Sex Ed in the News

  All the news that’s fit to print. Apps are where it’s at! There are new sex ed, sexual health, etc., apps popping up all the time. They can be hard to keep track of, so here’s an intro into the best that are currently out and soon to be released: It Matters, An Awesome Sex… Read more »

In what ways is a period NOT like a flower?

We’re back to 500 Lessons in 500 Days again! This week I’m focusing on lesson plans from Changes, Changes, Changes, the CSE’s manual on puberty education. In classrooms with post-pubescent students, condom usage is a common topic of conversation. Pre-pubescent (or newly-pubescent) students need similar kinds of information and hands-on experience with body care products…. Read more »

What’s coming up new at the CSE?

The CSE has a few new projects in the works, and this morning I’m just too thrilled by all of them to let my excitement go un-noted. So, in no particular order: A new edition of Unequal Partners! A new edition of Streetwise to Sex-wise! A brand new, never-before-seen manual on sexual orientation! Let’s take these… Read more »

Education outside the classroom

How many of you, dear readers, do sexuality education outside of the classroom? Many of us do, whether we want to or not. We end up in conversations with our friends, family, and other communities where we need to help people catch up with basic information about sexuality. Sometimes it’s about contraception, sometimes it’s about clergy… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

  It’s all news to me! Marriage equality! The biggest news from last week was the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality. Because the news on that front is too expansive to even begin to summarize here, I want to start by linking to the court decisions in full. They are at times beautiful, at… Read more »

Thank you, Supreme Court

The momentous Supreme Court ruling on Friday on marriage equality brought forth some very powerful imagery:   The Center for Sex Education is so happy to stand with our LGBTQ family and honor this special moment in history. We will take this victory as a time to remember and be encouraged that dedication towards social… Read more »

Let’s talk Laci Green!

I am SO excited to announce that Laci Green will be keynoting at the 2015 National Sex Ed Conference! One of the many reasons I’m excited about Laci coming to the conference is that I’ve been using her materials for a long time. The first time I used one of Laci’s videos in a sex… Read more »

Footprints

When I think about footprints, I think about the beach and those long lines of footprints you can see trailing behind you, in and out of the tide lines. It’s a happy thought, that leaves me fidgety for vacation. And then there is the other kinds of footprints. While they also show where you’ve been, they’re… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

  Your favorite place to read everything that’s sex ed newsworthy this week! The “Khan Academy of Sex Ed” is coming! The creator of MakeLoveNotPorn.com wants to bring sex ed into the ed tech realm. The topic has mostly been steered clear of by the big ed tech businesses, but Cindy Gallop may be able to… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

Abortion Rates Drop in New Mexico Too Hawaii has the highest drop in abortion rates in the US (30%, as I reported last week), but New Mexico has the second highest drop at 22%. All of the groups are claiming responsibility for the drop. Child Sexual Abuse and Strength What does it mean when an… Read more »

Five Things to Know About Trauma

The term “trauma informed” is getting a lot of attention lately as federal and state governments and other funding sources promote this approach for optimal service delivery. Educators may feel at a loss about what constitutes a trauma informed approach and how best to implement one. The good news is…there are excellent cost effective resources… Read more »

Where does the bullying start?

On Monday I wrote about romantic and sexual relationships and the potential intersection with bullying. Today I want to think a little bit about stereotypes and how they lend themselves to an atmosphere that is accepting of bullying. Bullying can and is, of course, based on a wide range of “reasons” that include everything from… Read more »

Sex Ed in the news

  Sex Ed Expands in California After all of the publicity a few weeks ago about a judge in California ruling that abstinence-only sex education was ineffective and inappropriate, the state assembly is moving towards requiring an expanded sex education in all schools. Sex Ed Goes Prime Time The Bachelorette included a pranked sex ed… Read more »

Some thoughts on bullying and sex

Continuing my post from last week about bullying, today I am pondering what, exactly, constitutes bullying and how it relates to sexuality, sexual activities, etc. When we talk about bullying on a larger scale, I rarely see sexual contact as an integral part of that conversation. For example, bullying is rarely talked about as something… Read more »

No more bullying!

I am thinking a lot about bullying these days, and so as I’m going through CSE manuals, I’m looking for those lessons that support participants as they stand firm in their own identities and sexual decisions. I’ve already talked about many lesson plans that address this issue, like Protect Yourself from Positive Images (about partner… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

 Rick Santorum for President? An op-ed piece in Out Magazine outlines why Rick Santorum running for president could be good for LGBTQ communities. The short answer: Because it will cause in-fighting among the republicans, with anyone who is actually electable being weeded out during the primaries. Education Program Used By Duggars Has ‘Horrific’ Sex Abuse Teachings,… Read more »

Family worries

I had a parent ask me last week how I would approach a new sexual partner. She was getting at her concern for her daughter, who is single and sexually active, and whether her daughter would actually be able to ask about her partner’s STI status – or whether any sex at all was just… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

Why does the teen birth rate keep dropping? Short answer: Because sex ed. The Newsweek article notes that ultimately it’s because teenagers are having sex less, and posit a few additional reasons why, including the recession and Sixteen and Pregnant. Where students get sex ed when it isn’t done at school Churches, LGBT centers, online…we… Read more »

Safer sex is all well and good when it happens to someone else

Yep, that is the approach that most people take. Safer sex adds teeny tiny additional points to talk about and consider to a sexual connection. We have come, in the US, to see sex as something that we deserve to have hassle- and worry-free. I’m sure that it’s all the media stories – movies, music, TV, even advertisements!… Read more »

The ABCs of HPV

There are two sexually transmitted infections that I find students are the most routinely confused about in class: HPV and Herpes. (It doesn’t help that Herpes is referred to medically as the Herpes Simplex Virus, or HSV.) Today I want to talk about HPV: There are so many strains, they do such apparently different things… Read more »