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| Sexuality Education for Mothers Name: Sarah Hess Date: 2002-10-06 18:59:31 Link to this Comment: 3167 |
Sexuality Education for Mothers
In considering a sex-ed curriculum for the group of people I am working with through MOMobile, I had to extend the possibilities of such an education beyond their traditional realm. The population I work with, mostly women, all have babies up to 1 year old; it is a sexually active population who is now dealing with the trials of motherhood for the first time, or perhaps the second or third time. Thus, it seems necessary to gear the sexuality education toward safe sex practices and largely with issues surrounding pregnancy. Also, along with safe sex rhetoric, positive outlooks that celebrate pregnancy despite the age or marital status of the woman seem applicable. An overlying theme of this sexuality education might be Celebrating Motherhood.
All of the web-based research I found dealt with maintaining the mother's health during and after pregnancy. I think this component of a sex-ed curriculum, though not traditionally related to sexuality, would benefit this group. Such an emphasis would reinforce the woman's separateness from her new child, and the fact that maintaining her own health does not mean neglecting her child's. Physical fitness is also a large part of self-esteem and positive thinking. The articles I found indicated that women who took care of themselves after their pregnancies where happier and less stressed. Also, after giving birth, women's images of their own sexuality often change. Physical fitness can help facilitate this change in thought and actual appearance by helping reinforce that though the body is changed, it is still strong and healthy.
The same ideas apply to addressing eating habits and weight gain. Much of a woman's negative feelings following pregnancy, or at any time, relate to bad habits rather than actual appearance. Eating healthily is important to the mental and physical health and recovery of the mother, but also to the care of the baby. If a woman is breastfeeding, her milk is directly affected by her food intake, and even if she is not, she will be ill-prepared to care for a child if she does not maintain her own health. For these reasons, the importance of exercise and diet seem relevant, if not indispensable, in creating an applicable dialogue of sexuality among this group.
Another relevant facet of sexuality education for this group is safe sex practices as well as changing views of sexuality. Safe sex seems a logical topic to preset to a group who is obviously sexually active, but to present it in the traditional way would probably seem preachy and irrelevant to this group; therefore, a new approach would be in order. One such approach might be fostering open discussion about what methods of safe sex are accessible and realistic, and why others do not seem to be so. This could precede a discussion on making other forms more available, or how to talk to peers or younger women about the importance of such practices. This would be particularly applicable to women with children in their adolescent years.
Changing views of sexuality seems another topic relevant to this group –once women become mothers, who they are to others, and what they must be to their child, redefines them as individuals, and particularly as sexual individuals. Again, open discussion seems the best way to approach this topic. Asking opinions about how different women dealt sexually with becoming a mother would create a dialogue between the mothers, and a support system as well. Especially if women are single, not only do their perspectives on dating change, but the people they date also see them differently. Opening discussion to these changes could create an opportunity to reinforce the positive effect motherhood has on one's sexuality, but also to voice the personal challenges it presents, which are often overlooked. Then, a group workshop could brainstorm ways in which mothers can negotiate their lives as sexual beings and their new role as mothers without neglecting either role.
Along these same lines of redefining and rediscovering the individual, I feel an important topic to address would be the way women in their position are represented and perceived in society. To look at different media forms such as TV shows, movies, commercials, billboards, and music, and critique the messages these media forces send to society might be useful in realizing the societal roots some perceptions of the self come from. The idea that women with children, especially single women, are so strong that they have no needs of their own, for example, is an idea reinforced in media that limits single mothers' perceptions of self.
In brainstorming an appropriate language to approach a group of people with more experience and certainly different experience than myself, I continually revert back to the importance of their own language and their own voices. By presenting information, such as topics on health and exercise, and then letting the women claim the topic for their own and rework it in a way fitting to their lifestyles seems the most beneficial. Especially in relating academic topics to a population largely college uneducated, the use of familiar language is crucial. I believe this education curriculum would work best in a setting where opinions are welcomed and valued, and where the population has as much say in the curriculum as its coordinator.
Sources
Websites:
Exercising During Pregnancy
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m3225/n8_v57/20570146/p1/article.jhtml
Pregnancy and Weight Gain
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m3225/6_61/61432877/print.jhtml
Keep in Shape While Pregnant
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1077/n10_v53/20971232/print.jhtml
For New Moms
http://www.fitpregnancy.com/magazines/magCategory/FitnMagCat.asp?catid=463&curcatid=186&SuperCID=463&CID=B&SubCID=A
Books:
Chase, Susan E.. Mothers and Children: Feminist Analyses and Personal Narratives.
New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2001.
Merrick, Elizabeth. Reconceiving Black Adolescent Childbearing. Boulder, Colorado:
Westview Press, 2001.
Kaplan, Elaine Bell. Not Our Kind of Girl: Unraveling the Myths of Black Teenage
Motherhood. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
| Thinking Sex at Hedwig House? Name: Bea Lucaci Date: 2002-10-10 14:12:44 Link to this Comment: 3249 |
I could tell from the day of my interview that my time at Hedwig House would be interesting indeed. Most of the members were running the whole show. They answered phones, prepared lunch, and did the grocery shopping. Perhaps this doesn't seem like much, but when taking into account that all of these members are actually mentally ill adults, these menial tasks become impressive feats.
Hedwig House, Inc. is a private, non-profit organization that has been providing mentally ill adults with support and vocational training since 1975. According to the brochure I was given, funding "comes from the Montgomery County Mental Health/Mental Retardation/Drug and Alcohol Program and donations from individuals, corporations, or foundations."
My placement, which is at Hedwig House in Rosemont, is one of five "clubhouses" in Montgomery County. The branch where I visit has been at that location for approximately twenty years, and has seen many members come and go. Some are there for a short period of time, while others show up at least once a week for several years. Hedwig House in Rosemont does not provide members with a roof over their heads and comfortable beds, but it does provide them with much-needed vocational and life skills. They also have an employment coordinator who advises and assists the members with filling out applications, going to job interviews, and even helps them find different employment opportunities.
In order to be eligible to participate in Hedwig House's programs, one must be at least 18 years old, mentally ill, and a resident of Montgomery County. Also, the individual must abstain from the use of alcohol and illegal drugs. This is, in large part, due to the fact that the members are on quite a bit of medication. Most of them are paranoid schizophrenics or suffer from bi-polar disorder. However, this program is all about helping them function in a "normal" society.
As I had been expecting, I found that no sex-ed program exists here. Hedwig House does not provide the members with counseling sessions or group therapy supervised by a professional. For most of the day, they just interact, sometimes joining the Math Group or the Coping with Life Group (each of which has recently been brought back from the dead). As I've discussed with my supervisors, the best possible way to introduce a sex-ed curriculum would be by using the Coping with Life sessions to introduce the adults to concepts and ideas, especially about safe sex, which they may have not been aware of before.
Apparently, safe sex was a concern among the staff recently. Most of the clubhouse members reside at the same community home, and had been engaging in sex acts – unaware of the dangers, consequences, or reality of unprotected sex. Hedwig House had not become involved because it had not been directly related to the clubhouse program. However, when I spoke with my supervisor about this matter, he expressed interest in creating a sex-ed curriculum for members. He offered some stories to give me an idea of what kind of social/sexual interaction he has observed that occurs among members.
Some members seem naïve, almost like innocent children, when it comes to sex and sexuality. Others are more experienced and open to speaking about that topic. For example, a few days ago, I overheard a conversation between two members:
Woman: Hey, thanks for those oranges you gave me. They were really good!
Man: Oh, you liked them? Yeah, I always make sure to get seedless oranges. I'm glad you liked them.
Woman: Of course I liked them. I also like those oranges (pointing to the crotch of his pants and giggling).
Man: What are you talking about? I don't get it...
That dialogue struck me as odd because I hadn't been expecting to hear that. I was told by one of my supervisors that sex generally isn't an issue within the walls of Hedwig House, although you sometimes hear comments such as the one described above. There was also a situation in which a timid woman suffering from severe depression had become a "sex fiend" (according to staff). They were concerned that she was being used by some of the others living in the community home. This also brought about curiosity and concern for how her active sex life would affect her illness, if at all. The staff did their best to teach her about safe sex and consent.
A sex-ed curriculum would fit in quite nicely into the Hedwig House environment. After all, they teach their members about functioning in life. Therefore, isn't a healthy knowledge about sex useful as well? If they're going to go out and engage in sexual behavior, should they not be informed? The only difficulty in educating them is having them take it seriously and actually pay attention. All sessions are done in groups, and many individuals become very anxious and nervous if they sit for too long – especially in large groups. One of our main concerns is that, with the recent influx of young adults in the program, not all the members are as patient or willing to learn. I've noticed that the younger portion of the membership population lack the attention needed in some of the life skills groups. They sometimes sit there and pick on older members; or they simply ignore what is being taught, and simply make snide comments.
Putting together a stand-alone curriculum would be much too difficult and ineffective. However, introducing it slowly into one of the other program still seems like the best option. That way, we can test the waters to see how accepting they are of the topic. If they don't participate, we can pick a different subject altogether, then try to ease them onto the topic again at another time.
I believe there is a lot of potential at this site for an educational program. Many of the members have dated each other, and have probably taken their relationships to the "next level". Now it's just a matter of teaching them the safe way to do so.
| Field Site: Buddhist Temple Name: Ngoc Tran Date: 2002-10-26 09:03:46 Link to this Comment: 3357 |
I am observing youths at a Buddhist temple. I have been working with these groups of students for the past two years so I have quite a good understanding of who they are and why they're at the temple. The community is very friendly but they are also very conservative and traditional--oh, and political as well. Designing a sex education curriculum for these youths are not as difficult as trying to obtain permission from adults, elders, and monks from the temple. I have not gone so far as to mention the word sex in front of anyone at the temple, not even the youths. They all seems know that it is inappropriate and unacceptable with this community. I am no longer simply working with students and parents. I am working with a whole force of political, religous, and cultural community.
| Welcome to Sex Ed! Name: Nancy Evan Date: 2002-10-30 15:21:44 Link to this Comment: 3430 |
At one o'clock, twelve excited children bustle into room 22 of the small, Quaker school for children with learning disabilities with full stomachs and plenty of nervous anticipation. "Today is the day!" The conversation immediately shifts to the lesson for the day: Sex Ed. For a full five minutes, while the teacher has time to make it up the stairs, check the mailbox, and sift through the discarded backpacks that obstruct the doorway, a precursor to the lecture is in full force.
"Do the girls have to learn about the boys? I don't think we should have to learn about the boys!"
"Duh! What if you want to get married someday? Your husband is going to be a boy."
"Well, I'm not gonna get married, so I don't have to learn about the boys, right Teacher?"
The teacher enters the room and attempts to quiet the class, assuring that her students are not always so eager to dodge the lesson plan. My mind wanders to about an hour before, in the main office. My "briefing session" consisted of about ten minutes in which the class was introduced to me:
"Okay, they range in age from ten to twelve, and they are quite a lively bunch. What exactly are you going to be watching for, anyhow?"
I proudly explained the course and told the smiling principal and the disbelieving secretary that I wanted to hear how the kids themselves put sex into language, not how they repeated the information they learned during Sex Ed week.
"Well, you've picked the right group," the secretary sighed as she shook her head, probably pondering my sanity, "That's one issue that is always on their minds. Good luck to you!"
With that word of warning, I was a little unsure of what to expect. Reading over the initial questions from the kids (scribbled onto lined index cards), a few basic ideas stuck out. The kids are wary about sex while at the same time believing they know enough to educate their fellow classmates. Their questions ranged from the non-sexual ("What foods should we eat to stay healthy?") to puberty ("What will happen to us?") even touching upon issues such as homosexuality ("How are people gay?") and popular misconception ("Why do men like it more?"). The theme of the questions seemed to be general suspiciousness; the kids mistrust their bodies, which are beginning to change and mistrust the ideas they might have heard about sexuality.
The teacher does her best to clear the uncomfortable feelings talking about sexuality brings up by organizing an icebreaker. One by one, the kids shout out slang words they may know for sexual terms or anatomy. Somewhere between giggles and the excitement of seeing "Fuck" written on the chalkboard, the kids begin to lose their inhibitions and curiosity becomes the prevalent emotion.
At this point, the lights are dimmed and a video starts. In the video, a group of eleven-year-olds are learning about sex. Before any discussion begins, however, a coach leads the boys away to a locker room where he proceeds to give them an overview of issues such as arousal, erections, masturbation, and wet dreams. The girls, who have stayed with their (female) teacher, get a lesson on personal hygiene, menstruation, and developing breasts. After the video ended, the teacher discussed the reasons not to separate students when learning about Sex Ed ("Sexuality is a part of health, and we learn about everyone's health here."). She passes out color book sheets of the penis and everyone sets to work coloring, arguing every now and then over why a testicle "cannot be green".
Despite a liberal attitude towards teaching sexual education, flaws do exist in the program. To start, why does the "Boys Section" emphasize sexual desire and the "Girls Section" deal with biological issues such as menstruation? To me, this perpetuates the stereotype that men are more sexual than women. For girls who have already posed questions about male vs. female sexuality, this seems especially harmful. Completely ignoring the issues of female masturbation and sexual desire may lead young girls to believe that these aspects of sexuality are bad or wrong for them to enjoy. Many aspects of the Sex Ed program are commendable, but the interactions between the boys and girls only works against ideas of equalizing Sex Ed and sexuality itself. Often the boys speak over the girls, or make them feel embarrassed to have said "balls". This fear of embarrassment keeps the girls quiet and results in a classroom experience where young boys feel they have the power--the right to express ideas and joke about sexuality that is not extended as freely to young girls.
Although the program itself seems effective and sex is pout into language unapologetically, I believe changes can be made to benefit the entire population of the class.
| Bibliography Name: Ngoc Tran Date: 2002-10-31 17:10:29 Link to this Comment: 3445 |
Sources:
Cabezon, Jose Ignacio., ed. "Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender." Albany: State University of New York Press, 1985.
Faure, Bernard. "The Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to Sexuality." New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Gilboa, Amit. "Shadow Dancing in Vietnam's Scandalous 'Dark Coffee' Cafes, Young Couples Can Make Out (or more) in Semi-Privacy." Nerve. 18 Feb. 2002.
Heiman, Elliott M., and Le, Cao Van. "Transexualism in Vietnam." Archives of Sexual Behavior 4 (1975): 89-95.
Kelly, Gail Paradise. "To Become an American Woman: Education and Sex Role Socialization of the Vietnamese Immigrant Woman." Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History. Eds. Ruiz, Vicki L., and Dubois, Ellen Carol. Routledge, New York: Routledge Inc., 1994. 497-508.
Kennington, Allen. "Vietnamese words for sex and nudity." 22 Sept. 2002.
Kreutz, Serge. "Vietnam." Asialove. November. 2001.
Mackenzie, Vicki. "Cave in the Snow: Tenzin Palmo's Quest For Englightment." New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1998.
Stevens, John. "Lust For Enlightenment: Buddhism and Sex." Boston: Shambhala Publication, Inc., 1990.
Te, Huynh Dinh. "Non-verbal communication." Vietspring. http://www.vietspring.org/values/nonverbal.html 24 Oct. 2002.
The International Lesbian and Gay Association. World Legal Survey: Vietnam. 23 April. 1999. http://www.ilga.org/Information/legal_survey/asia_pacific/vietnam.htm
24 Oct. 2002.
< http://www.topology.org/tex/ns/README.html> 24 Oct. 2002.
24 Oct. 2002.
| Bibliography Name: Nancy Evan Date: 2002-10-31 18:24:03 Link to this Comment: 3448 |
American Academy of Pediatrics. "Sexuality Education of Children and Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities". Pediatrics. 1996. Vol 97. #2. pp. 275-278.
Blackburn, H. "Sexuality, Disability, and Pain: Advice for Life... Not Just For Kids!" Child Care Health Development, vol. 21 #5. September, 1995. pp 351-61
Greene Eric J. "Special ed students get new sex ed curriculum" Holland Sentinel. December 16. 1997. pp 21-30.
Melberg and Hingsberg. Sexuality: Your Sons and Daughters With Intellectual Disability. Brookes Pub. Baltimore, Md. 1999.
Kowalski, Jo Anne. "HIV, Aids and Mental Retardation". September 1997. Online. available: http://thearc.org/faqs/Hiv.html
National Information Center for Children and Youth With Disabilities. "How Particular Disabilities Affect Sexuality and Sexuality Education." 29 Oct 02. Online. Available: http://www.ican.com/news/fullpage.cfm? articleid=194ECF1B-5D2C-4DB9-B27A30EF6F4C495C
NICHY. "SEXUALITY EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH WITH DISABILITIES". New Digest. 1992. Online available: http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/outprint/nd17txt.htm
"Stop Abuse". Dir. James Stanfield. Circles. 1996
University of North Carolina. "Sexuality and Persons with Disabilities". Online. Available: http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncodh/Articles/SexualitPersondDisabilities.html
www.pubety101.com/
| disabled education Name: Sherira Fe Date: 2002-10-31 23:26:22 Link to this Comment: 3450 |
Sherira Fernandes
Thinking Sex
Praxis Introduction
Disabled Education
An 18 year old student, Bob, is laying on a large rubber exercise ball in the right hand corner of the room. This is where he is normally sent to calm himself when upset by classroom activities. He starts to rhythmically bounce on the ball while groaning. The teachers rush to reprimand him for masturbating in class. At this point he begins violently trashing himself onto the floor.
This is not the first time this has happened today. Bob is one of many students who have done this today.
Bob is a multi-handicapped Life Secondary student at Overbrook School for the Blind. He cannot speak, wears a diaper, and must be supervised at all times. Even though his mind is not fully developed, his body is. Like other men and women his age he has sexual feelings. Since Bob is severely handicapped any information that he has has been told to him either by parents or teachers. There are no other influences, no television, no friends, no text books. He cannot gain information for himself.
I could go through countless examples of students like this one; however the specifics of each case are different. Bob can hear and comprehend much of what is said to him. Many of the other students can not. Some parents encourage openness about sexuality at home. Most do not. Some parents expect the school to teach sexual guidelines, but are unwilling to uphold them at home. Most parent just want to ignore this issue, there are enough issues for these students to deal with. Some parent want to talk about this issue, but simply cannot because their children are deaf-blind or have other handicaps, and the parents do not know the terminology.
This is just one of many issues that the teachers and organizers of Overbrook School for the Blind must think about. Trying to get these students to communicate that they are hungry is a costly task. It often takes weeks of screaming for a student to communicate that he has a milk allergy. How can he ask about why his penis is standing up?
The school tries to accommodate all the different types of students given its resources. Overbrook School for the Blind teaches students ranging from preschool to twenty-one , each at different academic and handicapped levels. Most of the students are mixed in classes together. Severely handicapped students attend Life Secondary classes, students with better social skills attend the Secondary program. Class sizes generally range from two to ten children, and have a teacher with one or two aids. The school is state run, and the monetary support comes half from each student's school district and half from the state.
There is often resistance from individual school districts to pay for the school of disabled students in their area and parents have to fight for their children's education. Each classroom needs very high technology material, therefore each subject is very expensive to teach. Subjects like typical Sex Education are a very difficult option. (Forget about discussions on homosexuality and flexuality.) There is a hard enough time getting funding to teach the students how to eat- or communicate that they want to eat. Imagine trying to explain why taxes need to be raised in order to fund Sex Education for mentally and physically disabled students.
This is not to say that the school does not try. There is a Circles Program which discusses good and bad touching. It is helpful, but does not discuss sexual organs, the act, what it means, and consequences. In addition to those problems most of the teachers in the field are women. This is a problem for the male students who can recognize the difference between male and female.
Currently the Circles Program, or any official program is not in use. Sex is not said out loud in front of the students. Few teachers want to deal with the questions that accompany that word, or with the consequential calls from parents. These issues cannot be ignored, especially since some of the students are dating.
Individual teachers have tried to come up with different methods to discuss these types of issues. On Friday mornings Miss Lisa has nail time with the girls in her class. They paint their nails while talking about their periods. Nothing for boys.
The teachers and directors at this school are in a very difficult situation. There is no easy answer. Is it actually easier to pull a girl's hands out of her pants every twenty minutes than to come up with an individualized program that will cost tax payers literally hundreds of thousands of dollars? Short run, maybe, long run no. Currently I have only seen the students mastubate, but sources have said that it is very common for students to begin to make unwanted sexual advantages towards other students and teachers (including molestation and rape) without knowing they are doing something wrong. Sexual education is a necessity, not a privilege.
| disabled education Name: Sherira Fe Date: 2002-10-31 23:27:46 Link to this Comment: 3451 |
Bibliography
Bowers, Tressa. Andrea's Lilacs: The Story of a Mother and her Deaf Daughter. Washington DC : Gallaudet University Press, 1999.
This books gives a vivid account of a mother's struggle for her deaf child's right. Although it does not talk about sex, it does talk about the responsibilities facing the parent of a disabled child.
Budgeting and Finance Meeting for the Marple Newtown School District. 7:30, November 12, 2002 in the Gaunlet Center.
This meeting will show how money is distributed throughout the district.
Cibulka, James, and William Kritek. Coordination Among Schools, Families, and Communities: Prospects for Educational Reform. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.
This work provides information on how to connect families and schools, and how things are done in the administrative side of schooling.
Cutler, William. Parents and Schools: The 150- Year Struggle for Control in American Education. Chicago:The University of Chicago Press, 2000.
This source talks about where the power lies in education.
Davis, Lennard. My Sense of Silence: Memoirs of a Childhood with Deafness. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000.
This memoir gives a pragmatic account of what it is like to be raised by two deaf parents.
Fisher and Mary Procidano, ed. Contemporary Families: A Handbook for School Professionals. New York City: Teacher's College Press, 1992.
This source gives a variety of home-life situations and how a teacher or other types of professionals can deal with them.
Jade, Rowen and Michele Wates, ed. Bigger than the Sky: Disabled Women on Parenting. London: The Woman's Press LTD, 1999.
Wates and Jade collected a powerful collection of what a woman with disabilities must go through to have a child, raise a child, and basic sexual rights and views.
Jones, Walley, interview- Monday, 4:30 November 4th.
Jones is in charge of budgeting and finance for Marple Newtown Senior High School. He'll be able to talk about some of the recent hardships the school has been going through in trying to get money from the school board.
Weinhouse, Don and Marilyn. Little Children, Big Needs. Colorado: University Press of Colorado, 1994.
This book has a very useful collection of interviews with parents of disabled children, their questions, and tips for both parents and professionals.
Wincek, Jean. Negotiating the Maze of School Reform. New York: Teacher's College, 1995.
This book gives a detailed explanation of how a hardworking group of educators passed a controversial new idea for a school and put things together.
| Fighting for Education Name: Sherira Fe Date: 2002-11-01 09:31:27 Link to this Comment: 3453 |
Sherira Fernandes
Thinking Sex
1st Curriculum paper
Fighting for Education: Gaining a Sexual Awareness for the Severely Handicapped
Objective- My objective is to present parents and school districts with the need for their support in the sexual education of handicapped children. This will be a sexual education curriculum for parents and school boards, not for the students.
Plan- Basic Outline
I. Get Parental Support
A. Gain Trust
B. Have parents admit that their children need to educated on the matter, may be harsh.
C. Get parents to help fight for funding
II. Get monetary support from school board
A. Show need
B. Show education plan
C. Get money!
III. Support the parents and families
Explanation of Outline-
In order to have an effective curriculum for students, one must be able to teach it. To be able to teach such a diversely handicapped group, there is a need for full parental or caregiver support, funding, and very willing, capable teachers. All of these factors bolster each other, one will not work without the other. If one group fights the other the program will not work. This is where the major challenge lies.
The first step is to convince parents of the need to educate their children about sex. Then, with the parents support we can convince the school board that the education is needed and cannot be done without funding.
It is hard for a mother or father to understand that although her daughter has the mind of a one year old, her grown body has sexual urges. The parents must also comprehend that any program instigated in school must be placed into action in the home as well. It is very difficult to have parents aggree that some of the normal practices done at home need to be discontinued because they will not be accepted in everyday life by people who are not the child's parent. For example Bob's mother allows him to sit on her lap and kiss and hug her- normal activities for a one year old and his mother, but not for a twenty year old body and strangers. Bob does not understand why he may sit with his mother in this manner and not with his teachers and peers. There must be a constant, set pattern for the way these children are cared for.
Ideas like this are very difficult for a parent to accept. Many parents of disabled children have had to fight everyone in their lives to help their disabled child succeed. Tresse Bowers describes fighting doctors, her own family, and society to get her disabled daughter the care she needed in Alandra's Lilacs. As in Bower's case, many parents of a disabled child pour their whole lives into the child; to have someone say the way they hold their child is wrong can lead to hostility. Unless one is a parent of a handicapped child one cannot understand what it is like.
Some parents would rather pretend that their children do not masturbate than pulling their children's hands out of their pants every half hour. Some parents do not have the time to go through intense behavior modification plans with their children because work, money, or other children can get in the way. Teachers would need to prove to the parents that this is imperative to their children's well being now, and in the future.
Teachers need trust and respect from the parent if education plans are to work.
The best way for teachers to gain trust from parents is to show they care, and show noticeable them improvements in children.
Getting the parents to understand the importance of constantly practicing planned methods reinforcing good sexual behavior is the next step after gaining their trust. The parents need to be taught that sexual acts are feasible, respectful behavior as long as it is done in the right place and time.
After the parents agree that sexual education is something their children must have and are willing to help, funding is needed to prepare the programs and run them. The computers and communication devices used by the students cost up to thousands of dollars. This money comes from the school board.
Getting school boards to fund such devices is quite a struggle, especially with topics like sex education for handicapped children. Right now in local school districts AP Programs, foreign languages, sports, and clubs are all being cut because of lack of funding. When speaking with my brother my project he commented If they can't eat on their own, why should we be worried about sex? The board heads must understand the effect that the welfare of these students has on the whole community, and why tax money needs to be put towards them for sexual education.
Only after all these factors are met will there be enough support for the education that these students need.
| Just the Facts, Please: A Multi-Sensory Approach t Name: Nancy Evan Date: 2002-11-01 14:09:10 Link to this Comment: 3457 |
I intended my fourth paper to use the ideas I have formulated from work at my Praxis site to build a functional sex ed curriculum; however, as I began to research for the paper, I realized this curriculum isn't merely about creating a more effective sex ed program, but also a new way of teaching the material that is specific to children with learning disabilities.
Since children with special needs learn in a variety of ways, my lessons will be multi-sensory—using visual, artistic, audio, and 3-dimentional models, as well as discussion to discuss issues of sex and sexuality.
Another characteristic of special needs children is a need for matter-of-fact language. Using analogy or euphemism to avoid the uncomfortable aspects of discussing sexual topics will just result in confusing many of the children. Since quite a few of the children at my Praxis site have attention problems, I believe it is necessary to vary the activities and topics of discussion.
One part of my program actually attempts to change the time frame for sex ed. For children with learning disabilities, it is important to have repetition. Sex Ed programs are usually about 2 weeks- I month long, but I would like for sex ed to be treated like another subject and be taught for a substantial time period, beginning in kindergarten with the most basic information and progressing through twelfth grade.
| Dating, Relationships, and Sex Name: Bea Lucaci Date: 2002-11-01 15:06:00 Link to this Comment: 3460 |
My placement is at a place where mentally ill adults congregate during the day (9:00am - 5:00pm, I believe). I use this placement for 2 other classes as well, so I'm there at least twice a week.
Initially, I was perplexed because I wasn't sure of how to design a Sex Ed curriculum for a group of mentally ill adults who are mostly in their 30s or 40s, with just a few in their late-teens/early 20s. I noticed that during group sessions (usually dealing with life issues or learning math), many of the people would just get up and leave or not participate at all. However, if we were discussing something that they found particularly interesting, they would be more than happy to take part in the conversation. Basically, that's what I'm most concerned about - their involvement in the group. I would like to create a curriculum that could be built into their existing life issues group. I'm not quite sure how they'll take to it, but I've decided it would be best to first introduce them to ideas about dating, then moving on to sex once the instructor (probably a staff member) thinks they're ready. I've heard some of them, on more than one occasion, state concerns about not being able to maintain a healthy relationship due to their mental illnesses. I'd like to show them different ways of pursuing something like that.
| Abstract Name: Monica Loc Date: 2002-11-01 15:26:39 Link to this Comment: 3461 |
My praxis fieldsite is a Church located in Wayne Philadelphia. It has been established 125 years ago and is the oldest church in Wayne. The Church aims to worship God, perform missions (local, national and international) by helping the less fortunate, and educate individuals about their spiritual growth and relationship with God. Membership is necessary in order to be part of this ministry. The "Come and Consider" classes guide individuals through a series of informative lectures regarding the faith. During these classes, an in-depth orientation about the ministry are discussed and it also gives individuals an opportunity to acquaint themselves with the pastors and other members of the ministry. Session members will interview prospective members and formally welcome them into the faith at the end of the second class. The Church is open to serve any individual who wants to be part of this community regardless of race, gender, age and social status.
Last Sunday was my first fieldsite workday. The program in which I am participating in is called "Sunday Morning Live". This program offers Sunday classes to Middle Schoolers from 6th-8th grade. Each of the perspective grades have their own classes. I am working with the 6th grade Middle School class. The goal of the Youth counselors is to make learning about their religion fun and informative. I will be observing children from the ages of 10-12 years old. These children are mostly Caucasian from within the Philadelphia area. Singing spiritual songs with the 7th and 8th graders was an ice breaker to officially start Sunday classes. This was a way for the children to get settled down and relax before an hour class. The youth counselor started off the class by reviewing some of the material they studied the Sunday before. Even though I was a new face to the crowd, the children were not shy around me and were enthusiastically answering the questions the counselor asked. The children used very informal and general language. Even though they were talking about world issues today that are related to the scriptures, sex was nonexistent in their language.Sex being a silent issue in this class has led me to think of a way to make a curriculum where I can relate sex to an important issue in today's society while also using the scriptures.
Since SEX was not an issue discussed in Sunday class, it is a challenge for me to think of an innovative way to start a conversation on sex going and how I could possibly associate this with a 6th grade religious class. Even though they are the wild typical 6th grade bunch, they wanted to learn more about the scriptures and the bible. For their sexual education curriculum I plan to research on sexual education courses that were designed for 6th graders, 7th graders and 8th graders. This is a good starting point because it will give me a picture of how I should go about the project. After researching on this, I plan to go through some Bible scriptures and see which ones relate to sex so I can incorporate the sexual education information into these scriptures.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Anderson, Neil. Purity under Pressure: Friendships, Dating, Relationships that Last. Harvest House Publishers: Oregon, 1995.
Burns, Jim. The Word on Sex, Drugs & Rock 'N' Roll. Zondervan Publishing House: Illinois, 1973.
Jimmy, Hestor. Christian Sex Education. Family Touch Press: Tennessee, 1993.
Lynn, David. Teaching the Truth About Sex. Zondervan Publishing House: Michigan, 1990.
Pearson, Darrell. God's Word for a Junior High World: Pulse Prayer. Zondervan Publishing House: USA, 1999.
Dickie, Steve. Creative Programming Ideas for Junior High Ministry. Zondervan Publishing House: Michigan, 1992.
Oestreicher, Mark. Help! I'm a Junior High Youth Worker!. Zondervan Publishing House: Michigan, 1996.
Yaconelli, Michael. Dangerous Wonder: The Adventure of Childlike Faith. NavPress Publishing Group: Colorado, 1998.
| praxis field site language Name: lauren hil Date: 2002-11-01 15:26:56 Link to this Comment: 3462 |
Praxis Field Site Language
Redlight Project is an organization targeted at women sex workers in Philadelphia. The problem we see is there are many organizations that indirectly and directly address sex work, but their mission is exclusively to treat sex work as a disease in need of a cure. Some organizations will only work with women who are willing to work towards abandoning drugs and/or sex work. Redlight Project sees sex work as the symptom of something greater: poverty, drugs, and gender power relations. Despite our emphasis on the causes of sex work, we are not looking to eradicate these causes but to give sex workers a means to find resources that will help them meet their needs. Presently we are assuming their needs include safety, mental and physical health care, and legal assistance.
Currently the project is in its infancy so there is much research for us to do before we can address the subjects of the program directly. We are putting together some basic information pamphlets to disseminate in places where sex workers may be, such as strip clubs. The first round of pamphlets will be on basic disease and pregnancy prevention. They will also include general signs of STIs and STDs as well as contact information of where to go to receive treatment/counseling. We are not going make up pregnancy options pamphlets, instead we will provide the phone numbers of services that can provide counseling, such as CHOICE, and places that will help out with prenatal care. These pamphlets will provide us an in to start talking with people in the sex industry and figuring out what their needs are beyond the needs aforementioned.
The challenge for this part of the project is going to be finding sex workers in less obvious places. Street sex workers and women exchanging sex for other commodities, such as drugs, will be more difficult to find for a two reasons: there are no central locations where we see women walking the streets looking for business in Philadelphia and many of these women will not self identify as sex workers, so we cannot treat them like they are sex workers. And once we are able to find women doing more covert kinds of sex work, we are going to have to be very careful creating pamphlets that will appeal to the needs of someone doing sex work without obviously saying or implying that they are targeted at sex workers. When dealing with these women we will act as though we are doing a sex education street outreach and give them supplies such as pamphlets, condoms, and non alcoholic moist towelettes. In addition to the supplies and sex specific information we will give them information sex workers ought to have access to such as self defense techniques and ways they can take control of sexual situations in ways similar to how sex workers would have to deal with situations, but framed in a manner that appeals to women who are in the sex industry but are not doing escort-style prostitution. In doing this we need to avoid any rhetoric that would insinuate a client - worker relationship. We are hoping that by not treating these women as sex workers they will be comfortable with us and join us in dialogue about their needs.
These dialogues will lead us unto our larger project: a booklet of contact information of people, companies, and organizations that can help sex workers meet the needs they indicate during conversation. For instance, the packet will include attorneys and places that will provide women's health care and addition to needs sex workers have expressed to us. This packet is going to be the trickiest part of the project because it involves tracking down people, organizations, and companies comfortable with lending their services/goods to sex workers. Doing this means framing sex work in a way that appeals to them. Our language here is critical. These individuals, organizations, and companies need to see sex work from a similar vantage point as our perspective. Right now we have not looked into what we will need to do to address this population, but we suspect that we will have to frame each proposal individually to appeal to them. At this point in the project we do not have any way to know what hurdles we will have to overcome or how we will deal with these issues. Presently we have all done some surface level research on all of these issues and we are working at compiling our first pamphlet this next week and should probably have the first round of pamphlets completed and ready for dissemination.
I have realized from our group meetings and our research that language is the crucial factor in determining the success of the Redlight Project. If we do not adequately present our materials in a way that appeals to street sex workers, we will not go very far with this project. Women working in strip clubs are more likely to be comfortable with their niche in the sex industry because it encompasses their social and labor related interactions. Because they work in a place saturated with sex much of their conversation inevitably will be about sex work. These women are still a large part of our target audience because they may not have access to material we are distributing, but because they are in this organized sex industry they are going to know more than women who are individually walking the streets looking for clients.
| sex ed curriclum Name: lauren hil Date: 2002-11-01 15:28:16 Link to this Comment: 3463 |
Sex Ed Curriculum
I want to see Redlight Project move in a direction that makes sex workers in Philadelphia feel comfortable with expressing their experiences with at least other women in the sex industry. Ideally these women, especially those working in the streets, could have some type of social dialogue that they feel comfortable expressing themselves in. I want these women to talk and interact with one another and treat each other and our organization's materials as resources they can freely use. I hope these women will be able to talk with one another about bad experiences they may have had so others can know what situations to avoid and how they can reconcile negative situations.
Since I think it is important for them to have social interactions about their industry I see a sex ed curriculum for these women to involve a classroom setting or kind of "sex workers training camp" that will provide the setting for a discourse to develop between sex workers in the Philadelphia area. I do not know how realistic this setting is, given a couple of factors. Firstly, WAVE, an organization that deals with violence, has attempted to have self-defense training classes for sex workers, but did not have much success with participation. Additionally, most of these women are involved in the sex industry because of money or the need to support drug habits. These women do not have the time to come out even for an afternoon for a formal sex education, so most of our sex education is going to be through these pamphlets. However, I feel I have already said as much about these pamphlets as I can give the present stage of the organization. I do not know what kind of sex education curriculum I will develop for the final project. It could be a formal classroom setting or it could be a curriculum based solely on our handouts and street and club interactions with sex workers. Because we have to deal with the pamphlets as a sex education curriculum through the project, I think it would be more valuable to form my sex education curriculum, as a potential classroom setting with specific plans and instruction, though it's feasibility is questionable.
The sex industry is an illicit entity not easily penetrated from the inside, so we need someone to bridge the gap between Redlight Project and sex workers. The curriculum will be designed by myself, because I now have enough knowledge about the sex industry that I can direct and anticipate what sex workers need to know that they may not already have access to, but I want women who have real experiences and understand where the students are coming from to facilitate a classroom. Our creation of a trust between Redlight Project and sex workers it is imperative and any sex curriculum for sex workers our not be taught by someone like me, a person very far from experienced in the sex industry.
That facilitator will be a woman or women who will run the classroom with a member of Redlight Project, who knows technical things, such as health care and legal issues present to provide that kind of information. This Redlight Project person will participate with the women involved in the "training camp." She will participate in the activities as well as provide resources and information to the class. She will make friends and develop social ties with these women so the sex workers involved will feel comfortable sharing with her and accepting her advice. The idea is people learn more and pay attention more in comfortable social atmospheres and the more the person with Redlight Project and sex workers know each other, the more valuable their interactions will be.
The class will begin by establishing interactions between the women the classes with some kind of hands on activity that places them and groups of four to six people and forces them to talk with others. This will be the first of many other group activities, but with different groups of people each time. Each main topic will have one or more activities of this nature.
The topics Redlight Project has developed currently are physical safety, safe sex tips, mental health, and legal rights. The order of these topics is important, because the women will get more comfortable with each other as the day progresses and I think we should save the most personal topic for the end of the session. Right now it is impossible to tell which issue is going to be most personal for these women, because we have not done any field research.
TOPICS
1. Legal Issues
The legal tips section of the class will inform women of their legal rights when being questioned by police, arrested, or awaiting trial for issues related or unrelated to sex work. We will give each of them an ALCU rights card to carry with them. It is going to be hard to get and keep their interests in this section because it can be technical not very engaging and will not facilitate as much interaction between the women. So much of it is memorization that we need to do some activity that deals with mini theatre of what to do when dealing with legal authority so the retain more if the information and talk about the different situations that can arise. After some discussion and the acting I would like to be able to open up the discussion to personal experiences so the women can get a grasp of how the sex industry is in Philadelphia beyond their own experiences and have an idea of what to expect for authorities.
2. Safety
The safety section will involved a self-defense lesson from a martial artist who knows very well how to use a small body to overpower a larger body and can train the women to be aware of their surroundings. There will be a discussion section on how to avoid dangerous situations and control them when they do occur s well as using physical ability to escape potentially threatening situations.
The "don'ts" of sex works. Including but not limited to:
*Not wearing necklaces or scarves that can be used to choke
*Take the money first
*Make sure someone sees you leave with a client and have person record l license plate numbers
*Always face the door when you are with a client
3. Mental Health
I do not want to spend much time on mental health, because I do not want it to turn into at therapy session. I would like to use a short period of time to pass out phone numbers of crisis lines and therapists. I want to encourage them to have a confidant or group they can trust who knows them well and can if there is an arrest or something happens to any of these women, there will be a reliable source of knowledge of her life.
4. Safe Sex Tips
This section first will deal with contraception and STI and STD prevention; by breaking down what contraceptive prevent pregnancy or STIs/STDs and what can prevent both. We will pass out information on the effects and symptoms different STIs/STDs in general terms. For example many STIs have similar symptoms so we will tell them which systems they should look for and see a physician. We will not focus as much on pregnancy, but will pass out information on options counseling, abortion providers and groups that will help fund abortions, and where to find prenatal care.
After the infection and pregnancy information session we pass out bags to each of the women with different kids of guards, condoms, lubricants, and sanitizers that they should carry with them and have the women share their advice on essentials to bring on the job.
Once they have the supplies, we will open the discussion to tricks of the trade. We will facilitate a conversation about ways to keep you protected. Topics will include how to put a condom on a man without him knowing and being able to work during menstruation.
5. Sex Workers' Choice
After we have gone through the course, if people are still interested it would help wrap things up well and cover any information we have missed if the attendees have some time to talk about things that were not brought up. Hopefully by giving them some ownership over the course, they will be able to really get at the sex workers' perspective.
| Abstract 1: Queer Name: Lindsay Hi Date: 2002-11-01 15:30:02 Link to this Comment: 3464 |
My placement is working in a youth ran LGBTQ center. The center is ran by the students, and services are overseen by two adults. They offer counseling services, HIV testing, support groups, a clothes closet, a safe space, after school snacks, as well as provide outreach services which take the form of tolerance building workshops and LGBTQ presentations to churches and schools.
The center is in center city phili, and has no real indicators of its presence, more or less it is hidden among houses. The inside of the building is not in great condition, the stairs are falling apart, and as you move up the building the floors get less and less sturdy. The bathrooms didn't have soap when i was there. The workers maintain that all the money goes to programming not the facility..i did hear a ruhmor that they may be moving soon to a larger facility.
There are rules, that if broken youth are penalized by being suspended from the center. such rules include a zero policy for drugs/sex/alcohal on the premise. Weapons need to be checking in at the front desk, and if you carry a gun, the bullets need to be on you at all times. There is a time window that one must wait in order to pursue a client and upong getting "hired" they did go over consent laws as well.
The center appears to service a prodominately african american male population. My second visit greeted me with several cultural barriers that I feel will be challenging to my interactions at teh center. When i was there, I was one of ten women in the building, of those i was one of three white women. The building had about 65 people in it at the time. When talking to the girls there i found myself running into three distinct barriers 1) regional (east coast v. west coast) 2) race (African American pop culture/history) and 3) education (public v. private school). All three issues made it difficult to communicate with teh girls. Language also plays into all of those barriers. Slang is different depending on where you grow up and we obviously have grown up in different areas under different conditions. I feel like an outsider looking in, even though i have some fundamental commonalities with the girls, i always feel like i am a step behind them, trying to catch up.
In general i grew up in public elementary school/community where i was used to a diverse population. Diverse in this sense i realize was narrow in that it was the diversity of having a wide range of nationalities/background, more of a balance of minorities (whites mecame the minority to the combined minorities groups around this time, in California) so i am not quite familiar with being in a "diverse" environment that is "all" anything. It really is an eye opener to how minorities must feel in interactions in an environment that is composed of a majority of anything. I think on another level it has been interesting to realize how culturally we expect african american children to know all about "white" pop culture, media, movies but the reverse is not true.
(Correction)
i meant to say a zero TOLERANCE policy for drugs/sex/alcohal
Bibliography
A Question of Color., dir., and prod. By Kathe Sandler. Videocassette. California Newsreel, 1992. [Canaday E185.625 .Q47 1992]
Abraham, Suzanne and Derek Llewellyn-Jones. Eating Disorders: The Facts. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. [Canaday RC552.E18 A27 2001]
Building Bodies. Ed. Pamela L. Moore. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1997. [Canaday GV546.5 .B85 1997 ]
Craig, Maxine Leeds. Ain't I a Beauty Queen?: Black Women, Beauty and the Politics of Race. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. [Canaday HQ1220.U5 C73 2002]
Deal With It! Eds. Esther Drill, Heather McDonald, and Rebecca Odes. New York, New York: Pocket Books, 1999.
Lesbian Culture: An Anthology: The Lives, Work, Ideas, Art, and Visions of Lesbians Past and Present. Eds. Julia Penelope and Susan J. Wolfe. Freedom, California: Crossing Press, 1993. [Canaday PS509.L47 L47 1993 ]
Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender Communities. Ed. Dawn Atkins. New York, New York: Haworth Press, 1998. [Canaday HQ75.6.U5 L66 1998 ]
Recovering the Black Female Body: Self-Representations by African American Women. Eds. Michael Bennett and Vanessa D. Dickerson. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2001 [Canaday E185.86 .R37 2001 ]
Sanford, Linda Tschirhart and Mary Ellen Donovan. Women and Self-Esteem. New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1985. [Canaday HQ1206 .S24 1985 ]
Willis, Deborah and Carla Williams. The Black Female Body: A Photographic History. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, 2002. [Canaday f TR674 .W55 2002 ]
| Abstract Name: Lindsay U Date: 2002-11-01 15:31:38 Link to this Comment: 3465 |
My praxis site is a local nursing home that provides short-term and long-term medical assistance to the elderly. It consists of four floors, the first and third floors house long-term residents, the fourth floor houses Alzheimer's patients, and the second floor houses patients who generally need more medical attention. There are also eight apartments attached to the main building for for residents who are able to live more independently. Each floor has a nurse's station at the center and a chapel/meeting area where religious services and performances are held.
As a volunteer, I help patients get to and from activities like Shabbas services, bible-study, and card games (most residents are in wheelchairs). Most of my time is spent making individual room visits, just chatting with the patients. While many of the patients display varying degrees of confusion, they are almost always extremely happy to have a young visitor to talk to. Some are willing to share in-depth personal histories, although these accounts do not always make sense especially with regards to time and when events happened in their past.
Most of the patients are women; there is about a 4:1 female to male ratio. I have met one married couple who live together, and there is one other couple who live separately. The dynamics of these relationships should be interesting to learn about!
Communication is the biggest difficulty I foresee. I don't really feel comfortable pushing the people I talk with to discuss their sexual feelings; I really have to be artful with conversation. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that many patients become confused while we are talking, and tend to repeat themselves multiple times, or get distracted. Some are easily upset; being bedridden has lowered their self-esteem. Volunteers at the nursing home really try to be encouraging about this.
Sources:
Butler, Robert N. and Myrna Lewis. Aging and Mental Health. St. Louis, Miss.: The C.V. Mosby Company, 1982.
Cornelius, Debra A. et al. Who Cares? A Handbook on Sex Education and Counseling Services for Disabled People. Baltimore: University Park Press, 1979.
Daniluk, Judith C. Women's Sexuality Across the Life Span. New York: The Guilford Press, 1998.
Felstein, Ivor. Sex in Later Life. Middlesex, ENG: Penguin Books, 1970.
Kassel, Victor. 1983. Long-Term Care Institutions. In Sexuality in the Later Years: Roles and Behavior. Ruth B. Weg, ed. Pp 167-184. New York: Academic Press.
Schlesinger, Benjamin. 1983. Institutional Life: The Canadian Experience. In Sexuality in the Later Years: Roles and Behavior. Ruth B. Weg, ed. Pp 259-269. New York: Academic Press.
Steffl, Bernita M. Sexuality and Aging: Implications for Nurses and Other Helping Professionals. 1978. In Sexuality and Aging. Robert L. Solnick, ed. p132-153. California: The University of Southern California Press.
Storandt, Martha. Counseling and Therapy With Older Adults. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983.
Sviland, Mary Ann P. Sex Education for the Elderly. 1978. In Sexuality and Aging. Robert L. Solnick, ed. Pp 96-114. California: The University of Southern California Press.
| Abstract Name: elisa Date: 2002-11-01 15:33:07 Link to this Comment: 3466 |
My praxis site is at a law office in center city Philadelphia, working under a female lawyer who prosecutes child sex offenders. The office space we work out of is small in size and often very cramped by the overflow of paper work and people. The pace of the workers is fast and the cases the department has to prosecute is often depressing and for me, at times, sickening.
Before I arrived, I wondered how someone could be around such subject matter everyday. How does one deal with such severe issues in their daily work? Do the details eventually become matter of fact? Does the feeling of severity upon hearing some of the things that happen to these children ever wear off? I can understand now, how from my distance, I had these questions in anticipation of my own emotional response.
I have been going now, once a week for an entire day, for a month. I am both awed and appalled by the number of cases there are. As I sit in the office, surrounded by four-foot high piles of files, the scariest realization I have is that these overwhelming numbers of cases are only the ones that are reported. How many more are there?
It is an understatement to say that the work being done is admirable. Advocating for these children and attempting to protect them and other children from these perpetrators seems like a never-ending task. But regardless of how many guilty or non-guilty verdicts that are given, these lawyers stick with their work because they believe in its necessity.
The biggest problem I face at my praxis site is the language used by the victims in relation to their young age. Reading most of their testimonies and the details of the police reports, I have come to realize that I am trying to develop a sex ed curriculum for children that have sexual experience (very violent sexual experience) but do not possess the knowledge of sexual terminology to describe what happened to them. For example, many of the children have never said the word penis, but have referred to the male genital organ as a "ding dong."
The barriers of language and my own emotional response to what I see and hear about while I am there have made this a very challenging site, but nevertheless, it has expanded my interpretations of everything we have been discussing in our classroom, from issues of consent, to the controversy surrounding pornography.
Bibliography
Allison, Julie and Wrightsman, Lawrence S. Rape: The Misunderstood Crime. Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications, 1993.
Anger, Billie and Todd Ellner, Marge Heyden and Tiel Jackson. Fighting Back Works: The case for advocating and teaching self-defense against rape. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, May/June 1999.
http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~tellner/sd/Review.html
Holmes, Stephen T. and Holmes Ronald M. Sex Crimes: Patterns and Behavior. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 2002.
Lamb, Sharon. The Trouble With Blame: Victims, Perpetrators, and Responsibility. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.
McEvoy, Alan W. and Brookings, Jeff B. If She is Raped : A Book for Husbands, Fathers, and Male Friends. Holmes Beach, FL: Learning Publications, 1991.
Roiphe, Katie. The Morning After: Sex, Fear, and Feminism on Campus. Boston, Mass: Little, Brown and Co., 1993.
Chapter 31, Sexual Offenses, Crime Codes of PA. (Obtained from Philadelphia District Attorney's Office).
Web Resources:
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/ffyr/peereducation.htm
Also, see Lesson Plans.
http://www.allaboutsex.org/AAS_Master_Frameset.cfm
Then click on Kids Speak Out (left frame).
Then click on Abuse and Trauma (right frame).
http://logicalreality.com/p2/2SexPlay4.htm
http://www.preventchildabuse.org/
http://www.siecus.org/
http://www.woar.org/index.html
| Abstract 2: Queer Project Name: Lindsay Hi Date: 2002-11-01 15:34:26 Link to this Comment: 3468 |
In an attempt to solve some of the retention issues the center faces as well as its recruitment of girl members, they have been talking about beginning an eight week program that would follow a theme. The girls would commit to the two hour sessions a week. The goal would be to increase female participation in the center and hopefully address some of their concerns. My task as a volunteer is to design this program with the girls and my supervisor. This task falls very close to the "sex ed. curriculum" we have been asked to create for the course, so I think in the end it will be a great fix.
The topic I have chosen for the eight week course is "The Body." During the eight weeks there will be different topics, activities, guest speakers, and sometimes field trips. The workshops or modules will be created in a fashion that would encourage a sense of community and trust building among the girls. Some initial ideas for possible modules include "Epidermis and Behind the Scenes," and "Breast Basics."
"Epidermis and Behind the Scenes," would be a two week module. The first week would look at stereotypes, misconceptions about race, how we see ourselves and others. This might also include something about makeup the historical aspects of it? Why people use it or don't?. For the activity the girls would then partner up, and make paper mache masks on one another. We would let the masks dry. Then the following week we would discuss how people view us, what labels people give us, how they make us feel and mechanisms we use to deal with them, talking about how we feel like we have these masks on when we interact with one another, which make our relationships fake in the end lacking in intimacy. We would then decorate the masks, representing us, and how we want to be seen by others. This is just one example of the type of setup one such module would have.
| Praxis Introduction Abstract and Preliminary Prax Name: HY Date: 2002-11-01 15:36:53 Link to this Comment: 3469 |
I am working at Womanspace in Ardmore, a facility for recovering drug and alcohol addicts - "a private, non profit, rehabilitation facility. A supportive environment where women recovering from chemical dependency find help in maintaining sobriety and coping with recovery problems. The therapeutic atmosphere offers women the opportunity to reenter the community while living a sober, productive and responsible life. Each resident becomes a member of a "family" while participating in the five month program. Womanspace has nine residents in a home environment, close to AA and NA support groups" (according to a Womanspace pamphlet). The facility houses ten women at once and the program ranges from four and a half months to six months. These women form a pseudo-family and have similar dynamics to the more traditional idea of a family. They share daily life management activities and tasks and they also participate in group therapy sessions (alongside personal sessions of course). All women are mothers, recovering addicts, mothers, and victims of domestic or sexual assault, abuse, harassment. They range in age, race, educational background, drug of choice, sexual attitude, sexual orientation, personality, and to a lesser extent, socio-economic background. Each of these women is unique and special in her own way - they all bring things to the group that no one else can. I am quickly becoming an active and invested member of this community and I will learn much from each of these women. It is pleasure to watch them grow and take their lives back into their own hands.
Before I go on to introduce my initial ideas concerning a sexual education curriculum for Womanspace, I would like to introduce the clients - the women - I will be working with. Because there are so few, only ten clients, I have a wonderful opportunity to carefully personalize and tailor this program to individual women's interests, desires, and needs. An introduction to each of these women as individuals will help you, Anne in understanding my choice for materials and references to specific personal considerations. Maggie and I have been and will be working quite closely during our time at the site and for the final curriculum structure. We will share sources, frameworks, and ideas although our final papers may differ. At this point there is still some variety and difference between her bibliography and mine, but I want to emphasize that we are communicating and sharing feelings and ideas throughout this process. So, welcome to Womanspace Garden Center!
I have searched for books that are accessible to individuals with a lower literacy and educational background. I hope to simultaneously use these sources to educate myself as well as to give to these women. In other words, I consider myself a student within this classroom who is merely facilitating and making available information. The focus of this 'course' is not solely sex and sexuality because these women are at a point of turnaround in their lives - they may need educating in other aspects of life in order to help create and maintain a healthy and positive control over their sexuality. Some (but not limited to at this point) of the topics that we hope to discuss are: the effects of drug on sex and sexuality, body image, sexual and domestic violence, abuse, and harassment, masturbation, diverse sexuality. In order to do this we have chosen some sources that these women can refer to on their on (at appropriate literacy levels), and we have given special attention to individual requests and interests for information.
1. Cunt by Inga Muscia is a book that aims at reclaiming women's sexuality via the reclaiming of the word cunt. It is also written as if the author was speaking to the reader in a friendly intimate conversation. I hope this will reinforce positive attitudes towards women and our sexuality.
2. The Whole Lesbian Sex Book by Felice Newman is an easy read for women who are flexually considering bi- or homo- sexuality. There are some chapters that may apply to all of these women - namely a chapter of tips on masturbation. A positive and healthy self-sex image can start with knowing, exploring, and loving one's body starting with masturbation.
3. The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. We will be offering this text in three different forms: book, CD, and movie. We hope that these women will draw strength from hearing other women's stories about their sexual experiences and to create a solidarity with women by emphasizing that women suffer no matter who, what, where, when, why. However, this anthology stands out because it is empowering, whereas other anthologies can be depressing.
4. Sexual Anorexia by Patrick Carnes is a book that asserts that sexual anorexia (sexual aversion) is very similar to sexual addiction. The lines between are not clear and it very easy to slip from one end of the spectrum to the other. This is an issue for these women as many of them express distaste and disgust at the thought of sex. This may be problematic after they leave Womanspace as they will be faced with encounters (sexual or otherwise) and they will not have a safe space in which to retreat and find haven.
5. A Sex Toy Tea (Demonstration) from The Mood similar to the one that was held on campus last year. Although this may not be feasible, we are still dreaming at this point. We hope that this would reinforce the positive sexual experiences a woman can have all by herself. This will assert optimism, independence, and self love through the discovery of new ways in which women can have sexual pleasure independently of men.
6. A source that explains the various sexual side effects that drugs (recreational or otherwise) have. We are having trouble finding a source that does this concisely and in a language that is accessible to the educational level of these women. One article seemed helpful, Not tonight dear, I'm feeling better: The drugs that relieve depression also sap the libido by Kristin Jenkins. Hopefully we will find more sources that are more general, concise, and legible for the women we are working with.
7. A source that deals with domestic violence. We hope to find, again, a source that is concise and legible for these women, and this has also been difficult. We also do not feel that a detailed explanation of the sociological factors involved in abuse would benefit these women. A guide on how to avoid abusive situations would be much more useful. You Can be Free: An Easy to Read Handbook for Abused Women by Ginny NiCarthy and Sue Davidson should be helpful in this task.
8. We wanted to give some attention to parenting because several women have expressed remorse and deep affectation after the death of a parent. All of these women are also mothers - mostly mothers who have dispersed their children amongst various fathers, family members, and institutions - who are not in touch with their children. This is one of the first ways in which the sociological cycle is repeated and not broken. We though that Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher would help these women understand parent child relations and dynamics (in a literarily accessible way) both for themselves as daughters and mothers.
9.) In order to address body image we plan to hold a workshop of some sort. We have not given much thought to the sources we will use. I attended a meeting about Exercise and Mental Health on Wednesday evening (October 30) and I collected some materials that may be helpful. These materials emphasize the physical and mental health benefits from regular exercise and contain helpful hints on how to exercise without going to the gym (for example parking one's car far away from an entrance, going up and down all the aisles in the supermarket, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, etc.).
10.) We wanted to offer a movie for these women to watch, mostly to cater to the different learning preferences or styles. Books may be a very daunting and intimidating thing to these women - some of whom have trouble reading their daily dinner prayers. A movie might help to lighten the feeling of somewhat heavy course materials. The Vagina Monologues would be wonderful here and we also chose another movie entitled The Loss of Sexual Innocence about
"weaving together four stories of love, regret, and redemption, the loss of sexual innocence is an eye-opening look at the power of sex to shape--or shatter--our lives."
| bibliography Name: lauren hil Date: 2002-11-01 15:41:18 Link to this Comment: 3472 |
Bobliography
ALCU Pennsylvania
www.aclupa.org
Society for Human Sexuality
www.sexuality.org
Having a Healthy Pregnancy
http://kidshealth.org/teen/sexual_health/
Guide to Safer Sex
http://www.sexuality.org/safesex.html#C3
Guide to Safer Sex
http://www.sexuality.org/concise.html
Perspectives in Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Condoms for Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
http://www.safersex.org/condoms/03.11.98.cgi
An Introduction to STDs
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/stdinfo.htm
STDs
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/stds/
The ABC's of Hepatitis
http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/swav/healthcards/abchep.html
Nonoxynol-9
http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/swav/healthcards/nonox.html
Oil Eats Rubbers
http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/swav/healthcards/oileats.html
Lesbian Safer Sex
http://www.safersex.org/women/lesbianss.html
Oral Sex
http://www.mama-shop.com/oralsex/
The Role of Condoms in Preventing HIV Infection and Other STDs
http://www.safersex.org/condoms/ss3.2.html
| A Needle in the Haystack Name: Jill Neust Date: 2002-11-01 15:50:36 Link to this Comment: 3475 |
Hidden in plain sight, in a respectable neighborhood, one can find a resource center for queer youth. The center is easy to miss; the only indications of its existence to the outside world are a few signs on the door. Once inside, however, a completely different world is revealed. It is almost always busy, populated with gay men of all types, from drag queens to flaming faggots, and there are also usually a few lesbians. From its bleak exterior, one would not easily imagine the colorful and lively interior.
As an urban center for queer youth, it faces the two-sided sword of recognition. To create a safe space for its members, it does not advertise its services. The fear is that, if knowledge of the center's existence were widespread, it would be easier for those opposed to the queer community to disrupt it. However, because knowledge of the center is only passed through word of mouth, it remains almost entirely unknown, except for the community of members that visit daily.
It provides services for queer youth from about the age of 12 through 23. A center focused on youth, it helps its members through the troublesome times of middle school, high school, and college. After a member turns 24, s/he has the option of becoming a volunteer or of working for the center, but s/he is no longer allowed to "participate" in the traditional sense of membership. Because the services are directed at youth, the center strictly enforces the age rules. However, because the age range for members is quite large, many members develop close friendships. It seems that nearly everyone in the center knows everyone else. New members could easily be scared off by this, because they do not know anyone and also because they are not part of the "family" yet. Most of the members of the center are African-American males. The center is located in the gayborhood. At times, the ratio of black men to any other population is quite staggering. On any given day, there will be at least four men for every one woman, and this can also be intimidating.
With its given population, most of the discussions about sex at the center use a vocabulary based on gay male experience. Significant others are usually referred to as your/my "man," and the pronouns "she" and "her" are used in reference for everyone, regardless of sex or gender. In order to not offend anyone, reclaimed words such as "dyke" and "fag" (or "faggot") are not used in formal situations, but they abound in casual conversation. Nearly every conversation is centered on the homosexual lifestyle, so the language of sex is the language of the queer community, with a focus on gay men.
The center offers a myriad of services for its members, including counseling, free HIV/AIDS testing, job and apartment searches, discussion groups, tutoring, art groups, and more. The commitment of the center to assist the queer youth community is quite easy to see.
My role at the center is to help with some of the GED tutoring and to help lead Open Discussion. Open Discussion is a group that meets weekly to give members an open forum to work through problems and concerns. Nearly anything can be talked about, and the only rules of the group are of respect. (For example, "do not talk while someone else is talking.") My main objective in assisting with this group is to come to a better understanding of the troubles in the lives of members. I am helping with the tutoring program to give others a chance at bettering themselves.
The center aims to be a safe space for the queer community. In many ways, it succeeds. However, in my opinion, it would be much more beneficial if it reached a larger portion of the queer community. There are people out there who would greatly benefit from the center's services, if they knew of its existence.
| A Needle in the Haystack, Part Deux Name: Jill Neust Date: 2002-11-01 15:57:47 Link to this Comment: 3477 |
My field site has a diverse range of services and opportunities to offer, but it is almost entirely unknown to the queer population. This untapped resource should be better known, at least within the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning) community. My goal in my curriculum is to rewrite the center as a place for all of the queer community to utilize.
The first part of my curriculum will be an advertising campaign to spread awareness of the center and its services. I will create examples of advertisements to be placed in gay publications. These ads will be discreet but informative, maintaining the objective of the center to be a safe space for all who participate in its programs. It is difficult to raise awareness of a queer center without inviting anti-gay objectors to threaten its safety, but without a wider recognition of such services, they are ultimately useless. Instead of creating an open, secure place for the queer community to congregate, general ignorance of the center produces an alternate closet for the queer community. The members of the center merely escape from the world into another closed space. It is my goal to make the center an open place in which a much larger portion of the queer community can come together.
The second part of my curriculum will be to aid my site as it currently stands to better understand the population that attend. Most of the members that visit the center are urban black gay men. I intend to assist in an understanding of their situation and how to best help them to handle their situation. The center's services are all very useful, and I would like to give examples of how to make them better, not only in general but also in with the center's members in mind. Many of the services provided by the center need only a small push to make them better.
I would also like to make suggestions for a theoretical space that would be ideal for my field site. The current setup of the building does not allow for many people to be assisted at one time. Keeping in mind that the center is a non-profit organization, this will be a difficult task, but I believe that some small changes can be made without much trouble. My suggestions might also be kept in mind when it moves its services to a different building.
Another task that I would like to undertake in my curriculum is that of expanding its services to other populations. There is a very small population of lesbians that attend the center, and if it expands, it would be necessary to accommodate queer women more fully. The Attic has limited services to offer this population, and this is mostly due to their general non-presence. If awareness is raised, it is likely that the lesbian population will expand and require more attention from the center.
I recognize that these are all lofty goals for my curriculum, but I believe that they are all attainable. The center has the potential to be a wonderful resource for the queer youth community, but it requires a little reworking before it can accomplish this. The major flaws that I see in the way the center is run can be easily reversed.
Initial Bibliography
Bailey, Robert W. Gay Politics, Urban Politics
Cole, C. Bard Briefly Told Lives
Higgs, David Queer Sites: Gay Urban Histories Since 1600
Ingram, Gordon Brent, Anne-Marie Bouthillette, and Yolanda Retter Queers in Space: Communities, Public Places, Sites of Resistance
Kaiser, Charles The Gay Metropolis 1940-1996
Nard, Peter M. Gay Men's Friendships: Invincible Communities
Reid-Pharr, Robert F. and Samuel R. Delany Black Gay Man: Essays
Rotello, Gabriel Sexual Ecology
Signorile, Michaelangelo Life Outside: The Signorile Report on Gay Men
Turner, William B., Urvashi Vaid, and John D'emilio Creating Change
| Praxis Site Abstract Name: Jessica Tu Date: 2002-11-01 16:08:42 Link to this Comment: 3478 |
| Abstract on Praxis Site Name: Maggie Sco Date: 2002-11-01 16:36:19 Link to this Comment: 3479 |
My praxis field site is a house for women recovering from drug addictions. Up to ten women live there at a time, and there is always at least one staff member on duty. Many people work at the house as secretaries, therapists, and activities coordinators. All of the staff, including the director, seem to have a great relationship with the women. During the days, the main therapist runs meetings with the women, in groups and individually. People from outside organizations also come in to talk to the residents. These outside sessions can be about life skills such as cooking and going to job interviews, or about obstructions that these women might find on their way to recovery. The women vary a great deal in age, and there are currently both black and white women living at the house. The residents do all of the household chores and cooking.
The women there are generally very open about sex. Some of the women there are quiet and reserved; while these women are clearly comfortable with the others' sexual comments, they do not make many themselves. It is the women who are outspoken on a regular basis who are also outspoken about sex. They have asked for a few specific things to be discussed in the curriculum, such as homosexuality.
Bibliography:
Bush, Patricia J. Drugs, Alcohol and Sex. Richard Marek Publishers: New York, 1980.
Ensler, Eve. The Vagina Monologues, videocassette. HBO Home Video, 2002.
Ensler, Eve. The Vagina Monologues, audio CD. Bantam Books-Audio, 2002.
Gilbert, Lucy and Paula Webster. Bound by Love: The Sweet Trap of Daughterhood. Boston: Beacon Hill Press, 1982.
Goetting, Ann. Getting Out: Life Stories of Women Who Left Abusive Men. New York: Colombia University Press, 1999.
Haring-Smith, Tori. More Monologues for Women by Women. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1996.
Joannides, Paul and Daerick Gross. The Guide to Getting It On! (The Universe's Coolest and Most Informative Book about Sex), third ed. United States: Goofy Foot Press, 2000.
Levy, Barrie. In Love and In Danger: A Teen's Guide to Breaking Free of Abusive Relationships. United States: Seal Press, 1993.
Moriarity, Joseph and Patrick Carnes. Sexual Anorexia: Overcoming Sexual Self-Hatred. Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden, 1997.
Muscio, Inga. Cunt. New York: Seal Press, 1998.
Newman, Felice. The Whole Lesbian Sex Book. United States: Cleis Press, 1999.
NiCarthy, Ginny and Sue Davidson. You Can Be Free: An Easy-to-Read Handbook for Abused Women. United States: Seal Press, 1989.
Weldon, Michelle. I Closed My Eyes: Revelations of a Battered Woman. Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden, 1999.
NiCarthy, Ginny, Karen Merriam and Sandra Coffman. Talking it Out: A Guide to Groups for Abused Women. Seattle, Washington: The Seal Press, 1984.
| Abstract: The Redlight Project Name: Sarah Mend Date: 2002-11-02 16:33:50 Link to this Comment: 3483 |
The Redlight Project is currently a concept, a project in the true sense of the word. It is rooted quite basically in the desire to support people who are providing service in the sex industry in Philadelphia. The idea was first discussed amongst a group of women from the newly formed Sex Workers Action Team (SWAT), including a Bryn Mawr College alumna, Genny Fulco. Genny has invited four current BMC students, Michelle McGrath, Lauren Hildebrand, Katherine McMahon and myself to help direct this project and do some of the necessary work. After our first meeting as a group we decided that the most effective and most immediately accessible work we could do would be to do research and write a guide (or guides) concerning various topics related specifically to this audience.
Topics chosen to research include general safety, the law, mental health, drugs/alcohol and sexual health, the latter of which we've already begun working. Information to do with sexual health for the general public exists in plenty but is inappropriate for sex workers because it, knowingly or not, discourages the tendencies that sex work inherently promotes. For instance, the number one listed suggestion for preventing the transmission of sexually transmitted infections is abstinence which the sex worker obviously cannot practice. The pamphlets we'll distribute will therefore do more than outline tips on sexual safety; they will address the issue of sexual safety as it applies specifically to this group and in doing so increase their safety dramatically.
Pamphlets to do with sex worker safety must be written in a language the sex worker will understand and feel comfortable reading. Since we do not judge these workers by either discouraging them from their work or promoting it, the language we will use to write these pamphlets must reflect our lack of bias. Our concern rests in the safety of the workers not in the existence of a system we wish to eliminate. In the hopes of increasing safety, we'll present the facts in the language most comfortable to the sex workers, one that they will benefit from on account of clearly understanding the information communicated through the words. Words used must be representative of those used on the street (as of now, we get that kind of information from Genny), for example "vaginal discharge" should be referred to as a "juice." Terminology must also respectful in terms of using less derogatory synonyms for words, for instance, by respecting the profession of a "street dater" as opposed to a "hooker." Articles, pamphlets and books published with the intent of increasing a sex worker's safety serve no purpose if they offend the worker. No worker in any industry would accept the advice of someone who does not respect them or their field.
In participating in this project, our challenge is to make decisions concerning what we believe to be most important, to distill the essentials concerning those chosen topics and then to organize them in such a way that promotes understanding and further reading. Though the language we employ is essentially our own, our research includes writing to do with the technical aspects (medical, legal, etc. information) and to uncover possibilities in how to convey these aspects effectively. We intend to use the languages used in past publications directed at sex workers as models for our work but to build upon them by working as a group (increasing diversity in perspectives), getting out into the field (possibly conducting interviews), doing book based research for more formal input and web-based research for current organization and government information.
Perhaps the largest challenge is the redefining of sex in my own language—to no longer describe sex acts as necessarily intimate or desired but as considered a routine part of getting the job done. I must consciously make the effort to distinguish pleasure and profession when I talk about sex and in doing so, readily accept the new language that accompanies that idea.
| Abstract and Bibliography of Praxis Site Name: Monica Loc Date: 2002-11-03 16:03:57 Link to this Comment: 3500 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Anderson, Neil. Purity under Pressure: Friendships, Dating, Relationships that Last. Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1995.
Burns, Jim. The Word on Sex, Drugs & Rock 'N' Roll. Illinois: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973.
Dickie, Steve. Creative Programming Ideas for Junior High Ministry. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.
Irvine, Janice. Sexual Cultures and the Construction of Adolescent Identities. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994. pg. 287.
Jimmy, Hestor. Christian Sex Education. Tennessee: Family Touch Press, 1993.
Lynn, David. Teaching the Truth About Sex. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990.
Oestreicher, Mark. Help! I'm a Junior High Youth Worker! Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996.
Pearson, Darrell. God's Word for a Junior High World: Pulse Prayer. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House,1999.
Sexuality. Youthworker. CCM Communications, November/December 2001.
Yaconelli, Michael. Dangerous Wonder: The Adventure of Childlike Faith. Colorado: NavPress Publishing Group, 1998.
| Establishing a Comfort Sone Name: Jenny Wade Date: 2002-11-04 01:15:45 Link to this Comment: 3510 |
REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR PAPER BY PASTING YOUR TEXT FROM A PLAIN TEXT DOCUMENT HERE
| Establishing a Comfort Zone (abstract for third an Name: Jenny Wade Date: 2002-11-04 01:29:23 Link to this Comment: 3511 |
My Praxis Site is at a public elementary school in South Philly, attending a sex-ed class for sixth graders. The program itself is actually called "Youth First", and is an outreach program organized by Planned Parenthood where an instructor comes into the school weekly for a twenty-five week period (this is the first step of the program, and afterwards there is often additional sexuality learning for the students). Since the students at the elementary school seemed to be particularly uncomfortable with talking about sexuality and their own personal feelings/questions/knowledge,etc, the sex-ed curriculum must first help reinforce that sexuality is natural, appropriate for discussion, and something that everyone experiences. This characteristic of awkwardness and discomfort for the students is common in sex-ed courses, but perhaps accounts for why they don't always tend to be very successful. Once this first step in establishing comfort (in addition to introducing the basics of sexuality and its many areas) is completed, sexuality education and discussion can become more detailed. For this first paper in beginning to construct a curriculum, I focused primarily on this first step of promoting personal comfort and openness in order to discuss/understand sexuality drawing from particular sources that promoted confessional writing of the students and the ability to understand and accept personal emotions/desires.
| Sex Work Praxis Site Abstract Name: Kathryn Mc Date: 2002-11-04 16:47:55 Link to this Comment: 3520 |
The praxis site that I am working with is just beginning to form and take shape. This has enabled me, and everyone else involved, to have some say in the direction that the project takes. The organization's goals are to better the lives of sex workers by helping them meet basic needs, such as finding programs that offer food, shelter, clothing, education, or employment, as well as provide resources that will better the quality of their lives and improve their experiences within and beyond sex work. We want to find different services that would be willing to work with sex workers, and then compile information pamphlets about sex workers to give to these services so that they can understand the needs of their clients. We will then compile a list of these services and other resources and information to put into different pamphlets to offer to sex workers themselves. Some of these services and information will include free legal aide, medical assistance (including mental health), STI and pregnancy information, drug addiction treatment centers, daycare, education and job training, and safety on the job information.
We have also decided on a few initial limitations which the project will hopefully transcend at a later date. We will first concentrate our efforts on women, not men, children, or transgendered sex workers. We will focus on English speakers, and later translate the information packets that we put together into other languages for sex workers of different national origins living in Philadelphia. The focus will initially be on a few different sub-fields of sex work, such as stripping and street walking. Instead of pushing sex workers to find new forms of employment, the organization will remain non-judgmental and assist sex workers regardless of the course they want to take with their lives, although we will be able to direct them to services that will help them to leave the industry if they so choose.
Initial Bibliography for Sex Ed Curriculum:
Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century: A Book by and for Women, by Boston Women's Health Book Collective and Jane Pincus
Turning Pro, by Magdalene Meretrix
Making Sex Work Safe, by ?
How to Have Safer Sex, by ?
Safety at Work (magazine)
Consensual Sadomasochism, by William A. Henkin Ph.D., Sybil Holiday
Screw the Roses: Send me the Thorns, by Philip Miller
Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, and Redefinition, by Kamala Kempadoo, Jo Doezema
Whores and Other Feminists, by Jill Nagle
Having a Healthy Pregnancy (Pre-natal care)
http://kidshealth.org/teen/sexual_health/
Guide to Safer Sex (comprehensive discussion of prevention and STIs)
http://www.sexuality.org/safesex.html#C3
Guide to Safer Sex (consice)
http://www.sexuality.org/concise.html
Perspectives in Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Condoms for Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (condoms: efficacy, proper use, etc.)
http://www.safersex.org/condoms/03.11.98.cgi
An Introduction to STDs
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/stdinfo.htm
STDs (advanced info)
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/stds/
The ABC's of Hepatitis
http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/swav/healthcards/abchep.html
Nonoxynol-9
http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/swav/healthcards/nonox.html
Oil Eats Rubbers
http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/swav/healthcards/oileats.html
Lesbian Safer Sex
http://www.safersex.org/women/lesbianss.html
Oral Sex (miscellaneous oral sex information)
http://www.mama-shop.com/oralsex/
The Role of Condoms in Preventing HIV Infection and Other STDs (condom efficacy)
http://www.safersex.org/condoms/ss3.2.html
| Site Introduction Paper Name: Anonymous Date: 2002-11-05 00:07:34 Link to this Comment: 3527 |
My site is an organization that focuses on a client population of new mothers. The organization brings supplies, information, and support to new or expecting mothers through home visits, outreach meetings, phone calls, and letters. The site manager builds relationships with the mothers that allow her to help them in a myriad of ways, not only with their children, but also in their relationships and for their personal well-being.
Home visits are the biggest and possibly most effective outreach because they allow the organization the greatest, longest and most comfortable interaction with the mothers. Information on HIV, lead poisoning, immunization, safe sex, domestic violence, voting, and breast feeding are amongst the many topics presented by the organization to mothers on home visits. Resources such as diapers, formula, ointment, bottles, and various other supplies are also an important part of the home visits. By going to homes, the organization can observe intimate details about the lives of the mothers, and the mother is presented with the opportunity to talk to the organization about problems privately in the comfort of her home. This intimate set-up allows the most interaction with mothers in the best possible setting.
Another effective way of reaching mothers is through parent meetings. Topics for the meetings range from nutrition to safe sex to the importance of immunization. Besides the excitement of learning new relevant information, other enticements are provided as well. Food is one and raffles are frequent too. Perhaps the biggest draw is free supplies. Supplies include mostly baby clothes, but also maternity clothes, baby toys, strollers, high chairs, cribs, books, and bedding. This combination of information and free supplies is most productive for everyone.
Overall, the organization provides support to new mothers by giving supplies, information, and networking where needed, via many modes to ensure that the women serviced by the organization get what they need most.
| Sex Worker Project Name: Michelle M Date: 2002-11-05 01:48:31 Link to this Comment: 3531 |
I am working with a brand new organization (and anne has said i am not allowed to name it although i can't at all figure out why) that is getting started with a little help from Prevention Point, Philadelphia's needle exchange program. They are lending some resources to help us create a group that provides harm reduction information for sex workers in Philly. For now our goals are mostly to disseminate information, condoms and referrals to sex workers. Through these inital stages we hope to engange with sex workers and better understand their needs so that we can adjust our servieces to their needs. Just these begining stages is a lot on our plate as the pamphlets we hope to distribute require a lot of research. After getting through the begining grunt work, hopefully we can get out into the community and really make a difference in the lives of real people.
| Abstract and Bibliography revised Name: Monica Loc Date: 2002-11-05 01:55:19 Link to this Comment: 3533 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Anderson, Neil. Purity under Pressure: Friendships, Dating, Relationships that Last. Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1995.
Burns, Jim. The Word on Sex, Drugs & Rock 'N' Roll. Illinois: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973.
Dickie, Steve. Creative Programming Ideas for Junior High Ministry. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.
Irvine, Janice. Sexual Cultures and the Construction of Adolescent Identities. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994. pg. 287.
Jimmy, Hestor. Christian Sex Education. Tennessee: Family Touch Press, 1993.
Lynn, David. Teaching the Truth About Sex. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990.
Oestreicher, Mark. Help! I'm a Junior High Youth Worker! Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996.
Pearson, Darrell. God's Word for a Junior High World: Pulse Prayer. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House,1999.
Sexuality. Youthworker. CCM Communications, November/December 2001.
Yaconelli, Michael. Dangerous Wonder: The Adventure of Childlike Faith. Colorado: NavPress Publishing Group, 1998.
| Praxis Name: Chelsea Ph Date: 2002-11-08 01:43:11 Link to this Comment: 3601 |
The praxis placement we chose involves giving presentations. The presentations last between 45 minutes and an hour and a half; in this time there is room for an activity, a discussion, and a question and answer session. The question and answer session can be done in a casual way, or it may be done anonymously, depending on the climate of the group. Training has included the best ways to answer difficult questions, such as questions about abortion, gay/lesbian/bi/transgender issues, and difficult inquiries about relationships.
Our sessions are on Tuesday nights from 5:00 to 5:45 at a public school in South Philly. We are working with an after school program with kids ages 10-14 with approximately 8-12 kids per session. It is a coed group with a slightly larger boy to girl ratio. At this point in the school year, there are very few rooms for use after school, so we conduct our sessions on the stage in the auditorium. We sit together on the ground in a circle and their teacher, who we'll call KM, observes to help monitor behavior. One of the positive aspects of our education program is that we are required to have a school official with us at all times to deal with behavior problems so that we may concentrate on divulging our information. To each of the sessions, we bring the materials needed for that day's activity, such as markers, newsprint, cards, tape, and pamphlets.
We went to the school for our first session on Tuesday, October 29. After a little trouble finding the entrance, we were let in by a student and lead to meet KM and her class. It took some time to get started, as we had to move to the auditorium from the computer classroom, to make way for a different class. It was interesting that once KM was in the hall, she divided the boys and girls into two separate lines to walk down the hall, and once at the auditorium, instructed the boys to enter first, followed by the girls. Throughout the entire moving process, KM kept strict and disciplined control, talking sternly to the kids when they were rowdy and asking them to be mature and focused.
Once on the stage, behind the curtain, we took some time to establish ground rules with the kids, emphasizing that they decide on the rules themselves. One of the biggest guidelines we stressed was respect and tolerance during the discussions. We wrote them all down on newsprint and taped them up so all could see during each session. Next, we outlined what we were going to discuss, which was, in this occasion, puberty. We then passed out cards listing various changes the body goes through during puberty (i.e., voice changes, grow taller, menstruation starts, etc.). Then, three cards were laid out, saying "Girls Only", "Boys Only" and "Both", dictating the three categories into which the kids could place their cards. Each child read out their card and placed in wherever they thought it should go, and then we discussed their choice. The kids had some really interesting ideas.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect about this session was the observation that the boys were more mature than the girls when it came to talking about these issues. The two eldest girls, in particular, would burst into fits of giggles and tease the boys when they used medical terms for body parts, functions, etc. We were also surprised at the general extent of the knowledge in the group. Such as there knowledge of the reproductive system in men and women; one boy in particular, knew that the beginning of menstruation in girls signals that they have two mature ovaries. Another surprise was the naïveté of the some of the children regarding their own bodies, such as a young man who was, after being told that an erection is a rushing of blood to the penis, confused as to where the blood goes afterwards. After wrapping up the activity, we had a question and answer session.
The topics we will be covering in the next five weeks are male and female anatomy, sex abuse prevention, STIs and teen pregnancy, reproduction and STI prevention and a wrap-up session. As volunteer educators, this is an incredible opportunity, as most volunteers do what are called "one-shot deals" as opposed to extended programs. Though the "one-shots" reach a great number of children, we feel that an expanded program such as this has a more lasting effect on, sadly, a fewer number of children. The remainder of the sessions will follow the same basic pattern that the first session did, with an activity, discussion, and question and answer session included in each one. Before the sessions, we will take time to prepare our lesson and week's activity.
| Sex Curriculum Abstract Name: Sarah Hess Date: 2002-11-08 12:36:41 Link to this Comment: 3612 |
Sorry, I thought we were waiting till further notice to post these...
Sexuality Education for Mothers
The group of people I am working with, all women, are either pregnant or have babies up to 1 year old; it is a sexually active population who is now dealing with the trials of motherhood. Thus, it seems necessary to gear the sexuality education toward safe sex practices and largely with issues surrounding pregnancy. Also, along with safe sex rhetoric, positive outlooks that celebrate pregnancy seem applicable. An overlying theme of this sexuality education might be celebrating motherhood and also retaining individuality as a sexual being.
I think a health component for the mother during and after pregnancy, though not traditionally related to sexuality, would benefit this group. Such an emphasis would reinforce the woman's separateness from her new child, and the fact that maintaining her own health does not mean neglecting her child's.
The same ideas apply to addressing eating habits and weight gain. If a woman is breastfeeding, her milk is directly affected by her food intake, and even if she is not, she will be ill-prepared to care for a child if she does not maintain her own health. For these reasons, the importance of exercise and diet seem relevant, if not indispensable, in creating an applicable dialogue of sexuality for this group.
Another relevant facet of sexuality education for this group is safe sex practices as well as changing views of sexuality.
Once women become mothers, who they are to others, and what they must be to their child, redefines them as individuals, and particularly as sexual individuals. Opening discussion to these changes could create an opportunity to reinforce the positive effect motherhood has on one's sexuality, but also to voice the personal challenges it presents, which are often overlooked.
Along these same lines of redefining and rediscovering the individual, I feel an important topic to address would be the way women in their position are represented and perceived in society.
I believe this education curriculum would work best in a setting where opinions are welcomed and valued, and where the population has as much say in the curriculum as its coordinator.
Sources
Websites:
Exercising During Pregnancy
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m3225/n8_v57/20570146/p1/article.jhtml
Pregnancy and Weight Gain
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m3225/6_61/61432877/print.jhtml
Keep in Shape While Pregnant
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1077/n10_v53/20971232/print.jhtml
For New Moms
http://www.fitpregnancy.com/magazines/magCategory/FitnMagCat.asp?catid=463&curcatid=186&SuperCID=463&CID=B&SubCID=A
Books:
Chase, Susan E.. Mothers and Children: Feminist Analyses and Personal Narratives.
New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2001.
Merrick, Elizabeth. Reconceiving Black Adolescent Childbearing. Boulder, Colorado:
Westview Press, 2001.
Kaplan, Elaine Bell. Not Our Kind of Girl: Unraveling the Myths of Black Teenage
Motherhood. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
Songs:
City High –What Would You Do
India Arie –Video
Lauryn Hill –If I Ruled the World
Reggae –If I Was A Rich Girl
| Thinking sex Name: Fritz-Laur Date: 2002-11-11 10:13:15 Link to this Comment: 3659 |
REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR PAPER BY PASTING YOUR TEXT FROM A PLAIN TEXT DOCUMENT HERE
This is a living and growing organization. They currently have two sites, working on three. My site has a welcoming and highly energized atmosphere,which is half the staff and the rest is the actual physical location of the site. There are many rooms which are used at different stages of the programs available for the children. First, there was a room with four windows, two on each parallel walls painted a shade between beige and green. Inside are two small black leather looking couches, one big beige lounger, and a couple of uncomfortable looking chairs. The uncomfortable chairs out number the comfortable ones. The room is warm, but not too warm, which would have had us all falling asleep. This room is on the second floor with long windows that look out onto either the street or the roof of the building.
I walked in without knowing what to expect. First I wasn't sure if I'd be designated to a specific age group. The program is available for children in the 3rd grade to teenagers. The teenagers were at another site about a block down the street from my site. I wasn't sure how the program was constructed or if my being there would be somewhat distracting to the students.
When we walked in the room there was an initial hush as there usually is when new people join a group, whether they are strangers to the group or not. The length of these silences can be what determines the rest of the experience. I was relived when the coordinator just acknowledge or presence then continued with her topic by restating the question.This way we became part of the conversation rather than just observers.
| Middle School Sexuality Education Name: Tamina Men Date: 2002-11-18 13:37:32 Link to this Comment: 3777 |
Paper #1
I am observing a middle school sexuality education
class. There are two teachers, who designed the
program together so the students have exposure to
different styles of learning. It is also important to
note that one is female and the other is male. The
male teacher covers the topic of male anatomy and the
female teacher talks about female anatomy. Both girls
and boys have are in the same classroom to help their
understanding of the opposite gender.
I have had the chance to participate in a few
classes. The teachers gave me the oppertunity to
teach much earlier than I expected, I tried to mimic
the language similar to theirs in my explanations.
The reason I did this was not to confuse the students
with language and topics that they had not been
exposed to yet. I also did not want to disturb the
flow of someone else's class.
I am interested to see how the dynamics of this
class progress.
Paper#2
First draft revision of Sex education.
One of my fears with this site is the program is
too good to revise. The students are very engaged and
continue to ask questions throughout class. This is
becasue the teachers make them feel comfortable
speaking. It is emphasized that "there are no right
or wrong answers" when it comes to an individuals
beliefs on sex. The teachers state the facts of sex,
including the consquences, so that students can make
an informed decision.
My current goal is to get to know the students in
the class better. I want to find out how effective
they think the class is, and what they think should
change.
Books:
Hawks, Gail, Sociology of Sex and Sexuality, Philadelphia: Open University Press: Philadelphia, 1996.
David H.J Larmour, Paul Allen Miller, Charles Platter, Rethinking Sexuality: Foucault and Classical Antiquity, United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Roffman, Deborah, The Thinking Parent's Guide to Talking Sense about Sex, Cambridge: Peruses Publishing, 2001.
Websites:
"Academic Sexual Correctness"
http//www.csulb.edu/~asc.asc.html
"Language of Diplomacy"
http//:www.languageinindia.com/nov.2001/forgein.html
"Positive thinking on Sex"
www.positive.org
| The Redlight Project Name: Sarah Mend Date: 2002-12-19 15:47:30 Link to this Comment: 4154 |
The Redlight Project is currently a concept, a project in the true sense of the word. It is rooted quite basically in the desire to support people who are providing service in the sex industry in Philadelphia. The idea was first discussed amongst a group of women from the newly formed Sex Workers Action Team (SWAT), including a Bryn Mawr College alumna, Genny Fulco. Genny has invited four current BMC students, Michelle McGrath, Lauren Hildebrand, Katherine McMahon and myself to help direct this project and do some of the necessary work. After our first meeting as a group we decided that the most effective and most immediately accessible work we could do would be to do research and write a guide (or guides) concerning various topics related specifically to this audience.
Topics chosen to research include general safety, the law, mental health, drugs/alcohol and sexual health, the latter of which we've already begun working. Information to do with sexual health for the general public exists in plenty but is inappropriate for sex workers because it, knowingly or not, discourages the tendencies that sex work inherently promotes. For instance, the number one listed suggestion for preventing the transmission of sexually transmitted infections is abstinence which the sex worker obviously cannot practice. The pamphlets we'll distribute will therefore do more than outline tips on sexual safety; they will address the issue of sexual safety as it applies specifically to this group and in doing so increase their safety dramatically.
Pamphlets to do with sex worker safety must be written in a language the sex worker will understand and feel comfortable reading. Since we do not judge these workers by either discouraging them from their work or promoting it, the language we will use to write these pamphlets must reflect our lack of bias. Our concern rests in the safety of the workers not in the existence of a system we wish to eliminate. In the hopes of increasing safety, we'll present the facts in the language most comfortable to the sex workers, one that they will benefit from on account of clearly understanding the information communicated through the words. Words used must be representative of those used on the street (as of now, we get that kind of information from Genny), for example "vaginal discharge" should be referred to as a "juice." Terminology must also respectful in terms of using less derogatory synonyms for words, for instance, by respecting the profession of a "street dater" as opposed to a "hooker." Articles, pamphlets and books published with the intent of increasing a sex worker's safety serve no purpose if they offend the worker. No worker in any industry would accept the advice of someone who does not respect them or their field.
In participating in this project, our challenge is to make decisions concerning what we believe to be most important, to distill the essentials concerning those chosen topics and then to organize them in such a way that promotes understanding and further reading. Though the language we employ is essentially our own, our research includes writing to do with the technical aspects (medical, legal, etc. information) and to uncover possibilities in how to convey these aspects effectively. We intend to use the languages used in past publications directed at sex workers as models for our work but to build upon them by working as a group (increasing diversity in perspectives), getting out into the field (possibly conducting interviews), doing book based research for more formal input and web-based research for current organization and government information.
Perhaps the largest challenge is the redefining of sex in my own language—to no longer describe sex acts as necessarily intimate or desired but as considered a routine part of getting the job done. I must consciously make the effort to distinguish pleasure and profession when I talk about sex and in doing so, readily accept the new language that accompanies that idea.
The Redlight Project: Initial Bibliography
Boston Women's Health Book Collective. "Our Bodies, Ourselves."
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The Role of Condoms in Preventing HIV Infection and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases." HIV/AIDS Prevention Training Bulletin. February 1993.
http://www.safersex.org/condoms/ss3.2.html
Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. "Sexually Transmitted Diseases." July 2002. http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/stds/
Mama-Shop.com. "Safer Oral Sex." 1999 Dynamic Media Resource.
http://www.mama-shop.com/oralsex/
Meretrix, Magdalene. "Turning Pro."
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). "An Introduction to Sexually Transmitted Diseases." July 1999.
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/stdinfo.htm
Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP). "Making Sex Work Safe."
"Safety at Work." Issue 7: December 12, 2000. (magazine)
Semans, Anne and Winks, Cathy. "The New Good Vibrations Guide to Sex." 2nd edition.
Sex Workers Alliance of Vancouver (SWAV)."The ABC's of Hepatitis." March 1997.
http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/swav/healthcards/abchep.html
Society for Human Sexuality. "Guide to Safer Sex." 1998.
http://www.sexuality.org/safesex.html#C3
The Center, L.A. Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center. "Lesbian Safer Sex." July 1995.
http://www.safersex.org/women/lesbianss.html
| Welcome: Iris and Emily Name: Iris Dicke Date: 2002-12-21 08:22:25 Link to this Comment: 4196 |
| An Artistic Curriculum: Emily and Iris Name: Iris Dicke Date: 2002-12-21 08:24:11 Link to this Comment: 4197 |
To share, to learn, to grow, both as an individual and as a community. To not judge or be judged. To take part in a sex-education curriculum aimed specifically at your age group with your pleasure, safety, and happiness in mind. To take into account the range of identities and breadth of experiences within that group.
Our curriculum is created for use at The Bat Cave Center as an introduction to the community, in conjunction with Art Night. It relies heavily on art, literature, humor and personal composition as a medium for exploring sexualities and creating dialogue among new and established members. It is to be taught one night a week, coinciding with Art Night, by three senior members of the community, a man, a woman, and an individual identifying as transgendered. Within the curriculum works of art will be produced and developed, as well as a personal journal for recording ones reactions. Instructors will maintain a conversational atmosphere and feel comfortable relaying personal experiences as an equalizer in the group. The focus of the subject matter will be concerns ranging from safer sex with less of a focus on contraception, relationships, identity, and variation within the queer community. It will also cover information about sexually transmitted infections, prevention, and testing, both provided at The Bat Cave, and elsewhere. It's main purpose though is to create a fun, comfortable space where new members of the community can develop ties with one another, and thus, integrate more easily into the social atmosphere of The Bat Cave.
Preliminary lessons will be structured using the following resources:
Icebreakers
To be shared, played or read at the beginning of a class session to acclimate group members to the setting and topic. This time is to present information about sex not as scientific or academic, but through humor and fun!
www.sexabout.net
* Presents an informal array of information on birth control, sex therapy, sexual education, masturbation, and sexology. Also hosts an erotic art collection, fun sex tests, and sex games.
* Useful informative site in the language often used at the Bat Cave
Sex tests and erotic art can be used to introduce topics and site can be used as a reference
www.bettydodson.com
* An extensive positive site about everything sexual
* Has genital art that could be used to show anatomy and differences in people
* Focuses on thinking positively about sex
www.residentassistant.com/programming/sexual/sexchoices.htm
* A large selection of sexual oriented ice-breakers and games
* Could be used as a fun way to open meetings and create a comfortable environment to discuss sex in
Topic Initiators
Short stories, photos, and information to stimulate discussion. Students are encouraged to bring in their own examples the week before a topic is to be discussed.
Girl Goddess #9
Fransesca Lia Block
* Short stories
* Dragons in Manhattan- young girl with 2 moms goes on a search for long-lost dad and finds out that one of her moms is trans. Moreover, that they are her biological parents.
* Potential Trans resource.
Cunt: a declaration of independence
By Inga Muscio
* Great book in general for women looking to get in touch with their genitalia.
* Possible application during the affirmation section of the curriculum.
Early Embraces: True-life stories of women describing their first lesbian experience
Lindsey Elder, Ed.
* Collection of lesbian erotica
* Read in contrast with gay male erotica as stimulus for Art Night.
www.bettydodson.com
* An extensive positive site about everything sexual
* Has genital art that could be used to show anatomy and differences in people
* Focuses on thinking positively about sex
www.times10.org/gayyouth.htm
* A collection of articles and comic strips about being young and gay
* Fun way to introduce social issues surrounding sexual identity
www.wae.org
* Historical and modern erotic art and poetry
* Not so cool: need to buy a membership in order to access most of the site
* Could use art and poetry as a visual/audile method of introducing topics
www.sexabout.net
* Presents an informal array of information on birth control, sex therapy, sexual education, masturbation, and sexology. Also hosts an erotic art collection, fun sex tests, and sex games.
* Useful informative site in the language often used at the Bat Cave
Sex tests and erotic art can be used to introduce topics and site can be used as a reference
Contraception
Though the curriculum itself does not focus on heterosexual intercourse, there is a bisexual population at The Bat Cave for whom we would like to have information on site.
www.positive.org
* Presents sex in a positive light and written in a young colloquial fashion
* Useful definitions, diagrams, and explanations
* Could use some of these quote some of these sections and use the site as a reference for those that want additional information
www.sexabout.net
* Presents an informal array of information on birth control, sex therapy, sexual education, masturbation, and sexology. Also hosts an erotic art collection, fun sex tests, and sex games.
* Useful informative site in the language often used at the Bat Cave
Sex tests and erotic art can be used to introduce topics and site can be used as a reference
www.birthcontrol.com
* Presents the newest methods of birth control and efficiency of each
* Online ordering
* Great resource for short section on birth control in curriculum focused towards bi-sexuals
Sexual Etiquette 101...and more
Robert A. Hatcher, M.D., M.P.H., Robert Axelrod, Sarah Cates, Paige J. Levin, Terrance L. Wade
* Information about communication, relationships, safer sex, and birth control oriented around personal stories by young adults.
* Some of the stories could be used to introduce and make sexual issues more personal, and therefor important.
Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary
F.A. Davis
* Color pictures, descriptions, information of contraction of and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STI).
* Good reference for safer sex and STI sections in curriculum.
Safer Sex
A large focus both at The Bat Cave and within our curriculum, the safe sex portion of the curriculum is aimed specifically at the LGBTQ population. Including information on testing locations in Philadelphia, costs, and directions to these sites. The curriculum focuses discussion on relationships and responsibility.
It's Perfectly Normal!
* Great book for younger children about the basics of sex, relationships, STIs, etc.
* Might be a good opening activity "If you were going to teach your siblings about sex what would be the most important things to tell them?"
A Young Woman's Guide to Sex
Jacqueline Voss
* Somewhat dated, lots of basic info on STIs, emotional aspects of sex.
* Good resource to have on hand.
Teaching About Sexuality and HIV
Hedgepeth & Helmich
* Great resource about how to teach a sex-ed. curriculum, dealing with student comfort levels and group interactions.
Sexual Etiquette 101...and more
Robert A. Hatcher, M.D., M.P.H., Robert Axelrod, Sarah Cates, Paige J. Levin, Terrance L. Wade
* Information about communication, relationships, safer sex, and birth control oriented around personal stories by young adults.
* Some of the stories could be used to introduce and make sexual issues more personal, and therefor important.
Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary
F.A. Davis
* Color pictures, descriptions, information of contraction of and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STI).
* Good reference for safer sex and STI sections in curriculum.
www.positive.org
* Presents sex in a positive light and written in a young colloquial fashion
* Useful definitions, diagrams, and explanations
* Could use some of these quote some of these sections and use the site as a reference for those that want additional information
www.safersex.org
* Site on safer sex. Founded in part, by a bi-sexual, and therefor takes sexual minorities into account. Includes news in the safer sex world and personal stories. T
* Has instructions for use of different safer sex, articles assessing risks of different activities and how to decrease the chances of negative consequences.
* Personal conversations would help stimulate conversation and thought. Medical articles could be helpful in presenting a scientific viewpoint.
www.sexabout.net
* Presents an informal array of information on birth control, sex therapy, sexual education, masturbation, and sexology. Also hosts an erotic art collection, fun sex tests, and sex games.
* Useful informative site in the language often used at the Bat Cave
Sex tests and erotic art can be used to introduce topics and site can be used as a reference
Relationships
Probably the most difficult section to discuss, and one of the most important. Discussion will be focused primarily on respect, both for oneself and for ones partner(s). We would like to include some more sources that are specific to the age group, sexuality, and attitudes of the class itself.
A Young Woman's Guide to Sex
Jacqueline Voss
* Somewhat dated, lots of basic info on STIs, emotional aspects of sex.
* Good resource to have on hand.
It's Perfectly Normal!
* Great book for younger children about the basics of sex, relationships, STIs, etc.
* Might be a good opening activity "If you were going to teach your siblings about sex what would be the most important things to tell them?"
Sexual Etiquette 101...and more
Robert A. Hatcher, M.D., M.P.H., Robert Axelrod, Sarah Cates, Paige J. Levin, Terrance L. Wade
* Information about communication, relationships, safer sex, and birth control oriented around personal stories by young adults.
* Some of the stories could be used to introduce and make sexual issues more personal, and therefor important.
www.umkc.edu/sites/hsw/sexed.html
* Presented in a young and easily accessible fashion
* Address issues such as sexual identity, intimacy, relationships, and sexual myths
Another fantastic resource
Identity Affirmation
This is the section that is the most ignored by traditional sex-ed courses. Our goal is to address issues of sexual and social identity relating to gender and sexuality. Trouble with labels and acceptance in outside social circles and with ones family are primary concerns. Topics and materials for this part of the course will be adjusted according to the class make-up.
www.umkc.edu/sites/hsw/sexed.html
* Presented in a young and easily accessible fashion
* Address issues such as sexual identity, intimacy, relationships, and sexual myths
* Another fantastic resource
www.trans-health.com
* A fantastic site that addresses trans-sexuality in a positive light
* Would work well with identity affirmation section of curriculum
Changing Bodies, Changing Lives
Ruth Bell
* Sex-ed. curriculum textbook, somewhat dated photos, lots of text.
* Good, comprehensive resource, section about homosexuality.
* General use w/in curriculum, good resource to have on hand.
www.sexabout.net
* Presents an informal array of information on birth control, sex therapy, sexual education, masturbation, and sexology. Also hosts an erotic art collection, fun sex tests, and sex games.
* Useful informative site in the language often used at the Bat Cave
Sex tests and erotic art can be used to introduce topics and site can be used as a reference
www.bettydodson.com
* An extensive positive site about everything sexual
* Has genital art that could be used to show anatomy and differences in people
* Focuses on thinking positively about sex
The materials listed here provide a jumping-off point for our sex-ed course. We would like to see the learning coming more from classmate-to-classmate with the instructors acting as facilitators of discussion and activities, rather than as teachers. We hope to include within each evening of class, information from all angles. For example, a discussion on relationships would include ideas on safer sex and identity, as well as on boyfriends, girlfriends, and family. Every week will be multidisciplinary in its approach including movement exercises, art, food, music, and discussion as mediums for exchange. Future goals for the curriculum are to include specific discussions of 'outercourse', S&M relating to power and control, and love.
Though difficult to break away from the traditional format of sex-education, we look to the new members of The Bat Cave for guidance in what is most important to them relating to sex within the organization. Ultimately, our goal is to be of some assistance in providing information and contributing to the established safe haven that that The Bat Cave has always provided.
| The parable of positive sexuality Name: Iris Dicke Date: 2002-12-21 08:26:18 Link to this Comment: 4198 |
SEX. That evilness which soils our daughters and possesses our sons. SEX is that which drives sins such as adultery, coveting, bearing false witness, sodomy, worshiping false gods, and killing. It is the necessary evil tolerated only in blessed union of heterosexual married couples...for procreation: vanilla sex within wedlock. Take away any of these circumstances and it becomes a vile tool of the devil. Wow. It is a miracle any of us ever came to exist! Among the now middle aged catholic women is a disturbing trend of condoned bigotry. Sexuality, even sexual thoughts, is explicitly forbidden, therefor those that express their sexuality outside the church-prescribed method are acting sinfully.
How, then, does one go about educating this group about positive sexuality and diversity. How would one explain the virtue of sexual minorities and experimentation when the reply is always, "God said it was wrong." I do not mean to devalue religious beliefs, for they are admirable and important, however, when the point is reached where someone's sexual practices dictate their worth as a person, something is terribly wrong. However, broaching such topics is nearly impossible because even sex within marriage is referred to as "relations between husbands and wives," and nothing can be accomplished with a blunt approach. Therefor I present a parable, of my own creation, that I wish were part of the catholic dogma.
The Parable of the Flowering Seeds
A wandering stranger had a bag of mixed flower seeds. She had both perennials and annuls from various climates, each needing different conditions to their encourage growth. Through every land she drifted flower seeds would be scattered in her wake.
Some seeds buried themselves beneath soft soil, some fell on rocky ground, and others landed in puddles or lakes. The land they called home was desert, forest, mountain, ocean, or rainforest. The seeds needing direct sunlight lay dormant in the shade; those that grow in the water slept in the desert.
Therefore, it happened that when a seed fell into the correct conditions it would flourish and grow, blooming in splendid color and fragrance. The wanderer then traced over her steps and collected each seed that had not grown and continued to spread them until each of them bloomed in magnificence. Although each seed had different needs they all became beautiful flowers, and the wanderer forgot none.
| sex and polite conversation Name: Iris Dicke Date: 2002-12-21 08:44:27 Link to this Comment: 4199 |
Telephone conversation:
Mother: Hello dear, how was your day?
Daughter: Alright, I called Dad today.
Mother: REALLY? You havn't called him since you moved out! How did that go? Are you alright?
Daughter: Actually, it went pretty good. I've come to terms with what he did...I just needed him to know I don't think he's a pervert anymore.
Mother: Oh really? I wish you could help me with that. I do not know how.
Daughter: Well, I don't approve about the way he did it...you know...the big old secret and lying and such...but...I mean...if that's what he's into...whatever.
Mother: I do not know how you can say that! When your father and I had relations, before things began going bad between us, THAT was to be intimate with each other. This is just lust. It is the devil's work...and he brought it into our home.
Daughter: Well...what if things were good between the two of you and he had brought some pornography to bed for the two of you to look at together...like foreplay. Would you still think it was evil?
Mother: Yes! That is lust. Lust does not belong in a marriage. A marriage is holy and blessed by God...the point of relations between a man and women who are married and love each other is to procreate and be intimate with each other. Lust does not belong in that sort of relationship.
Daughter: But...you're supposed to WANT sex with your husband right? I mean...don't you ever look at him and just think "damn, he's got a hot bod...I want him now" giggles
Mother: NO! That is horrible. Intimacy between husband and wife is not what the media portrays it. That is evil. Intimacy is loving. There is no lust...and if a byb results it's blessing. Relations are strictly between a man and women in a natural way...and nothing else belongs in bed with them.
Daughter: So...I'm just wondering....I guess you don't believe in sex toys either?
Mother: Goodness no! Those are selfish things. They have no place in the marriage bed...I certainly hope you are not starting to do any experimenting!?
Daughter: Can't I have a conversation with my mother about sex?
Mother: Yes, of course dear...but your father just walked in....we had better change the suject. How the weather there?
The above is an example of the language that older catholic women use to express sex. Notice the use of "relations" and ""intimacy" in place of more "vulgar" or blunt words. The mother never actually says "pornography" or "sex." Her strong religious beliefs influence the way she talks about things. I am sure that this is even more open than she would ever consent to talk with anyone else except her daughter. Thus language is influenced by belief and moral upbringing.
