“Our sexuality does not define us,” say young people in Bristol

Published: 24 July 2014

A group of young people from Brook Bristol have made a campaign film to break down stereotypes of sexual identities and sexuality.

The young people are part of Brook Bristol’s Participation group that gives young people a voice about issues relating to sexual health and relationships. The project was part of a partnership with The Watershed, the cultural cinema and digital creative centre in Bristol.

George, a young person who was involved in the project, said:

“It was a great experience for me. I enjoyed meeting new people and gaining confidence to talk about the prejudices and stereotypes which young people face.

“I had never been to The Watershed before or been involved in anything like this. As well as learning skills in filming and the editing process, I also got the chance to be on the local radio to talk about what we were doing. It was a lot of fun.”

The film features interviews with a range of people with different sexual identities and relationship preferences who attended Bristol PRIDE on 12 July – including Bristol’s Independent Mayor, George Ferguson.

Olivia Ware, Participation Lead for Brook Bristol added:

“It was important to us that the project was led by young people and that they were able to have a voice on the issues that were important to them. The young people involved had all experienced stereotyping because of their sexuality and wanted to do something to tackle it.”

The two minute long campaign film is available to view and share via this link. Young people are asking everyone to join the debate with the hashtag #JustHuman.

The project was funded by Healthwatch and supported by Rife Magazine and Bristol Youth Links partnership.

To find out more about Brook Bristol or how you can get involved in the young people’s participation group, please contact 0117 929 0090 or visit brook.org.uk/bristol.

For media enquiries please contact Brook's press office on 07789 682831 or email press@brook.org.uk

Notes to editors

Brook believes that young people should have access to great sexual health services and wellbeing support.

Brook provides free and confidential sexual health information, contraception, pregnancy testing, advice and counselling, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and education programmes, reaching nearly 235,000 young people nationwide every year.
 
Read our Strategic Plan 2017-2020 and learn more about the difference we make in our latest Success Report.