loveyourjunk
Love Your Junk( previously known as Fuck Your Health) Serious subject. Seriously funny.
Love Your Junk (LYJ) is a comedic performance that explores the taboo subject of sexual health and the complicated healthcare landscape through a contemporary queer lens. Five outrageously brilliant and courageously funny performers take the stage in a hilarious show that serves to educate, entertain and empower. Kelli Dunham, Jessica Halem, Jennifer Johnson and S. Leigh Thompson share personal stories and sexual health expertise as they demystify the health care system and teach audience take care of their bodies and laugh along in the process.
The artists are truly funny healthcare experts—including nurses, midwives, community organizers and professional health advocates from a wide range of queer identities. From a personal medical exploration of sexual history to a ukulele-accompanied song about the need to see the OB/GYN, the performances use humor to deliver important messages advocating for queer health. LYJ breaks barriers as live, on-stage pelvic exams accompany honest story telling to demystify the exam process and to encourage all in attendance to take care of their bodies. And the audience is engaged to participate in learning to administer a breast cancer self-exam, answering queer health trivia and taking a pledge to health:
“I will strive to stay alive for the health of myself and my community.”As the performance concludes, the advocacy continues. Love Your Junk is collecting a list of knowledgeable, sensitive and respectful healthcare providers to make available to the community. During each show participants are asked to provide the name and information for their most appreciated providers, and this information is compiled and made available on the LYJ website. This growing resource will be available to all who need the right provide to provide them with the right care, and sends a powerful message to all providers to be good to the queer community, and we’ll be good to you.
Additional points:
The sexuality of queers is still considered by many to be a societal taboo. We are not taught to care for our bodies because our bodies are taboo. FYH seeks to dismantle that concept as performers talk about their bodies in unashamed and open ways.
Sexual health is often taught through the sole purpose of reproduction. Queers are seen as absent from these processes, and so our bodies are seen outside the need for sexual health.
Trans people neglect their bodies because their bodies are seen as abnormal and most doctors are ignorant to care for transgender people. This subjects trans people to absent, inaccurate, embarrassing or hostile care.
There are many lists available that feature queer-friendly doctors. However, the bulk of these lists are not validated by community experience and instead are compiled by doctors promoting their own work. Our list is generated by the queer community, making it by the people and for the people.
According to the Center for American Progress, queer people are twice as likely as non-queers to delay seeking healthcare. We are statistically more likely to smoke and drink
heavily, have lower rates of insurance coverage, and higher rates of cancer and exposure to both stress and violence.
Despite these huge health disparities, fewer than half of all US medical schools include specific training about providing care to people in the queer communities.
"Pussy power was in full force... to encourage queer folks to take charge of their health and get over their misgivingsabout their bodies (hello butches and transmen!)and get gunecological and other cancer-preventing exams.
