Young people have the right to say no, or not yet, to sex without feeling shamed or bullied – but saying no, or being told no, can leave some young people feeling stressed and anxious.
Real wants to help make this topic easier to talk about so young people feel good about saying what they want or don’t want, and respect these decisions.
We worked with a group of young New Zealanders on something that will help share the message that it’s okay to say no, or be told no, to sex. Together, we tackled the topic and found a meaningful way to share an important message with other young Kiwis.
The result is The Message – a song created, written and developed by 25 young people in just three days on a Waikato marae. The group named themselves F.A.M.S. and were supported to create The Message by Real, Curative and New Zealand music producer N.O.X. aka Mister Watkins with beats by DJCXL.
(If the video doesn’t play here for some reason, it’s on YouTube)
More about this project
Since 2014, Real has been working with groups of young people from the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions to research issues young people experience when it comes to their sexual health and wellbeing so we could develop online resources that support them to make safe, informed decisions.
We hope that The Message gets shared with as many young New Zealanders as possible. Real will be creating further awareness with additional promotion and service activities.
We’d like to thank our partners and the Ministry of Social Development for helping make this possible.
For media enquiries, please contact Claire Robson, senior communications advisor
027 275 4050