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| leading an educational session at the jail in 2014 |
I've been doing sex education stuff for right around 10 years now. I started by teaching my peers at Hastings High School and then at Hastings College and have continued into my time at UNMC. Honestly, it's probably been one of the only constant things in my life for that length of time (my love for Dally's is another). I predominantly volunteer between three facilities now providing education, testing, treatment and counseling about STI transmission and risk behavior reduction (reducing partners, increasing testing and condom use, etc.).
It's been a whole decade now and still I'm too frequently shocked at how little people know about such an important aspect of their health.
Last night, an adolescent was
stunned that a female had to take a birth control pill every day for it to be
effective (I guess he thought it was a one and done thing...?). Last week an
adult male was shocked that he could have passed a STI on to his wife after an
extramarital affair 8 months ago. I've had people much older than me explain
that you can use Welch's grape jelly (must be name brand) instead of a condom
to prevent STI transmission and unintended pregnancy (**for the record, that's
straight up NOT true**).
But then sometimes you
find out that some of what you teach is sinking in too. It was amazing to have
youth in a detention facility explain to me what consent meant last night. They could list which STIs were curable and where to go to get tested for them. It may
have only been 11 teenage boys, but they are a high-risk population and its
especially important for them to understand. Another opened up about the experience
of finding out his girlfriend was pregnant and the next steps they were able to take because they had worked through these scenarios in our educational sessions previously. These youth remind me over and over
that they are desperately wanting to learn about their health in a safe environment and in
an accurate way.
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| youth corrections volunteers |
The educational session with the whole unit went smoothly; excellent questions and participation from the women. Then we split up to take individual risk histories and to offer the chlamydia and gonorrhea testing. One woman came to me to tell me about her storied past as a victim of all sorts of domestic violence and sexual assault. She was infected with HIV at some point during the abuse and also had a child (he was HIV-) whom was taken away from her as she tried to flee the abuse. We continued talking for quite some time and at the end she declined being tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea and instead told me something I will never forget... "I just wanted to come talk to you so you could hear my story and so that someone will remember me some day." Hers is/was an all too common story of many social factors working against her, but that wasn't the point she wanted to make.
She just wanted to emphasize the fact that providing a place for these conversations is imperative.
And now, ten years later, I'm more convinced than ever that sexuality education is important. But I know now that it's much more than just teaching facts and dismantling myths. People of all ages, but teens especially, are craving a truly safe and nonjudgmental space to discuss this deeply personal piece of their lives and to ask questions in a meaningful way.
The misinformation and questions can still shock and frustrate me, but nonetheless I'm honored that people welcome me into conversation about this part of their lives. Here's to another decade of facts, myths, risk reduction counseling, and outrageous questions.
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| presenting our research at the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement Conference in 2013 |
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| presenting our research at the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality in 2014 |
