Fumble's Youth Manifesto
This will provide us with a safe and inclusive space to learn more about sex and relationships from a variety of young people’s experiences and perspectives, without worrying about seeing harmful content such as unwanted exposure to sexually explicit content (e.g., porn, images of genitals) without warning. This space should have reliable, relevant and trustworthy information where our questions can be answered in private, without fear of judgement or embarrassment.
This means sex education for all young people, including those of us who are LGBTQ+, gender diverse, disabled, neurodivergent, living with mental illness and/or racially minoritised. Sex education currently available is primarily created for cisgender, heterosexual, white, able-bodied people in traditional relationships.
We need access to sex education in person and online covering issues that impact us directly as well as issues that impact our peers – information should come from a variety of perspectives, using inclusive language. This will allow us to improve our understanding of sex and relationship issues, learn how to advocate for each other, facilitate peer-to-peer support and signposting, and reduce discrimination.
We have a first-hand understanding of the issues affecting young people today and, as the earliest adopters of new platforms online, we are at the forefront of the changing social dynamics related to sex, relationships and wellbeing in the digital age.
With social trends constantly evolving, involving us in the creation of sex education content means we can advise those responsible for our relationships and sex education on what we need to learn about and work together to communicate these issues in a way that is fun, relatable and relevant.
This will mean that our parents/carers and trusted adults who are responsible for educating us on relationships and sex will have a better understanding of the issues we face online that also impact us in person, so they can talk more openly about sex and relationships, and better support and understand us.
Together with over 200 young people from across the UK, we’ve created a Youth Manifesto that shouts about the changes young people want to see when it comes to accessing relationships and sex education online.
In January 2022, we conducted a survey of young people aged 11-25 living in the UK to ask about searching for RSE information online, issues with the online world and changes they want to see.
We took the findings from this survey and turned them into a manifesto in collaboration with young people through our co-creation workshops. Discover the full data below.
Here are some of the organisations backing our manifesto
Whether you’re a young person, parent, teacher or you represent a youth organisation, we invite you to back our manifesto today.
Our survey found that 92% of young people go online for questions about relationships, sex or wellbeing.
Further, online RSE platforms using social media to share healthy, safe and accurate information (e.g., Fumble) face challenges including content being hidden or removed due to social media algorithms.
This creates a barrier for young people seeking safe and reliable RSE information online. Backing our manifesto is the first step to tackling some of these issues. Together, we will create a plan of action to make online RSE safer and more accessible for young people.
Young people deserve and have the right to information and education – that includes information related to relationships and sex education (RSE). Our survey found that 92% of young people go online for questions about relationships, sex or wellbeing, with many using online resources to access additional information from the experiences and perspectives of others, in private.
However, the online world can be harmful and almost 80% of survey respondents said that they do not know what information they can trust. Further, online RSE platforms using social media to share information (e.g., Fumble) face challenges including content being hidden or removed due to social media algorithms.
This creates a barrier for young people seeking safe and reliable RSE information online. Backing our manifesto is the first step to tackling some of these issues. We are bringing people together to start the public conversation on the use of the online world for RSE among young people and the realities, challenges and harms of this. Together, we will create a plan of action to make online RSE safer and more accessible for young people. Back our manifesto.
Fumble launched with the belief that all young people deserve quality, accurate education about sex, relationships, our bodies, our identities and our mental health. We make sure that young people have the skills and knowledge to successfully manage their sexual health, mental health and relationships today. We do this through our top quality, trusted digital content created in collaboration with young people.
We’re an award-winning, registered UK charity and we launched in 2017. We’re creating a happy healthy online world of RSE fit for the digital age, and young people’s voices are at the heart of everything we do.
This project has been generously supported by
We make sure that young people have the skills and knowledge to successfully manage their sexual health, mental health and relationships today through our top quality, trusted, co-created digital content. We do this by providing a relevant, non-judgemental, trustworthy place for all young people to ask questions and find safe, quality answers via our website and social media. We also provide relationships and sex education (RSE) in schools, universities and other youth settings.
Fill out the form below to back our manifesto! We’ll keep you updated on how you can help make online sex ed safer for young people.
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