A Message from One of Our Interns About Reproductive Justice

Hello everyone! My name is Eloise. I am a senior at the University of Colorado Boulder, where I study International Affairs and Spanish and over the summer, I had the privilege of interning at Bridgercare.

My family and I moved to Bozeman right after I turned 13. Before that, we lived in Chicago, and I was devastated to leave my friends for a strange place called Montana, where I imagined people rode horses to school and I was sure there were going to be no malls. If I could talk to my 13-year-old self now, I would tell her that everything was going to be okay. Within a year, I would form new connections and friendships, learn to ski and rock climb, and fall in love with Bozeman and its community.

If I could send another message to my 13-year-old self, I would immediately direct her to Bridgercare for a sexual health care lesson, because over the past nine years, I've witnessed numerous absurdities and failures in my sexual health education.

I think we can all relate to this: we learn about sex, puberty and our bodies in the weirdest and sometimes most disappointing ways, especially when we are young.

For instance, during 8th grade and my first year in Bozeman, a teacher gathered all the girls in my class for a meeting and showed us photos of camel toes. If you’re wondering if I mean camel toes, like the animal, or camel toes, like what can sometimes happen in the crotch of your pants, don’t worry, she showed us pictures of both. She said this is what we looked like when we wore leggings and that it was ridiculous and inappropriate. The only thing ridiculous and inappropriate was the topic of that meeting.

When I was 19 and in college, I witnessed firsthand the consequences of a lack of knowledge. A close friend of mine was in a relationship and her boyfriend had a cold sore. Unfortunately, neither of them knew that cold sores are caused by the same virus that causes herpes and is highly contagious. About a month later, after a physically uncomfortable week, my friend discovered she had contracted genital herpes from her boyfriend’s cold sore. This life-changing diagnosis could have been prevented with the proper sexual health education about STD’s and STI’s.

She isn’t the only one who has suffered from this kind of confusion. Recently, Bridgercare had an 11-year-old boy come in for an appointment to discuss something very important to him. He specifically requested Bridgercare because he was concerned and confused as to why his penis hadn’t grown since kindergarten. Don’t worry, he was in the right place. One of our medical staff explained that penis growth usually occurs during puberty, and that he had nothing to worry about.

We all have stories like this, about learning about sex and our bodies. Sometimes, we learn in funny ways, and other times, the consequences of our lack of knowledge, or the lack of knowledge of others, can be much more serious.

It shouldn’t have to be this way. This is a failure of sexual health education.

Luckily, we have Bridgercare as a resource here in Bozeman. They offer a peer education program, puberty workshops, and a teen clinic to help our community get the information they need about their bodies.

But even these programs are being threatened. Senate Bill 99, signed on April 28th, has made it difficult for Bridgercare to teach in certain schools, leaving young people with even less information than before.

This is an injustice, and I do not want to see my younger siblings and other young people in our community grow up with the same frustrations and confusion that we have.

We must combat this issue by talking about sex, destigmatizing this incredibly important conversation, and providing people with information before they need to ask questions. At Bridgercare I see their staff working passionately and innovating to create new lessons plans, new workshops, and other new ways to provide healthcare and information to our community. By continuing to do things like this, having these conversations and supporting Bridgercare, it becomes appropriate to have hope.

Thank you all for reading and thank you for having me!