When I tell people that I teach sex education, I often get a response along the lines of, “Well there isn’t really much to teach, is there?” But the thing is, this content often IS complicated. Perhaps at first glance the physical act of penile-vaginal intercourse is relatively straightforward, but many other things just aren’t. [...]
Archives for sex education
Returning to the world of blogging
Those of you who are regular readers may have noticed that for the last year or so I’ve written only sporadically - until the last few weeks. I’m trying to get myself back into a schedule of blogging three times a week.
As I was sitting her, pondering what to write about, I realized that I [...]
My sex ed magic wand
Today I have been pondering how to best provide high quality comprehensive sexuality education in a school setting. If I could wave a magic wand and design a program for all young people, what would it look like? Here is a general outline:
I would provide a semester of sexuality education to all students in the [...]
Teenagers and vibrators
This summer seems to be the summer of teenagers contacting me about how to get a vibrator. I have gotten at least a few comments or e-mails every week, and sometimes every day, from young women who want help getting a vibrator. (I have also gotten the occasional e-mail from a young man interested in [...]
My upcoming Middle School, High School, and Parenting Classes
Now that the second week of school has started, I hope everyone’s schedule is settling down. I have a number of sexuality education classes for parents and youth starting soon:
Comprehensive sexuality education for middle school age students
Comprehensive sexuality education for high school age students
Parenting class regarding 7 - 12 year olds and sexuality
Parenting [...]
Oh, the questions they ask!
I have a Jar’o’sex. It’s actually an old applesauce jar that I’ve painted with those words. I pass the Jar around my college Human Sexuality classes, especially toward the beginning of the semester, and have students drop in anonymous questions. (I have a similar process with my younger students, but we use a different container.) [...]
Everything you always wanted to know about sex…by Dr. Karen Rayne
Next week I will be speaking at an event for middle and high school students. I will spend an hour answering every question that the high school students can throw at me. I did this last year, and while very educational, useful, and probably the most intensive and informative sexuality education that these young people [...]
Why we don’t talk about it
The thing about sex is that it can be powerful, overwhelming, and leave us at our most fragile and vulnerable. This inevitably carries over to our conversations about it. We’re able to joke about sex, because that does not reveal how truly defenseless we can be in our sexuality. But to talk honestly about sex, [...]
The problem with photoshop
I’ve been talking a lot about media recently, so I’m just going to go with that and keep it up. There is just so much to say on the topic that once I get going it’s hard to stop. Last week I presented my new group of college students with their Sexuality in the Media [...]
Sexuality in the Media Wednesday!
I have been terribly remiss in posting the truly outstanding projects that my students have created the past few semesters. I want to address that, so I am going to post one of the media images my students created each Wednesday for the next few weeks.
First, and most prominently, a song. Last summer [...]
