Week 2 -- Video "LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX"
This class will show the movie "Let's Talk About Sex" which explores teen sexuality and the lack of education preparing teens for adulthood and adult sexuality. Sex education is all too often lacking in our schools. If present, it is often superficial, emphasizes the negative aspects of sex, and avoids any discussion of pleasure. Information on contraception can be both rare and superficial. In my opinion sex education should begin in Kindergarten and continue throughout the entire educational years. Observe carefully how sex education is done in the Netherlands and the resulting pregnancy and disease rates compared to the US.
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NINE THINGS I WISH EVERYONE KNEW ABOUT SEX by Marty Klein In my opinion Marty is one of the most rational voices in the world about how humans should approach their sexuality. Here is a very short essay that will start off our year. The link is HERE
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NINE THINGS I WISH EVERYONE KNEW ABOUT SEX by Marty Klein In my opinion Marty is one of the most rational voices in the world about how humans should approach their sexuality. Here is a very short essay that will start off our year. The link is HERE
HOME WORK FOR WEEK 2 To reinforce the lessons about sex education seen in the movie we watched I want you to read this piece in Salon Magazine: Sex Education in the U.S. is screwing our kids. The link is HERE This article illustrates the disastrous state of sex education in the US. While many of you in my class have grown children, your grandchildren will be subject to the antiquated sex ed programs in our schools.
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Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia Haberle 2006 This is truly a world class source of all things sexual in encyclopedic format. Long chapters, fine print, and an academicians dream. You can find most everything in this major work. Just dive in and look around. The link is HERE
Another link is HERE
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I WAS TAUGHT TO BE ASHAMED OF MY SEXUALITY -- This is a must read article from the Huffinton Post in December 2014. It illustrates how our early upbringing and lack of positive sex education coupled with lots of sex negative religion can color our sexual expression for our whole life. This is the reason our country needs high quality, age appropriate, truth based sex education starting in kindergarden. Sexual shame causes a lot of people a lot of unhappiness. DO NOT MISS THIS ARTICLE. THE LINK IS HERE
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FAMILY AFFAIRS: This is probably one of the most comfortable and sex positive internet sex discussion groups around. If you are comfortable with honest and forthright talk about everything sexual in down to Earth vocabulary then this is the program for you. This program is on DESIRE DISCREPANCY which is of great interest to senior citizens as it is one of the most common complaints in long term monogamous relationships. The discussants are hilarious and most cool talking about the "details". The link is HERE
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The edited movie we watched in class "Let's Talk About Sex" can be seen again on Hulu in full length
at this LINK. Please share this with your friends and family.
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TEEN SEXUALITY WEB SITE: Scarleteen.com is a site built for teenagers and discusses things you and your parents didn't even know existed when you were young. Everything is out in the open and the author is very sex positive. It gets 5 MILLION visits per year. Your grandchildren will appreciate this site. You can see what teens see by going HERE
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LACI GREEN is a treasure in modern day sex education. A young woman who teaches the young using You Tube. Gets millions of hits and she is entertaining as well as educational. The link is HERE
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LACI GREEN is a treasure in modern day sex education. A young woman who teaches the young using You Tube. Gets millions of hits and she is entertaining as well as educational. The link is HERE
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BIOGRAPHY OF ALFRED C. KINSEY, a major force in sex positivity and bringing sex out of the closet. He published two books on human sexuality some 60 years ago BUT was very controversial. This work still remains unmatched and has never been repeated because our political leaders will not spend research money on human sexuality research. This documentary is about an hour long.
THE LINK IS HERE.
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Love, Lust, and Laughter - Stella Resnick - 08/06/13 (54 MINUTES) http://lovelustlaughter.podbean.com/2013/08/06/love-lust-and-laughter-stella-resnick-080613/GY 06Aug13
Dr. Stella Resnick, a well known author – “The Pleasure Zone” and “The Heart of Desire” – and a Certified Sex Therapist, was the guest. She and Dr. Diana looked at The Evolution of Sex Therapy since Masters & Johnson – how the field has expanded beyond a focus on sexual dysfunction to an emphasis on sexual health, pleasure, and a respect for diversity. Virginia Johnson, the collaborator with Dr. William Masters, died July 26th. Inspired by her death, our program looked back and forward regarding Sex Therapy. Dr. Stella is articulate! Among her wise observations is that as sex therapists, we challenge our clients to evolve themselves through sexual pleasure! One goal of this program is to help us so that we are in a sexually smarter place, and Dr. Stella contributed to that effort . Please go to www.DrStellaResnick.com to learn more.
THE LINK IS HERE
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Why Can’t We Just Talk About Sex? By: Jeana | November 29, 2013 | 0 Comments Share Email Print I’m annoyed at our sex-phobic culture a lot of the time, for a lot of reasons, but today it’s specifically because we consider it taboo to talk about sex outside of a few limited contexts.
When is it okay to talk about sex? Presumably with one’s partner(s) – though in the mainstream culture it’s assumed that in order to talk about sex you’re heterosexually married and pursuing sexual activities as a way to procreate. And in theory you should be able to discuss sex with your medical professionals, especially if you’re experiencing a disorder that’s sexual in nature (genital pain, trying to conceive, etc.).
Otherwise, there aren’t many socially acceptable venues in which to openly and honestly discuss sex. And I think that’s a problem. For one thing, it perpetuates the idea that sex is shameful, because we must keep it a secret. For another, it prevents people from benefitting from the experience and wisdom of others. Nobody automatically knows how to have great sex. It’s not a gene that gets passed along. It’s not a magical chemistry that sparks between you and the right person (despite Hollywood depictions). Yes, you can have amazing chemistry with someone that causes you to have phenomenal sex with them the first time – but if it’s happening intuitively, you can’t replicate it easily, or at least consciously.
Being able to talk about sex means learning how to enjoy sex, and also how to identify when things aren’t going so great. Sometimes situations can be physically or emotionally abusive without being obvious about it (take, for instance, the fact that one in four men in Southeast Asia admitted to committing rape when different phrases were used to describe coercive sex). And since we unfortunately lack any kind of institutionalized, evidence-based sex education, a lot of knowledge about sex and relationships (both the good and bad aspects) must come from firsthand experience, friends, and the media.
Let’s face it. Most people are already curious about sex. As MSP blogger Kate points out in this excellent blog post on how a sense of curiosity can enhance your sex life, we can harness our innate curiosity to help transformation those initial awkward conversations into invitations to explore. I think a big part of nurturing curiosity about sex is simply being able to talk about it – and not just to prospective partners, but to other people in our lives (assuming it’s appropriate to be discussing sex with them; to me, this excludes children and other relationships where there is a power imbalance, but other people might have different boundaries).
I like to make sure that my friends and acquaintances know that I’m available to talk about sex if they want to start a judgment-free conversation about it. I think it can be helpful to share your experiences with someone if you want reassurance that a particular interaction was normal or healthy, or if you want advice on how to change some aspect of it.
I get that not everyone likes to discuss their sex life with others, or thinks it’s ever appropriate. Those people don’t have to. I’m not trying to create a society where every conversation has to revolve around sex. I just wish it were more acceptable, more of the time, to recognize that sex is a significant part of many people’s lives, and thus should be a legitimate conversational topic outside of the bedroom and the doctor’s office.
About JeanaMore by this author Jeana Jorgensen, PhD recently completed her doctoral degree in folklore and gender studies at Indiana University. She studies fairy tales and other narratives, dance, body art, feminist theory, digital humanities, and gender identity.
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Abstinence-Only Education Vs. Comprehensive Sex Education
And here is an article (a bit old) discussing the differences in teen pregnancy rates between states where sex education emphasizes abstinence vs. those states which teach science based sex education. Guess which ones have the lowest teen pregnancy rate?
The link is HERE
SECULAR SEXUALITY A podcast by Dr. Darrell Ray who explores the boundaries between sex, religion from an atheist point of view. He has written to books, The God Virus and Sex and God, both of which are worth a read for a look at how sex and religion relate -- not too well if you really want to know. Very entertaining but not for the timid. The link is here.
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THIS SITE LISTS 40 PLACES TO LEARN TRUTH BASED SEX EDUCATION THAT WAS A TABOO TOPIC WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG AND HAD REALLY BAD SEX EDUCATION IN SCHOOL. WELL, TIMES CHANGE AND THE INTERNET HAS CHANGED EVERYTHING. INFORMATION YOU DID NOT KNOW EVEN EXISTED IS NOW FREELY AVAILABLE AT THE CLICK OF A MOUSE. THIS SITE IS AN EXAMPLE !
http://www.buzzfeed.com/nataliebrown/places-to-learn-everything-you-never-heard-in-sex-ed
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FAMILY AFFAIRS A podcast about sex that is entertaining but not for children. The moderators are adults and talk adult language about love, sex, and relationships. The link is here.
All the things you’re afraid to ask but want to know about sex from some very engaging speakers.
by EssssBeeee these guys are so friendly and fun, and create a judgment free conversation around sex and relationship issues that are hard to talk about. the dynamic between Lisa, Jen, and Ben is natural and welcoming, you feel like you’re in on the discussion. Even though the podcast is new, it’s already one of my favorites. You get an equal dose of information and entertainment about topics you might otherwise not have the chance to consider
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THIS SITE LISTS 40 PLACES TO LEARN TRUTH BASED SEX EDUCATION THAT WAS A TABOO TOPIC WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG AND HAD REALLY BAD SEX EDUCATION IN SCHOOL. WELL, TIMES CHANGE AND THE INTERNET HAS CHANGED EVERYTHING. INFORMATION YOU DID NOT KNOW EVEN EXISTED IS NOW FREELY AVAILABLE AT THE CLICK OF A MOUSE. THIS SITE IS AN EXAMPLE !
http://www.buzzfeed.com/nataliebrown/places-to-learn-everything-you-never-heard-in-sex-ed
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BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SEX EDUCATION FOR ADULTS -- A collection of all the books a well educated sex geek should have on the shelf. And NO, I have NOT read all of them... The link is here
http://www.buzzfeed.com/nataliebrown/places-to-learn-everything-you-never-heard-in-sex-ed
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BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SEX EDUCATION FOR ADULTS -- A collection of all the books a well educated sex geek should have on the shelf. And NO, I have NOT read all of them... The link is here