‘This is what's going to heal our kids’: bringing the Sexy Health Carnival into Indigenous cultural gatherings

Abstract

The Sexy Health Carnival is a peer-developed Indigenous health initiative designed to provide culturally-relevant health information for Indigenous youth. The Carnival takes a strengths-based, holistic approach to address topics in fun and interactive ways. As part of the study described here, the Carnival was taken to 6 First Nations, 3 Métis, and 2 Inuit cultural gatherings in Canada. Due to complex histories of colonialism, bringing sexual health and harm reduction programming to cultural gatherings remains controversial. Interviews were conducted with 10 Carnival leaders. Transcripts were transcribed verbatim and inductively coded using NVivo. There was strong support for bringing the Carnival into cultural spaces because (a) teachings on health, sexuality, and reproduction are sacred and belong in cultural spaces, (b) doing so was requested by the communities themselves, (c) the Carnival holds potential to challenge harmful stigma, and (d) the Carnival supported a peer-led initiative. Facilitators also described several challenges encountered including (a) resistance to discussing stigmatised subjects, (b) issues of safety and (c) the intensive physical and emotional demands of the Carnival’s implementation. The Carnival aids in re-imagining what culturally safe health promotion can look like when it is led by and for Indigenous youth. While the Carnival contributes to Indigenous cultural resilience and resurgence, further support is needed to enhance sustainably.

Keywords:

• Powwows
• peer leadership
• indigenous youth
• cultural gatherings
• health promotion

Acknowledgements

We warmly thank the facilitators of the Sexy Health Carnival who offered their time, energy and commitment to the evaluation process. Alexa, Krysta, Shane, Simone, Tina, Iehente, Clara, Nadia, Marie, Madison, and the other wonderful people at the NYSHN - thank you. We also acknowledge Renée Monchalin, Carmen Logie and Charlotte Loppie for their ongoing support, and Rebecca Hammond for facilitating many of the interviews.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Turtle Island is a term used by some Indigenous communities to describe what is known today as Canada and the USA.

2 Grass dancing is a type of traditional dancing that people perform at powwows. The regalia often include ribbons or yarns to symbolise grass. However, there are traditions and teachings that are specific to different geographies.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (Grant # RN251445-338103)