Congratulations to original authors Peggy Brick, Steve Brown, Cathy Charleton, and Hillary Kunins; to editors Susan Milstein, Sue Montfort, and Bill Taverner; and to the more than 50 individuals who contributed lesson plans or served on the editorial advisory board. Read on for an excerpt from the Foreword by Peggy Brick.
Welcoming a 50-Lesson Teaching Safer Sex
From the Foreword to Teaching Safer Sex
by Peggy Brick
Teaching Safer Sex may be the most important contribution the CFLE has made to the pedagogy
of sexuality education. It was 1988 when most HIV/AIDS education was about
epidemiology and the function of T-cells that the CFLE created its
groundbreaking first edition of Teaching
Safer Sex. Ten years later, many of
the innovative strategies from that manual were classics in the field and had
been incorporated into hundreds of curricula that aimed to develop the
motivation, knowledge, comfort and skills essential for safer sex behaviors. It
was time for a second edition, and The
NEW Teaching Safer Sex aimed to
expand the scope of safer sex education to include the social context of
people’s sexual behavior. Paulo Freire’s ideas put forward in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed were important in the development of the new
manual, which recognized that in a society so dangerously ambivalent about
teaching its young people about their sexual safety, they needed to learn about
the powerful societal, as well as personal, barriers to healthy sexual behavior.
Twenty lessons were designed to promote critical consciousness about social
messages as well to create a climate where communication about sexuality is
normal and the use of safer sex is the expected behavior.
Now, almost 15 years later, it takes 50 lessons in
two volumes to address the complex and changing world of sexual safety. The third
edition of Teaching Safer Sex is awesome and
it is a challenge! It requires educators to think seriously about the real
needs of the people they teach and to decide which of this plethora of lessons
will best help their students live a safe sexual life. In addition to now-classic
lessons from the earlier editions, the third edition is greatly enhanced by
lessons created by more than twenty educators with experiences from across the
nation. Imaginative new lessons by the CFLE’s unique team of educators expand
the definition of sexual safety and
address new technologies, relationships and other issues that have profoundly
altered the sexual milieu. They have produced a truly comprehensive approach to
safer sex education.
The comprehensive introductory section undergirds
the entire manual by establishing “Principles for Sex Education,” “Goals and
Objectives for Safer Sex Education” and the process for “Creating a Supportive
Environment.” Dedicated attention to these basics is essential for the success
of every lesson. And, by wisely putting “How to Use Role-Play” up front, the
editors have recognized the vital importance of role-play. Rehearsal of
difficult, real-life situations that are identified by the students themselves
may be the most powerful way to develop the insights and skills needed for
safer sex. Every sexuality educator will be rewarded by developing the ability
to facilitate role-play effectively.
Two new lessons, “Defining Sexual Health” and
“Sexual Health in Prime Time” provide a solid foundation for other lessons.
Other new lessons reveal the radical changes in the sexual environment of youth
today by examining the technological world relevant to their lives. I wonder
how educators can choose! Will their students learn about “Practicing Safe
Text,” “Sex, Sex, Everywhere!: Sexually Explicit Media and Teens,” or “Safer
Cyber Sex: Exploring Online Relationships”? Lucky are the students who
experience all three!
New lessons such as “How Could That Be?: A Lesson About
Identity, Behavior, Perception and Risk” reflect our growing awareness of the
particular risks faced by lesbian, gay and bisexual youth. “Inclusive Safer
Sex” goes further by focusing on various sex acts rather than the identities of
people performing them and provides lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and
intersex people with specific affirming examples. How fortunate the editors
were able to engage the expertise of educators with such profound understanding
of the unique educational needs of these populations.
New, too, is the inclusion of a lesson on “Teaching
Condom Use to an Audience with Special Needs” which targets moderate- to high-functioning
individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. By validating
their right to safer sex information, Teaching
Safer Sex affirms people whose sexuality is often discounted or ignored.
The felicitous expansion of Teaching Safer Sex has required it to address a number of
controversial topics. Educators must choose lessons wisely in order to provide
as much education as possible, while remembering that not every lesson is
appropriate for every audience. Remember, most important is to develop
students’ critical consciousness and help them feel in control of their sexual
lives, even if you are unable to use some of the most innovative lessons in Teaching Safer Sex.
So, what’s controversial? To start with,
“Masturbation: A Safe, but Touchy Subject” — a most important lesson validating
a common behavior that leaves many people feeling guilty — but advocating it
got a U.S. Surgeon General fired. “Sensually Sexy Safer Sex” promoting the
pleasurable aspects of condoms is another. Advocating pleasure? Many people
prefer a fear-based approach to sexuality education as brilliantly examined in
“Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!: Examining Fear-Based Methods in STI Prevention.”
“Rethinking Withdrawal” will also raise controversy by challenging the absolute
denunciation of “pulling out.” Like many Teaching
Safer Sex lessons, it provides accurate information and respects young
people’s ability to understand that sexual decisions are complex and require
thoughtful decision-making.
“Oral Sex and Abstinence” is one of my favorite
lessons because it provides participants an opportunity to clarify their
beliefs not only about oral sex but about the meaning of intimacy. It will
provoke important discussions. Finally, “Securing the Back Door: A Guide to
Safer Anal Sex” reveals the determination of these editors to include a lesson
needed by some educators if they are to truly meet the safety needs of their
students. I commend them.
But surely the most famous of these fifty lessons is
the joyous “’You’re Out, Baseball!’ A Healthier, More Equitable and Safer Model
for Sexuality Activity” by Al Vernacchio, who was featured in the New York Times Magazine cover story,
“Teaching Good Sex” on November 20, 2011. Vernacchio builds on concepts
introduced by Deborah Roffman to challenge the popular “baseball” model of
sexual behavior and thus exemplifies how the lessons of Teaching Safer Sex aim to help young people be critical of
pervasive social attitudes that undermine their potential for sexual health.
Twenty-three years ago the original Teaching
Safer Sex revolutionized the way educators teach about
safer sex in the time of HIV/AIDS. Bill Taverner, Susan Milstein and Sue
Montfort continue the tradition by creating a manual that responds to the
present needs of varied educators, serving varied populations, with varied
risks. Congratulations to the editors, to Triste Brooks, president and CEO of
this Planned Parenthood affiliate, for her crucial support, and to the
remarkable board of directors. Their EASE (Ensuring Access to Sex Education)
endowment fund has demonstrated the organization’s solid support for the CFLE’s
vital national leadership in sexuality education.
_________________________________________________________________________________There will be a book-signing at the AASECT conference in Miami, June 5th - 9th, 2013.
Visit the CFLE's National Sex Ed Conference December 11-13th, at the Sheraton Meadowlands, in East Rutherford, NJ, just 15 minutes from New York City and 10 minutes from the Newark International Airport.
www.SexEdConference.com
