April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month→

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April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month

Helping Survivors* is an organization on a mission to help heal, educate, and empower people who have been impacted by sexual assault and abuse. They have provided us with a really important resource addressing the difficult topic of child sexual abuse.


Key Takeaways

  • While child sexual abuse can happen to anyone and be perpetrated by anyone, it often occurs with someone the child knows and can take many forms

  • Child sexual abuse often occurs after building trust or grooming a child and the abuse can span over years, often starting subtly

  • Survivors of childhood sexual abuse have rights and options, and many states are lifting or expanding the statute of limitations

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How To Talk With Your Kids About Porn, a book review by Beth Rendeiro

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How To Talk With Your Kids About Porn, a book review by Beth Rendeiro

How to Talk With Your Kids About Porn is a book all of us should read. Although the term “porn”, referring to pornography, is in the title…and we do learn a lot about the current state of porn…the most important takeaway from this book is its emphasis on the need for communicating with young people. This is a book that’s accessible, non-judgmental, inclusive and fun to read. It offers a how-to format that guides us step-by-step toward becoming better communicators about sex, sexuality, media literacy and porn, describing different ages and stages and the topics and approaches that work best at each age. It helps us think, broadly, about online safety  and general sex education while honing in on the topic of porn.

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Bodily Autonomy is a Fundamental Human Right

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Bodily Autonomy is a Fundamental Human Right

We help children develop an understanding of autonomy so that they recognize that they are unique, independent and capable.

Children have a right to live free from physical acts, such as touch, to which they do not consent. And to reinforce the right to bodily autonomy in all the spaces that children exist, we make it clear to the parents, caregivers and educators that bodily autonomy requires respecting boundaries, affirmative consent, and self-defined personal comfort with affectionate touch.

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Talk With Your Kids Month: no one ever said it was easy…

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Talk With Your Kids Month: no one ever said it was easy…

October is “Talk with your kids” month, and we encourage you to consider the wide number of intersecting topics that affect our understanding of human sexuality, and how we communicate these complexities to our children. 

In order to be comprehensive, sex education needs to cover many, many subjects, but we  can’t do it all at once. And it’s okay to focus on one thing at a time. A focus is not an exclusion. Just because we might be thinking and learning about Intersex Awareness issues on Oct 26, for example, doesn’t mean we can’t make connections between intersex identities and what we know, or want to learn, about mental health, or periods, or vasectomies, or AIDS, or menopause.

read on for a list of awareness days in the month of October that could inspire a conversation:


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Have you checked out all the resources for parents at Amaze.org?

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Since its debut in September 2016, AMAZE has published well over a hundred educational videos on topics including puberty, gender identity and expression, pregnancy and reproduction, healthy relationships, STIs and HIV, sexual orientation, and personal safety, to its YouTube channel and website. 

To reach youth, educators, and parents, Amaze content is published on five social media platforms: YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. 

Parents and caregivers can preview every video and curate a playlist of videos they want to share with their kids. It really is an incredible resource!

Check out this series for parents and caregivers on “having the talks”. https://amaze.org/having-the-talks/


 Beginning A Unique Journey Toward Parenthood

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 Beginning A Unique Journey Toward Parenthood

At More Than Sex-Ed, we recognize that there are many ways in which people become parents, including adoption, pregnancy, fertility treatments, sperm donation, and surrogacy. We support each person’s right to choose to have children or not. And we are grateful that MTSE Advisory Board Member Cara Quant, MD, is sharing her story with us here:

I’m a Black female physician in a same sex relationship, and I often find myself checking off many diversity boxes. My wife and I have come to the point where we desire children and know that the journey we are about to embark on is one not encountered by many. This blog post is about the beginning of our unique journey to conceive a child and our goal in sharing our story is to empower other same sex couples who want to have children.

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Kids and Crushes: Some Guidelines for Navigating Big Feelings in Little Ones

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Kids and Crushes: Some Guidelines for Navigating Big Feelings in Little Ones

We debuted a brand new workshop this month for a school whose elementary teachers wanted to get on the same page about young children with crushes, and healthy ways to respond. Lots of parents, caregivers, and educators have seen this social development, somewhere between preschool and 5th or 6th grade: having a crush, liking someone, maybe wanting to marry them, and then frequently a change of feelings and a new interest. It’s perfectly normal, at any age, and yes we agree that it’s often unbelievably cute. But the feelings are real and can be potent, so it’s important for trusted adults to not dismiss or minimize them—take advantage of the opportunity to affirm, normalize, build trust, and teach consent.

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Sex and Fantasy Suites–by MTSE Master’s Degree Candidate Intern, Nayla Lee

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Sex and Fantasy Suites–by MTSE Master’s Degree Candidate Intern, Nayla Lee

My first reaction to finding out about the fantasy suites on The Bachelor was disbelief. It was the late Spring of 2018, and I was in a hotel room in Detroit at a Planned Parenthood conference. I was reeling from a breakup and had only recently decided to throw myself into the arms of the 14th Bachelorette, Becca Kufrin. My assigned roommate, a stranger, asked if I was looking forward to fantasy suites in the upcoming episode. I didn’t know what she was talking about-- I was not yet the Bachelor historian that I am now.


I was floored when she explained fantasy suites as “the place where the contestants have sex.”


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The Questions Students Are Asking — and why they’re important! By Guest Blogger Sam Joson

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The Questions Students Are Asking — and why they’re important! By Guest Blogger Sam Joson

More Than Sex-Ed gives students the opportunity to ask questions anonymously after each class session. Sure, there’s always a fair number of troll questions, but most of them truly show the different ways young people are learning to move through the world. Below, we explore the kinds of questions students are asking by grade level and why it’s important to pay attention to what they want to know.

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Auntie Lou is a cheek pincher. Nobody wants to sit next to her at Thanksgiving.→

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Auntie Lou is a cheek pincher. Nobody wants to sit next to her at Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is coming! Grammy, Grandpop! Aunties, Uncles, Cousins! Yay! We love those big, boisterous family and friend gatherings! Hugs and all the feels throughout the winter holiday season! Yay! Right? Of course we want our kids to have warm and loving relationships in our circle of friends and family. Of course we want Auntie Lou and all our venerable elders to feel honored and respected at these important get-togethers. But,

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Program Director Emmalinda MacLean says: Come to My Birthday Party!

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Program Director Emmalinda MacLean says: Come to My Birthday Party!

I’m turning 32 tomorrow, and all I want for my birthday is for children to learn about consent and bodily autonomy.  You can help make my birthday wish come true by clicking on the link here and purchasing this beautiful and empowering read-aloud for a child in your life, or a school in our community! 

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"Everybody, Every Body": More Than Sex-Ed Publishes Our First Book!

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"Everybody, Every Body": More Than Sex-Ed Publishes Our First Book!

More than Sex-Ed is proud to say we are publishing a perfect read-aloud book for children and their favorite adults. With your help we can get this book out in the new year!

“Everybody, Every Body” is a colorful picture book that explores what it means to live in a body, and celebrates—in a child-friendly way—the range of wonderful feelings and experiences our bodies can give us.  It also gently nudges adult readers to support their child’s developing sense of bodily autonomy, consent, and the right to personal space. 

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Seven Ways to Have Better Conversations with Your Child About Sex (and Everything Else!)

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Seven Ways to Have Better Conversations with Your Child About Sex (and Everything Else!)

A central part of More Than Sex-Ed’s mission is to support parents in providing their children with the healthiest possible messages about sexuality—and we know that even the most caring and open-minded parents can struggle with this.  The good news is, no single “talk” will make or break your teen’s self-confidence or decision-making skills; the best thing you can do is cultivate open, honest, ongoing dialogue about everything.  Sex talk, when your child is ready, will grow out of that.  Here are some tips we hope may be useful:

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From the Huffington Post: "How Sex Educators Talk to Their Sons About Consent"→

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From the Huffington Post: "How Sex Educators Talk to Their Sons About Consent"

It is abundantly clear that as a society we still have lots of work to do on the topic of Consent. 

We really love this article by Caroline Bologna in the Huffington Post: "How Sex Educators Talk to Their Sons About Consent", and highly recommend you give it a read.

No matter the gender of the kids you may or may not have, the advice is spot on. Here's a couple of important points:

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