limited to only young adults it should be conveniently accessible to individuals of all ages.

Plan Proposal:

 As we have identified above the problem is unawareness. Our plan to fix the issue of STI’s on campus is to start with awareness. We will begin by educating UCF of how dangerous STI’s can be when untreated, as well as how UCF only offers two free screenings a semester for a select 150 students. This means that in a campus where we have over 60,000 students less than 1% of students are getting tested at the health clinic for free. As a student we are offered many services for the benefit of our heath, we are offered psychological counseling, certain medical treatments, and many other important benefits, STI screenings should be one of them.  In our proposal we plan to start a petition where we get UCF students and faculty members to sign off on a petition requesting free STI testing once a month at the UCF health clinic. By spreading awareness of this issue and getting signatures we will not only be spreading our mission of free STI testing but also spreading awareness of the importance of STI testing in general, thus more people on campus will be tested. The ultimate goal of our project is to not only raise awareness of how important testing is on our own campus, but how important it is that everyone get tested.

Rationale:

By fighting for having the choice pertaining to our bodies for both males and females, voices for Planned Parenthood's mission is connected to Women's Studies in a way that may be overlooked. To be more specific in VOX we believe in reproductive rights and easier access to health. In Gwyn Kirk and Margo Kazawa Rey's book there is a chapter titled "Women's Bodies, Women's Health" that chapter discusses reproductive health and how much women and men want to have control over their bodies specifically writing about fertility within the section. Within controlling fertility there are numerous ways in which one can go about the situation such as using contraceptives to delay pregnancy and to protect against STI's.

Voices for Planned Parenthood wants to raise awareness for all levels beginning on micro and ending with macro levels. The issues being addressed within voices for Planned Parenthood may seem to affect these mostly on a micro level but in reality it pertains to all levels including the community and global levels. (Kirk and Okawaza-Rey 15). Which is why it is important to have access to these get these STI screenings at least once a month.

 Action:

 Presenting a petition demonstrating the need for comprehensive STI testing- testing that includes chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes types 1 and 2, HPV, and HIV- on campus at least once a month propels our plan into action. While it is true that the Health Center offers free STI testing twice a semester and Planned Parenthood offers testing at their health centers for an incredibly discounted rate, the reality is however, there are students who live on campus that do not have access to transportation; the reality is, there are students who have never heard of Planned Parenthood. When UCF offers testing only a few times a year, the reality is, students are not being given equal access to the comprehensive healthcare they so deserve. In order to complete our project, we will need pens, petitions, and passion. The individual group members responsibilies/tasks will be to reach a quota per week in the number of signatures in order to successfully manage our project.

We will start by creating the petition. After writing the petition we will go into highly populated areas around campus (the gym, student union, memorial mall, outside of classes, etc) and try and grab people’s attention so that we can get as many signatures as possible. After getting signatures we will present the petition to the administration. Even if our petition is unsuccessful it will raise awareness to the issue of STI testing on campus and the students will start to understand just how important it is that we have free testing available on campus. 

Timeline:

October – December: The month of October is GYT: Get Yourself Tested month and in honor of this we will begin collecting petitions in order to reach the goal of getting free STI testing on campus twice a month. This is in partnership with MTV, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the CDC and Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and other national partners.

Word Count: 1255

Works Cited

American Social Health Association. (1998). Sexually transmitted diseases in America: How many cases and at what cost? Research Triangle Park, NC: American Social Health Association.

"It's Your Sex Life." About GYT. MTV Channel, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2012.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives 4th             ed.New York:Women’s Bodies, Women’s Health. McGraw-Hill, 2007.

Patriarchy and Gender

         Gender and patriarchy, two words that have different meanings and that are often confused or misinterpreted. Gender is not to be confused with one's "sex category" that is ascribed from birth. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles and behaviors that society for the most part agrees on as appropriate for male and female.  What society views as appropriate does not necessarily mean it is set in stone that those are the only roles one needs to follow. For example, gender is done from the time we are born because we are assigned male or female from our parents, the way they do that is by putting colors on us such as blue or pink to distinguish between boy or girl. Gender is done on a daily basis and is something that is done unconsciously for the most part. For instance things I do on a day to day basis consists of putting on jewelry, make up, choosing to wear leggings and skirts which are simple tasks that emphasize doing gender. Not only is one choosing gender by the things that they do on a daily basis but also we assume gender, Judith Lorber's reading "The Social Construction of Gender" explains how this occurs. In Lorber's article she writes about how gender is done when one instantly determines whether an infant or newborn is male or female due to the colors he/she is wearing or due to the type of clothing.

            Patriarchy, according to Allan G. Johnson's article "Patriarchy, the System" is a term that can be defined as "an arrangement of shared understandings and relationships that connect people to one another and something larger than themselves." I like the way Johnson defines Patriarchy because patriarchy isn't only male dominance, which many including myself automatically think when they hear Patriarchy. With patriarchy there is a problem and that problem is that we all participate in it unknowingly and therefore the issue of male dominance arises. An example of how we participate in patriarchy is simply allowing men to do what "men should do" such as pay for your meal when you go out on a date, allow men to do the macho work when it comes to lifting heavy things in a workplace, and allowing them to get away with not helping make dinner or be in charge of the kids in the morning. Patriarchy isn't something that should have different levels but instead should allow for men and women to work on the same level when it comes to many things so that there isn't a hierarchy. The terms patriarchy and gender are both often misunderstood as previously stated and in order to make changes we have to have a clear understanding of what the words actually mean to better society vs. trying to completely change things around.