SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Drinking lots of Mountain Dew to lower your sperm count, having sex upside down and taking someone else's birth control pills before having sex are just some of the myths about avoiding pregnancy found on a territorial government website aimed at teens.

Allison Stewart, 17, said she thinks it's a good idea that the territorial government is debunking myths about pregnancy on its youth sexual health website, www.respectyourself.ca. Jacob Paquette, 17, on the other hand, said posting the pregnancy myths on the website is a waste of space. - Adrian Lysenko/NNSL photo

The Department of Health and Social Services is trying to dispel some of the misconceptions youth have about pregnancy through the www.respectyourself.ca website.

Each myth exposed on the website comes with an explanation as to why it isn't true.

"I've heard all of them," said Allison Stewart, 17. "It's good to have it posted because you're educating people on the stupid things that they are being told."

Births by teenagers under 19 years old represented nine per cent of all births in the NWT in 2007, according the NWT Bureau of Statistics. The national average that year was 4.2 per cent.

Jacob Paquette, 17, said if he had heard some of these myths when he was younger he wouldn't have believed them.

"It's a waste of space, most of these things are common sense," he said.

Launched in 2009 the website is aimed at youth to anonymously submit questions about sexual health they might feel uncomfortable asking their parents, according to Damien Healy, manager of communications with the health department.

The 10 pregnancy myths on the website came from focus groups the government used to develop it, as well as resources from provinces, he said.

Stewart and Paquette, both students at St. Patrick High School, said some of the younger students in the Yellowknife Catholic Schools district would believe these myths but both of them were taught about sexual health through the public school district.

"I was in Yk1 and they teach you all that stuff in Grade 7," said Paquette, referring to the public school district's sexual education programs.

"The Catholic school district has a completely different approach to it than public schools because they don't like to teach you about sexual education," said Stewart.

The Yellowknife Catholic school district has an agreement with the territorial government to exempt the faith-based district from using the NWT Health Curriculum. Students are taught sex education through the Edmonton Catholic Schools' Health and Life Skills program.

Rather than learning about contraceptives, like condoms or birth control pills, students are taught to practise abstinence instead.

Phone calls made to Yellowknife Catholic school board chair Mary Vane seeking comment for this story were not returned by press time.

Not every teen Yellowknifer spoke to about the GNWT sex education website believed the myths were untrue.

"The Mountain Dew one is true," said one Grade 9 student from St. Pat's when he was shown the list of myths.

"It's not true," countered his friend, a Grade 10 student at the same school.

The Grade 10 student said he knew these myths weren't true through school-based sexual education but said the website does some service to youth who are looking to get some answers on sexual health.

"Some kids are afraid to ask," he said.

- with files from Tim Edwards

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