I am so sorry to be so far behind on posts! My presence here has been truly abysmal, but I promise there are good reasons for it – I am currently teaching five regular classes, the occasional one-time class, working on my book, and trying to keep my personal life in some sort of order. Why is May always such a very full month?
I have three particular posts in mind that I am looking forward to writing:
- My middle school classes start with students who skillfully maneuver their way around words like “sex” and “penis” – and often stop cold mid-sentence when they see a word like “oral sex” looming on the horizon. Not all students feel this way, of course, but many do. By the end of the classes, though, we are having full conversations using proper words. It is a wonderful transition to watch!
- Earlier this week I presented a one-time class to a group of foster kids. They were amazing – interested, engaged, open, completely unembarrassed, and full of questions! What a great experience it was for me – and I hope for them too.
- Sexual harassment is prevalent in many middle and high schools – maybe even most of them. But in two recent classes I led on the topic, the students started off believing that sexual harassment was not present in their schools. Then I started asking what they thought sexual harassment was, and we talked in depth about specific examples of what constitutes sexual harassment. By the end of the conversations, all of the students in both classes had reassessed their schools, to say sexual harassment was highly prevalent. It seems that many young people know that sexual harassment is bad, but they don’t know what it really is, they don’t know why it is a problem, and they don’t know what to do about it when they do see it. There needs to be major education on this topic that just isn’t happening in many of our schools – and I think I know why it isn’t happening.
Hopefully things will calm down around here over the next week or two, as four of my classes wind down, and I will be able to address these three topics and more!
Hi Karen,
I’d like to do a post quoting item #3. I’m pretty sure you have more you could say about it but that paragraph seems a) pretty standalone, b) pretty important for anyone in school or who knows someone in school. Oh, and c) everyone else who’s got only a peripheral understanding of sexual harassment.
I occurs to me that teaching harassment in school takes away some of the anxiety/stigma that seems to afflict, especially, a lot of men when harassment training is assigned in college or work situations. Even though the same conditions usually apply: adults very often know it’s bad, have a good idea of what really egregious cases might be, but don’t necessarily know where they stand. And, I’ve noticed, corporate and even campus training is resisted for various reasons.
Whereas if it’s just part of the sex education curriculum it’s just part of the curriculum and not a reaction to an incident report, suit, or job action. And so they’re likely to be pretty open to hearing about it.
Anyway, I can wait till you do a longer post. Otherwise may I quote #3 with a link to your site?
Take care,
figleaf
May 22, 2009 @ 8:31 am
[…] weeks ago, I wrote a little post where I outlined three topics I wanted to revisit in longer posts, but didn’t have the time […]
May 26, 2009 @ 12:52 pm
Done, figleaf! You can see the full post here: http://karenrayne.com/2009/05/26/sexual-harassment-is-bad-waitwhat-is-it-again/
May 26, 2009 @ 12:53 pm