Jessica Yee is the founder and Director of the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, who works across North America on issues of healthy sexuality, cultural competency, and youth empowerment. At 22, she is a proud Mohawk and Indigenous Chinese young woman, who is also involved in anti-oppression and violence prevention education work with organizations such as the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Highway of Tears Initiative.
Jessica is a strong believer in the power of the youth voice, and you can see her activisting it up on sites like SHAMELESS Magazine: For Girls Who Get It!, RABBLE.ca, or writing in the community about Indigenous feminism and sex in the Turtle Island Native News or the Kahnawake Eastern Door.
She is currently doing front line reproductive rights activist work with Canadians for Choice, and sits on the Board of Directors for Maggie's: Sex Workers Organizing. She is also teaching with the Alberta Society for the Promotion of Sexual Health, and is the National Youth Coordinator for the Taking Action Project! Art and Aboriginal Youth Leadership for HIV Prevention.
Jessica is a special correspondent for Racialicious.
I remember being about 10 years old and coming home from my Catholic school asking my mom if abortion was wrong. My own mother was one of “those” people. People who have had abortions.
As a Native woman, I am entitled to advocate for choice from within my culture, which has always valued women’s choices and decision-making.
The leadership of Barack Obama in the United States of America is good for Native people, and you can sure as hell bet that a whole lot of us voted for him, and are counting on him to really care about the issues we are facing.
