Healthy Habits: Healthy You Now Birth Control Campaign

Tonya Lewis Lee’s digital health and wellness platform, Healthy You Now, is launching an awareness initiative to educate young women about available birth control options and to encourage more honest, open conversations about sex.  In partnership with Bedsider.org, a free online birth control support network, the campaign is designed to start a candid, open dialogue that will lead to more responsible choices about sex, birth control, and unplanned pregnancies.

The videos capture a glimpse of Healthy You Now founder Tonya Lewis Lee’s conversations with personal friends of hers, exploring young women’s varying perspectives on sexual myths, personal responsibility, society’s expectations and what kind of sex is the safest. The video series will be available on Bedsider.org and HealthyYouNow.com. 

I had a chance to interview Tonya Lewis Lee about the new campaign.

1. Why is it important to have open discussions on the topics of birth control and sex?

Sex is a natural, important aspect of being a healthy human being. In order to engage in healthy, safe sex that fits into a life plan of when the ideal time is to have children we have to be informed.  To be informed, we must seek out information from all sorts of resources.  Often those resources are people around us who have had access to this information.  Healthy communities come from Healthy families, healthy parents and healthy children.  Healthy families come from prepared parents who have been able to protect themselves from disease and unplanned pregnancies.  Getting as much information on the various birth control options available can be a major factor in promoting healthy families and communities.  Having open discussion on these topics can also let people know they are not the only ones out there thinking about these issues.  There is nothing wrong with sex. Without it, none of us would be here. 

2. What makes it difficult to start these conversations?

It is often difficult to have these conversations because there is a stigma around sex and people are embarrassed to admit that they are interested in and desire sex. If we accept that we are sexual beings and that talking about sex and ways in which we can have safe healthy sex it is much easier to be open and delve into these conversations.

3. How hard was it to find people willing to share their opinions on camera?

We were fortunate that we were able to reach out to women that we knew who are very open and willing to share their experiences in an effort to help other women figure out what the best choices are for them.  I reached out to my friends and they reached out to their friends and it was great.

4. What surprised you the most in starting this initiative?

What surprised me most was how much fun it was to be able to put four women together who did not know each other before and have them be totally open and honest about their experiences.  We all learned something from each other and really enjoyed the exchange.