We’ve Gotta Talk About Sex!
Honest, fact-based, comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, inclusive conversation about healthy sexuality
Mister Rogers was such a powerful force for good in the world. I watched the recent documentary about him, and was so struck by his profound ability to listen.
His resonant message is that when our culture becomes increasingly shallow and complicated, we need to find the deep and simple.
Which made me reflect on our mission at More Than Sex-Ed.
Read MoreA 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:
Read MoreIt 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:
Read MoreOne boy in the circle had a deeply thoughtful expression on his face.
Eyebrows knit together, he raised his hand.
“So . . . if you ask somebody if they want to have sex, and they say no . . . can you still say, like, ‘ok, do you want to cuddle?’ Like, is that okay?”
Read MoreLet’s consider just how much of our life experience involves sexuality. What else consumes our thoughts the way that longing for intimacy and sexual fulfillment does? How preoccupied as adolescents are we with our sexual identity and worries about whether we are normal? How much of middle and high school is spent navigating the turbulence of attraction and relationships? And that’s only the segue into what we hope is lifelong healthy sexuality!
Read MoreBay area Health-Connected.org is a Northern Californian health and education organization that has been doing fantastic work for 20 years. They have just rolled out a bunch of new resources on their website for parents that we know you are gonna love!
Read MoreIt is important to note that that South Korea ranks low on gender equality according to the World Economic Forum. This low ranking might also be a symptom of how sex education is taught in public schools.
Read MoreMany parents worry about “screen time”. Health risks, developmental impact, and privacy/safety concerns all loom large over the negotiations between parents and kids about media use.
Read MoreMore Than Sex-Ed loves reading about the ways parents step up and speak with their kids about healthy sexuality. Suzanne Weerts' past personal experiences with sex education have motivated her "to be open and honest" with her own children.
Read More" I don’t think the school was part of a nefarious plot. Why did they ignore Koetters’ behavior? Was it a combination of indifference, ambivalence, assumptions about teenage girls’ proclivity for drama, and fear of getting into a lawsuit? Regardless, by ignoring allegations from students over the years, the school sent a message to young women: sit down, shut up, and suffer male entitlement. "
Read More"The teen, from an unidentified country, is currently detained in Texas and 15 weeks pregnant. She entered the United States without any family in September and was immediately detained by the government and placed in a shelter. "
Read MoreFlower, wee wee, winkie, tootie, hoo hoo, noodle, ding ding, front bum. Spend any quality time with the preschool set and you are likely to hear all manner of colorful vocabulary for body parts.
Read MoreNPR's David Green and Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, discuss the recent move by the Trump Administration to allow employers to refuse contraception coverage for their employees based on religious grounds.
Read More"In Ohio, people under 18 who are in labor cannot consent to their own health care. They can receive emergency services, but nothing considered to be elective. For the many Ohio minors who become pregnant, it's a painful gap in coverage."
Read MoreHalloween is approaching! This is an excellent opportunity to embrace and celebrate our inner beings, alter egos, and true selves with gusto, confidence, and flare. Too bad Halloween doesn’t happen more often, right?!
Read MoreThe new app, tbh or "to be honest", is currently one of the most popular apps on the itunes store. Taking a different approach, tbh encourages "users - mostly teenagers and young adults - to comment anonymously about their friends and peers."
Read MoreA recent NY Times article explores the policy of abstinence only sex education as driven by politics. Aaron E. Carroll explains that the current administration has deviated from funding sex education programs that are effective based on evidence outcomes. Although federal support for abstinence based education had increased in the past administrations, the requirement for sex education to be taught in schools had actually fallen "to 48 percent from 67 percent."
Read MoreThe Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) had just recently reworked their sex education to be more inclusive. The new program will be taught in fourth, fifth and sixth grade at select schools. If this pilot program has not reach your school yet, More Than Sex Ed can help!
Read MoreHeather Doyle of UUWorld.org recently interviewed MTSE co-founder Jill Herbertson about the connection between Our Whole Lives Curriculum and MTSE's community outreach.
Read MoreAccording to NPR, Abstinence-only sex education is unethical and ineffective in reducing rates of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Laura Lindberg of Guttmacher Institute notes "that abstinence-only education programs don't succeed in reducing rates of teen pregnancies or STDs." In fact, Lindberg states that the approach "have little demonstrated efficacy in helping adolescents to delay intercourse".
Read MoreMORE THAN SEX-ED is an educational outreach initiative. Our goal is to partner with groups in our community who already serve youth, in order to create and implement sexuality education programs based on guidelines set by the Sexuality Information Education Council of the United States.
a Los Angeles area non-profit project of
Mailing address:
7439 La Palma Ave, Box #265
Buena Park, CA 90620
909-257-8714
Community Partners EIN: 95-4302067
