Relationships, sex focus of workshop
Arctic Foxy program has different way of looking at things
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, December 19, 2013
INUVIK
The Arctic Foxy program was back in Inuvik Nov. 25 for closed-door talks with East Three Secondary School st dents.
Candice Lys, left, and Nancy MacNeill, right, staff members with the Arctic Foxy program, pose with a group of East Three Secondary School students Nov. 25 during a workshop on sexual health and healthy relationships. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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The Yellowknife-based program travels to NWT communities to educate young women on sexual health, sexuality and healthy relationships, said Nancy MacNeill, the project co-ordinator. She and her team were at the school Nov. 25 working with a group of female students.
FOXY stands for Fostering Open eXpression among Youth, she explained. This trip was largely a follow-up workshop with students who had previously taken the course.
Paisley Van Vliet, a Grade 11 student, said she's been through the program three times.
"I think it's good because it teaches younger girls to be more aware of themselves and issues like relationships and sex," she said.
The workshop was held behind closed doors to make the students more comfortable with the often-frank discussions, MacNeill said.
"One thing we find, especially with the Internet, that there are so many rumours going around, and unfortunately if you put anything on an infographic, everyone believes it. So we try hard
to identify those, and help young women to understand they're allowed to make their own choices."
She pointed to one popular piece of misinformation on the Internet that's become a fixture in the program recently.
MacNeill said there's an authentic-looking story that's gone viral that she says is likely geared at teenagers, that "there's a powerful and permanent chemical bond created by whoever you first have sex with.
"It's hugely damaging, and there are girls all over the world believing this. We heard about this two years ago, and it's wholly inaccurate and very damaging.
"We want to demystify that and take it away," MacNeill said. "We want to nurture a healthy and safe attitude, not make sex something mysterious. Everybody has their own naivety in some ways, but we're creating an unhealthy vision and myth (with stories like this).
"We want to make sure that young girls and women have a ton of tools at their disposal to make their own decisions for themselves. With more information comes more power. When they have the information to make a good decision, they are way more likely to make that decision."
