Durex and MTV Staying Alive Foundation (SAF) have launched Someone Like Me, a global sex education campaign led by young people for young people.
Research has revealed that 40% of people cannot remember their sex education and only 19% of women enjoyed their first sexual experience.
In light of these statistics, Someone Like Me seeks to show young people that they are not alone and that Someone like me has the same worries, concerns and questions about sex.
The campaign is aimed at normalising the way sex is talked about and encourages 100 million young people to engage with #someonelikeme, to share stories and make their own positive change to sex and sexual health.
It also seeks to target perceptions surrounding HIV and demonstrate that the infection could happen to Someone like me.
Georgia Arnold
Georgia Arnold, Executive Director MTV Staying Alive Foundation, said: “For the past 15 years, the MTV Staying Alive Foundation has worked tirelessly to influence positive sexual behaviour among young people around the world. At MTV SAF, we believe that this generation will change the course of the HIV epidemic, and are thrilled to be partnering with Durex on a campaign that will empower young people to do just that.”
MTV SAF and Durex aim to build the Someonelikeme.tv hub into the world’s largest peer hub generated by young people for young people.
Volker Sydow
Volker Sydow, Durex Global Category Director, Reckitt Benckiser, said: “With ‘#someonelikeme’ we are excited to provide to young people around the world a new and revolutionary platform to speak up. We want to drive change for them to experience in their lifetime an HIV-free generation.”
A specially made documentary and a month long global social media campaign are intended to start the global conversation about sex and sexual health, culminating in World AIDS Day on Sunday, December 1.
On Monday, November 25 the Someone Like Me documentary, ‘My Sex Life and Everyone Else’s’ will air on MTV in the UK at 11pm.
I grew up with a poster of Tommy Steel on the wall of the family home in Liverpool. My mother idolised him. After getting over the gushing introductions when I met him at the Brighton Centre last month, Tommy went on to tell me how at the grand age of 76 he is still able to be on stage for over two hours each night starring in the musical Scrooge, based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Tommy Steel was born Thomas Hicks in Bermondsey, London in 1936. He was a sickly child, the second of seven children and up to the age of four he spent much of his time in hospital. He had pneumonia three times, bronchial pneumonia twice and was never out of the hospital for more than three months at a time. However he was no retiring violet and managed to live the rough and tumble life of a young man in London during the blitz years.
After leaving school, where his story telling skills were widely recognised by his headmaster, he joined the merchant navy to travel the world and in his words: “learn about life and develop his writing skills”.
His ship sunk off the coast of Nova Scotia where he was hospitalised yet again for nine months, this time with spinal meningitis. In hospital he acquired a guitar and when he returned to sea he started writing songs and entertaining the crew. In 1956 he returned to London to look after his mother and started performing skiffle in the coffee bars in Soho where he was discovered and signed by Decca Records. He became recognised as the UK’s first real teen idol and rock n roller being dubbed by the PR people as Britain’s answer to Elvis Presley. He topped the UK charts in 1957 with Singing the blues along with his group the Steelmen who he had 10 top 30 hits with before he went on to develop his career as a solo singer, actor author and sculpture.
Hollywood movies followed including leading roles in The Happiest Millionaire and Finian’s Rainbow and countless award winning stage musicals such as Half a Sixpence, Hans Andersen and Singin’ in the Rain. The legendary Gene Kelly taught him to dance for his appearance in the musical New York, New York and he went on to dance with Gene Kelly.
I asked him what was his favourite medium to work in?
He said:“first and foremost, the stage, I am a terrible show off and to show off I need an audience to work with each evening. I live for the applause, I live for the audience, its what keeps me going. Working on films and TV is less rewarding as you stand around for hours just to get a single shot.”
During Scrooge he is on stage for more than two hours each evening. It is a major part for any actor to play never mind a 76 year old ‘song and dance man’.
I asked where he gets his stamina from?
He said:“after all the problems I had with my health when I was young I took myself in hand from the age of 43. I work out five times a week, I play squash regularly and have a good diet. I am the same weight now as I was at 43. I have concentrated on building up my lung capacity and that gives me the stamina to handle a role like Ebenezer.”
He continued:“you spend your life waiting for a big roles to come along and Scrooge is just that role, it is the role of a life time for a song and dance man like me.”
Tommy’s return to the Palladium last year to reprise the role sent him into the record books once again as the star to have headlined more performances than any one else at London’s most famous theatre. UK’s most famous song and dance man brings the production to the Brighton Centre starting Monday, December 23 – Saturday, January 4.
Based on Charles Dickens’ heartwarming story A Christmas Carol, Scrooge The Musical is the perfect heart-warming family treat with stunning sets and costumes, specially created illusions by magician Paul Kieve (acclaimed for the magic effects in the Harry Potter films) and a fantastic musical score which features Leslie Bricusse’s Oscar nominated hit Thank You Very Much. Without a large scale tradition Christmas Panto this year this is as good as it gets. Join Ebenezer, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future and a whole host of Dickensian characters in the award winning, international smash hit musical Scrooge! Direction is by Bob Tomson with sets designed by Paul Farnsworth, illusions by Paul Kieve, choreography by Lisa Kent and Musical Direction by Stuart Pedlar.
Adult tickets cost from £24.50 with children from £12.50. Family tickets are available Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and Saturday evening performances (2 adults & 2 children) from £74.00.
Australian cricketer Nat Seddon is Intelligent, confident & one of the world’s best bowlers. He’s openly gay, but keeps his private life to himself. On the last day of his team’s “Ashes” tour of England, he meets Scott Alverley, England’s promising new batsman. Nat tries not to be attracted to Scott, but he can’t help finding the privileged young man handsome and endearing. Nat is tempted by a little end of tour fun and rather going home to bask on a beach, he spends a wet week in the north of England with Scott. Try as he might to resist, he can’t help falling hopelessly in love.
Thus starts this rather sweet romance novel about the love between two professional sports men from different countries but with the same taste in just about everything else. The book is firmly from the Mills and Boon school of romantic stories but that’s no heavy criticism, lots of folk like some sweet romance to escape into. The story follows the development of the relationship between these two competitive men with taste, a little slightly steamy sensual sex and plenty of emotionally relevant narrative. The difficulties of having a long distance relationship are explored with a knowing tender honestly and these pressures are successfully realized within the story. These are educated men, knowing what they want out of life and it’s interesting to see the author choose a pair of traditional hetro protagonist characters for this most tender of gay love stories.
There’s the usual trials and pitfalls, some mean and nasty folk who try and stop these boys reaching their happy ever after goal (should that be innings?) and some serious heart searching and the odd teasy heart stopping moment which is not quite what it seems. It’s warm and cozy and not in the slightest bit threatening and I can imagine a few men who would rather enjoy this optimistic story of modern gay love. The author has certainly done their research regarding the cricketing world and it feels authentic enough although my own experience of the cricketing world is a little more scuffed than this story, however moving on…
The book takes a very soft focused glance at the difficulties of being an out and open sportsman in the modern world; as these two men are successful, rich, fit, famous and white it’s not too much of a bother for them……but then I don’t think that’s the point of this book. If you like a bit of boy meets boy who then falls in love, tenderly explores and commits to that love, deals with the changes that life throws at them, hits a rough and rocky patch, sails through it on the winds of deeply caring love and then finds happiness in the arms of their desired paramour, then this is just the right book for you.
If you’d rather a grittier, miserable version of the above, ending in tears, join me in the bar in ten. I’ve been trying very hard to keep my cynical tone out of this review (a young, super-fit, handsome, successful sportsman who’s a virgin…… cough) as this is not the usual type of book I would choose to read, but to be honest on the wet weekend when I read it, curled up with a hot cup of tea, spluttering with the flu, the rain lashing on the windows and my boyfriend far away it was rather the perfect accompaniment. A bit like watching back to back episodes of ‘Murder she Wrote’ when you’re hung-over, comforting, warm and not too challenging, and best not to look to deep into such homely & snug comforts.
I’m ashamed to say I rather enjoyed it, tee hee.
A good book for the romantic in your life or even someone who fancies a change from the normal rough, hard edged, uncaring macho erotic fiction that masquerades as Gay romance fiction these days.
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