Have you ever been ashamed of going to the pharmacy to get something concerning your sexual health? Because we all have been in the same situation. We especially experience this shame at a young age, when even buying tampons is embarrassing for us. Looking back at the journey of becoming a woman, there is a lot that is missing in proper comprehensive sexual education in schools.
What is the problem?
What is sexual education, and why is it essential to the growth and development of girls? A high quality, age and developmentally appropriate sexual education provide girls with the knowledge, skills, and motivation they need to make informed decisions about their sex and sexuality. It is especially important in the puberty years when girls are learning about the changes that their bodies are undergoing.
However, why is it still an entrenched problem that girls around the world are still not getting the proper comprehensive sexual education that they need? The lack of it leads to girls turning to peers, social media, and sexually explicit content on the internet that might not be of a reliable source. After talking to several women and their experiences they faced in school sex ed, we identified that girls between the age of 12-18 are in their most vulnerable years. One might be too embarrassed to ask a parent or teacher about what to do when a yeast infection occurs, or how to take care of their sexual health and body. Instead, most sexual education places emphasis on either “abstinence-only” or “how to use a condom”. This leads to girls missing out on important areas of information such as “human development” which includes reproduction, sexual orientation, gender identity and how to deal with common infections, STDs and unplanned pregnancy.
We’ve concluded that schools should be a safe place where girls are able to obtain information about their sexual health. Empowering girls to make informed decisions about relationships and sexuality, and navigating a world where gender-based violence, gender inequality, early and unintended pregnancies, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) continue to pose serious threats to their health and well-being.
Project proposal
As mentioned above, girls and young women lack the needed education or feel embarrassed to talk to the right people. In Switzerland, we have health insurance which covers some costs of the gynecologist; however, contraceptives are not included. Furthermore, for each consulting and infection, we need to physically go to the gynecologist – who has the time and money to do that for minor questions or problems? It seems absurd to expect women to have to go through such a process in order to maintain their sexual health.
Through desk research, we found a company called “ease-healthcare” based in Singapore. For more information, you can visit their home page here (https://www.ease-healthcare.com/ ). What inspired us, and we found beneficial to women – with regard to the embarrassment and judgment factor which society puts on us – is that the company offers online services such as seeing a doctor and receiving medication by postage; contraception delivery including emergency contraceptives; home-tests for HIV and STDs; and teleconsulting. Furthermore, all deliveries are sent in simple packaging to support their judgment-free beliefs.
This led us to our project idea of creating a platform that offers girls and young women the education, access, and consultation which is missing in Switzerland for our target group. Through sharing videos on our platform or social media and by getting the right people involved in our project, we are dedicated to making a change in girls‘ and young women’s lives. The content of the videos revolves around professionals and guests talking about common problems, relatable insecurities of women, and general valuable knowledge. This aims to make young girls aware that they are not alone, that there are people they can reach out to, and in general learn more about the female body and cycle.
By including schools, health insurances, doctors and/or specialists we can build a strong and reliable platform of knowledge. Through the school system’s sex education program and campaigns, we hope to bring awareness to our target group. Moreover, after a careful registration process, girls can get consultations from professionals and the needed treatment without any embarrassment or parental guidance.
User Journey
To complement our project concept, we designed a user journey for a young girl.
Authors: Grace Wu, Georgina Mrose, Idoia Paucar Herrera, Alexandra Infanger