As we approach Inauguration Day, it’s tempting to ask how sex ed might be affected by the incoming administration. It’s also tough to call, as sexuality education wasn’t necessarily at the forefront this past campaign season. Still, Rewire has tried to answer that question, or at least to engage in some well-informed speculation. In her most recent post… Read more »
Here’s an extra large edition of Sex Ed in the news to carry you through to the new year… Queensland Government Makes Sex Ed Overhaul a Priority In Queensland, Australia, the State Government has launched a five-year plan in response to a survey showing that 84 percent of parents believe all state schools should be required to… Read more »
Earlier this month, hundreds of sexuality educators poured into the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, for the Center for Sex Education’s annual National Sex Ed Conference. The weather was brisk and the days were growing darker but, inside the conference rooms on the hotel’s dining level, attendees were too immersed in workshops… Read more »
Recently, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) released their 2016 Sex Ed State Legislative Year-End Report. An annual publication, it contains information on sex ed legislation across the country, and provides analysis that allows readers to more fully understand the impact of these new laws, and how they either advance… Read more »
Public Schools in Millard, Nebraska Stick to Pro-Abstinence Education After topics such as gender identity were added to Omaha Public Schools’ new curriculum, leading to heated debate, Millard Public Schools has reaffirmed its commitment to teaching a pro-abstinence curriculum, a policy that has been in place since 1992. Future curriculum updates will only be approved… Read more »
President of Planned Parenthood Voices Continued Commitment to Health Care for All In the wake of last week’s election, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards reaffirmed that Planned Parenthood “will never stop fighting to ensure that Planned Parenthood patients have access to the care they need, people who come from communities that need our continued support in… Read more »
Here’s the next in our series of posts meant to prepare you for the National Sex Ed Conference. This week, we spotlight Al Vernacchio, M.S.Ed., a sexuality educator who will be speaking about how best to approach puberty education. 1. Can you give me a quick rundown of what keeps you busiest these days? I am a… Read more »
Haines School Board Approves Sex Ed Instructor, Materials The Haines School Board in Haines, Alaska, recently voted unanimously to approve both the high school sex education instructor and the textbook he would be using to teach the course. Their decisions were made under House Bill 156, a new law that gives parents more oversight. Some… Read more »
Here’s the next in our series of posts meant to prepare you for the National Sex Ed Conference. This week, we spotlight Zelaika Hepworth Clarke, Ph.D.—also known as the Jamerican Sexosopher—a sexologist and social worker who will be speaking about the decolonization of sexuality education. 1. Give me a bit of background. What keeps you busiest these days?… Read more »
The Word ‘Sex’ Removed from Government Documents About Sex Ed In New Delhi, India, the government has requested that the word “sex” and its derivatives (such as “sexual health”) be removed from a policy document on sex education for teens so as to avoid offending people. Activists Sue Utah State Board of Education Over Sex… Read more »
Continuing our efforts to get you fired up for the forthcoming National Sex Ed Conference, here’s another post spotlighting one of our conference presenters (you can find our previous presenter spotlight here). Ryan Bronkema, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of West Georgia where he teaches Counselor Education and College Student Affairs. He’ll be… Read more »
New Sex Ed Textbooks Approved After Being Made Available for Public Display In California, Fairfield-Suisun School District trustees approved the use of the Positive Prevention Plus textbook starting in spring 2017, despite a letter from six women who expressed concern over content on sexual orientation. The new materials that have been approved for the coming semester,… Read more »
Middle School Sex Ed Curriculum in Washington State Under Review The Moses Lake School Board in Grant County, Washington, is about to review a new sex education curriculum for the district’s middle school students. The curriculum, titled “Draw The Line/Respect The Line,” is a three-year program that promotes abstinence and includes lesson plans on healthy relationships and… Read more »
In Juneau, Alaska, Schools Fall in Line with New Sex Ed Bill Earlier this month, Mother Jones magazine published a piece on how difficult it is to ensure compliance with the Healthy Youth Act in California. In other states, school districts are slowly falling in line with their own new laws. Among them, the Juneau, Alaska, school board… Read more »
The National Sex Ed Conference is fast approaching. Among the educators scheduled to present are Mark Levand and Sasha Canan, who are speaking about the sexualization of sex educators. Attendees of Levand and Canan’s presentation will be given a platform for understanding and processing how they can and have been sexualized based upon their profession, and… Read more »
Health Education Program for Teen Boys Being Tested in Malaysia A module on reproductive health education and the sexuality of teenage boys will be introduced next month in Malaysia, in schools in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Sabah. This module was developed by the National Population and Family Development Board, and is intended to address “the… Read more »
The following is a transcription of the keynote speech Bill Taverner, MA, CSE, executive director of the Center for Sex Education, made at this year’s North Carolina Sexual Health Conference. This speech is especially timely, considering that September is Sexual Health Month. Considering a career in sexual health? This post is a must-read. I want… Read more »
Catholic School Doesn’t Allow Opt-Out Option for Sex Ed A private Catholic school in Nashville, Tennessee is refusing to allow parents to opt out of sending their children to sex ed. The Catholic Diocese of Nashville is supporting this stance despite an outcry from parents. State of California Faces Struggle in Ensuring Compliance with New… Read more »
States Rejecting Federal Funding in Favor of Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Less than 50 percent of the nation’s high schools meet the CDC’s standards for comprehensive sex education. And recently, more and more states are opting to reject federal funding in order to hang on to their abstinence-based sex ed curricula. In 2015, for example, Florida,… Read more »
Abstinence Education Is Undergoing a Rebranding The National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) has renamed itself Ascend, and is rebranding abstinence-only sex education as sexual risk avoidance (SRA). Valerie Huber, the president and CEO of Ascend, says that SRA is different from comprehensive sexual education in that “We don’t distribute or demonstrate [contraceptive methods]; we educate about it. You may… Read more »
