Rethinking sex education, Oprah style

Whenever I think about groups promoting sex education, churches are pretty much the last thing that comes to mind (second only to the Anarchist Jugglers Union), but as the latest issue of O Magazine reports, churches are playing an integral role in the rising trend of adult sex education.

Michael Tino, one of the Unitarian Universalist ministers who teaches sex ed classes, understands both the need and the popularity of such classes: "You can have the best high school sexuality curriculum in the world," he says, "but a lot of critical issues are not going to be addressed in those classes: How do I enjoy my sexuality if I've lost a breast to cancer? How do I manage being a parent and a sexual person? Can I feel sexually satisfied if I don't have a life partner?"

Though the article is quite lengthy (a testament to my increasingly lazy blog-geared brain?), I found the concept of adult sex ed to be pretty radical. Because they are less focused on the logistics of putting a condom on a banana, classes are free to focus on issues that aren't often discussed, like body image, how to break away from definitions of "normal" sex and how responsible sex means much more than a yearly pap test.

As one woman said, "It's been nice to have a place to talk honestly about things that are never talked about. Like how after a certain age you're not touched anymore. Certainly not lovingly. It's just 'Excuse me' if someone bumps into you at the grocery store. It's been nice to talk about my needs and have them taken seriously."

Of course, I don't see why this kind of sex ed can't be integrated into the standard talking ovary slide shows that are par for the course. Since talking about sex can be a very powerful tool for kids, especially in our hypersexed culture.

As another woman put it, "Sexuality is this thing you carry around all the time. It grows and changes--it's part of your health and relationships and your age and your self-image, but our culture likes to talk about it in this really silly, trivial way."

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