GAAP hosted the first virtual Youth Sexual Health Research Symposium: Expect the Unexpected on March 25, 2021. We had the opportunity to hear from researchers, activists, and youth from all over Canada! The six breakout room sessions were Sex Education, Social Media and the Arts, Creating Empowering Spaces in Sex Education, Agency and Empowerment, Reproductive Rights, Broadening the Sex Education Agenda, and Consent and Voice. Additionally, we had the opportunity to hear from Dr. Ciann Wilson as the keynote presentation, enjoyed a keynote performance by SExT, and heard about our community partners from Rainbow and Skittles, from Rainbow’s Pride in Scarborough.

Introduction + Welcome

Breakout Rooms, Session 1:

Sex Education, Social Media and the Arts: Megan Hill: Sex Education Queer Youth Need: Queering Sex Education in New Brunswick, Canada Through Cellphilm Production, Vivila Yujuan Liu and Ellis Furman: Let’s Talk about Sex on Social Media: Reflections on Developing Youth Sex Education Content, Tess Kendrick: “Screen(ing) Share: Learnings from “And Action! Exploring audience engagement with the Celling Sex project movie”

Creating Empowering Spaces in Sex Education: Amelia Thorpe: Queering Health Discourse: Exploring 2SLGBTQ+ Erasure and Empowerment in Educational Spaces, Lexi Salt: Examining Gender-based Violence in the Latin Dance Community using an Intersectional Lens and Exploring Arts-based Approaches to Consent Education as a means of Prevention and Harm Reduction, Rainbow Co Co Chanel and Skittles Roshan: Rainbow Pride in Scarborough: Galaxy Photo Express

Agency and Empowerment: Emmanuelle Gareau: Celibacy: Towards a Positive Redefinition, Neel Desai: Forced Sterilization as a Colonial Tool for White Nation Building, Shagufta Sadique: FOMO: Increasing Youth Knowledge About Workplace Sexual Harassment

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ciann Wilson, “The Diary of an Emerging Black Sexual Health Scholar”

Community Partnership Presentation: Rainbow Co Co Chanel and Skittles Roshan, Rainbow’s Pride in Scarborough

Keynote Performance: Sex Education by Theatre (SExT)

Coordinators Remarks + Thank You

Breakout Rooms, Session 2:

Reproductive Rights: Jenna Im: The Politicization of Reproductive Healthcare in Canada: A Case Study of the Ideological and Legal Dimensions of Clinic 554, Deanna Hembruff: Legal and (In)Accessible: Obstacles to Abortion in Canada and The United States, Elizebeth Thorkelson: Plan B is Free

Broadening the Sexual Health Agenda: Maria Carolina Borja: Catholicism & Sex Education: Exploring the Continuous Rise of Adolescent Pregnancies in The Philippines, Melissa Perri: Got to tread very carefully” Ontario teachers’ perspectives on delivering a controversial sexual health education curriculum

Consent and Voice: Teresa Figueiredo: Applying Consent Education from Childhood to Young Adulthood, Ashleigh Allen: Reporting Sexual Violence: Agency and Empowerment, Neoliberalism, and the #MeToo Social Movement

Much gratitude to our partners: New College, Women and Gender Studies Student Union, Rainbow’s Pride in Scarborough, Women and Gender Studies Institute, Sex Education by Theatre (SExT), and Planned Parenthood Toronto. Funded by the New College Initiatives Fund.

The Youth Sexual Health Research Symposium 2021 was organized by Vibhuti Kacholia, GAAP Community Engaged Learning student. Poster design: Vibhuti Kacholia.