Last night was the second episode in the No Sex Please, We're Teenagers series on BBC2 and like the first it revealed a lot about doing youthwork. It began with the British young people completing their visit to the USA by attending a Silver Ring Thing event. This appeared to be the typical big light show with a message that was black or white, which stirs the emotions and convicts the conscience. Yes, many of the young people took the ring, but I wonder how much it was the hype of the event. The whole USA visit was markedly different to how the two youthworkers had been working with the young people - and they both acknowledge this and voiced some concerns.
The other interesting thing was to observe that when something works well our immediate reaction is to try and grow it. The introduction of other people into the group was never going to work, because the original 12 had formed an identity and support group together through the journey they had taken. This journey immediately created a membership which new people could not share because they had travelled together. Group identity in youthwork is so important and although we should try and resist the exclusivity that young people create in their groups, we must realise the strength of that identity. With the small group we run, we've just had 5-6 or new faces join (through them reaching secondary school-age) and its not all smooth. We're going away for a weekend to re-establish the group identity and hopefully help the new guys feel like they belong and the others more comfortable with having new people in their space.
The programme shows that talking about sex and relationships can transform young people's views and ideas about the importance and place of sex. It was great to see them go and talk to class of public school children so confidently. The trailer for next week (in what I think is the final episode) suggested that not all of 12 young people kept the no sex for 5 months promise, which if it is the case shouldn't take away from the strengths of what the youthworkers have achieved. Hopefully the programme will act as a wake-up call to the government, schools and churches to get their act together over sex education.
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