By Robin Mills, MA | April 6, 2015
Sexual Health Education Coordinator, U.C. Berkeley University Health Services Tang Center

While the term “affirmative consent” is fairly new, the concept most certainly is not.

Back in 2005, I was working at Planned Parenthood. I went to a health fair where a group called Coalition for Positive Sexuality was distributing purple mini-booklets called “Just Say Yes.” I thought, “Wow. That’s awesome. What a super positive way of thinking. I like it.”

I took a quick peek inside the booklet (since I was supposed to be working) and was hooked immediately. There it was, printed in black and white for all the world to read: messaging to young adults encouraging them to say “yes” to the sex they want, and “no” to the sex they don’t want! It was amazing!

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | March 27, 2015
Senior Editor, ETR

ETR is thrilled to be offering our new “Yes Means Yes!” poster. This upbeat, positive product tells the big-picture story of affirmative consent in a remarkably brief 51 words. The image is eye-catching, the poster is clear and the whole package really works. It gets the message out.

As a health education writer myself, I can attest to the care, time and skill that goes into this kind of work. It’s easier to write a 10,000-word book chapter than an effective 800-word pamphlet. Health education posters are even more demanding. They’re like the haiku of the field. I applaud our Product Development team for their extraordinary skill in choosing exactly the right 51 words.

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | March 25, 2015
Senior Editor, ETR

ETR's got a great video collection. In brief, lively clips, our staff and partners talk about the work we do—products, services and research findings. You can watch them on the "Videos" tab or at the ETR YouTube channel. One of my current favorites describes ETR's Program Success Framework.

By Karin Coyle, PhD | March 3, 2015
Senior Research Scientist, ETR

Most evidence-based sexual health programs include skill development as a core element. This underscores the value of optimizing instruction for skills. Education literature provides guidance on the optimal instructional sequence for teaching behavioral skills. There are a number of other important considerations for skill instruction that compliment this type of instructional sequence, and some common pitfalls to avoid.

By Ahna Suleiman, DrPH | November 19, 2014

Every sex educator I know has stories about young people who’ve challenged their faith in our ability to change adolescent sexual behavior. For me, one of those stories is about a ninth grader named Rose.

By Suzanne Schrag | October 22, 2014

Suzanne Schrag, editor and product manager, shares some thoughts from the Healthy Teen Network Conference in Austin, Texas.

I’ve been enjoying my time here at the Healthy Teen Network Conference in Austin. Highlights of Tuesday’s events included a brief awards ceremony that provided me with inspiration and thoughts for the day. P3, the Georgia Public Private Partnership to Prevent Teen Pregnancy received the Outstanding Emerging Innovation Award, which motivated me to attend their session on Leading Collective Impact that afternoon.

By Pamela Anderson, PhD | October 8, 2014

How serious is the problem of adolescent sex trafficking, and what can we do about it? These are issues ETR researchers have been looking at for some time. I’ve just heard some news that gives me hope that the health and education community is moving in a good direction on these matters.

By Karin Coyle, PhD

ETR's research team is testing some exciting new programs that ask middle and high school students to consider the ways romantic relationships influence their sexual choices and risks. We call this “contextualizing” sexual and reproductive health education—that is, using the context of relationships to build health-promoting information, attitudes and behaviors.