Virtual game targets young Latinas

By Rita Martinez, Development and Communications Intern

Post updated after the jump, August 19

While research has shown that abstinence-only sex education programs don’t work, the University of Central Florida has ignored this fact and recently developed a new virtual reality game which delivers one message, loud and clear: say “no” to sex, and win.

This virtual game features avatars that simulate “real-life” scenarios and proclaims to teach young teens how to resist the advances of their peers. It claims to provide girls with a medium to understand the subtleties surrounding the peer pressure to engage in sexual behavior. Noble as it seems, this game is inherently ill-informed as it takes on a very narrow-minded approach to sex education.

According to one of the developers, Professor Anne Norris, the ultimate goal is “to reduce pregnancy and sexually-transmitted disease among the young Latina population.” I wonder how they intend to do that exactly- will they attempt to be culturally relevant? And if that is indeed the goal of this game, why not give young Latinas a multi-faceted perspective that empowers them to explore the full spectrum of options available to them? No, instead this game purports an outdated view of Latinas, drawing faulty conclusions from their higher pregnancy and STI rates. What they should see is that these health disparities are not a result of a young girl’s ineptitude to deflect sexual advances, but a lack of an integrated approach to comprehensive sex education.

Young Latinas do have higher pregnancy and STI rates than white girls; however, this reality should not be pinned on the individual, but rather on differential access to health care resources and experiences. Moreover, merely focusing on an abstinence-only approach to pregnancy prevention does not foster the development of the agency necessary for Latinas to make choices about their bodies that will enable them to lead healthy sexual lifestyles upon entering adulthood.

If we focused our efforts on expanding access to resources for young people while also providing a safe space for them to discuss the challenges they face regarding sex, we could empower them to make good decisions that makes sense when becoming sexually active. Without a doubt, any strategy aimed at effectively reducing unintended pregnancy necessitates an understanding of the full spectrum of options involved, not just abstinence. What is more, the language utilized in this article against the choices being made by young Latinas does little to deter negative behaviors, patronizing them instead. I would advise the developers of this game to gain a thorough understanding of Latinas’ sexual health before proceeding in their endeavors, lest they unwittingly provide more harm than good.

For a more thorough analysis of young Latinas’ sexual health see our White Paper–Removing Stigma: Towards a Complete Understanding of Young Latinas’ Sexual Health.

UPDATE:

This story has been a roller coaster in the media!  The first information that dribbled out created the impression that this program was taking about taking the harmful abstinence-only approach to the land of virtual reality.  But the real story may be more nuanced.

It looks like the goal of this interactive video game is to help young Latina teens assert their own decision to not have sex.  It’s well known that using role playing to help teens develop the skills they need to resist peer pressure and social pressure can be a successful strategy.  Curriculum that helps Latinas stand up for themselves could be great.  And while the point of these games is to help teens who don’t want to have sex say no, the researchers promise that these games will be paired with comprehensive sex education so that teens aren’t left in the dark.

But “could” and “promise” are the operable words here.  Until the curriculum is finished, we don’t know exactly what messages those avatars are going to be delivering.  It’s a hopeful sign that researchers used young Latinas to tell them about their everyday realities that ought to be reflected in the game. But it’s too early to know exactly how that information is being interpreted.

For now we’re changing course and watching this program closely. Let’s hope we jumped to conclusion too fast! We’ve also changed the title of this post to reflect the new information released.

By Rita Martinez, Development and Communications Intern