The Sexy Times – a sexual health and identity zine

It can be tricky sometimes to get young people to talk about their sexual health, sexuality and relationships. This can be even more difficult for some young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds as taboo and stigma can get in the way of open discussion.

The Youth Ambassador program (run by The Multicultural Health and Support Service) aims to bring young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds together to educate them on these issues as well as provide a creative outlet for expression.

This year, the Youth Ambassador program ran the ‘Zine’ project. The aim of the project was for young people to collaboratively create a zine that reflected issues which were important to them. This included messages around positive body image, fighting gender-based violence, and prevention of blood-borne viruses and sexually transmissible infections… and much more.

The zine that emerged from this creative process was named The Sexy Times. The creation of the zine was self-directed and edited by the young people, and produced specifically for young people.

‘Young people’s voices are so rich and full of fresh perspectives. It was great to see this come out in the zine’ said Hope Mathumbu, coordinator of the Youth Ambassadors program.

The Sexy Times was launched to the community on Friday 4 December at North Richmond Community Health. Four contributors sat on a discussion panel where they recalled the process of creating the zine.

The Sexy Times will be distributed among youth networks to spread these health promotion messages to young people. For more information about our Youth Ambassador’s Program or to learn more about The Sexy Times please contact Alison Coelho.

Download The Sexy Times here