Friday and Saturday of last week, the Go Folic! team tabled at SexTech2011. While the title of is a little racy, in the words of the organizers, SexTech “brings health and technology professionals together with youth, parents and community leaders to advance the sexual health of youth in the U.S. and abroad.” It is “the event” for learning how organizations are using high tech media to educate and involve youth in sexual health issues and prevention.
Go Folic! was there to encourage other organizations to use our approach to educating women about folic acid. We talked to lots of folks and handed out CDs with our materials to 82 people, from organizations as close as the A&PI Wellness Center in San Francisco, and as far away as the National Association of County and City Health Officials in Washington, DC.
Mei Lin talking to a SexTech staff member at the conference
While there, we also took advantage of the great workshops that SexTech offered, including:
- Deb Levine, Isis, Inc. Founder, highlighting a new white paper on how youth and young adults use technology for their sexual and reproductive health;
- A keynote by the folks who produce MTV’s 16 and Pregnant;
- A session on Sexuality, Gender and Feminism in the Age of Technology (Loisa Bigelow from the IMPACT Program at U of Chicago for LGBTQ youth and Melissa Gopnik from the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center);
- A “how to” presentation by Jennifer D. Medina Matsuki from the NYC Condom Campaign.
We also learned about Bedsider.org, a great new resource on birth control that will send you text messages to help you remember to take your pill, and talked to the folks from IdentiGene, which offers STI test kits that you can buy at your local pharmacy.
All in all, it was a great conference, and we appreciated the chance to be a part of it.
Go Folic! Be Healthy! 
This sounds awesome! So sad I missed it.
Kitty, we missed you there, also!