What was your sex education like in high school? For me, I went to a small Catholic school in Northern Kentucky. You can imagine what it was like: abstinence and nothing else. In addition to that, the curriculum on sexual anatomy, STIs, same sex relationships, and virtually anything else was nearly nonexistent. It was a small, half a semester long course that took place my freshman year of high school. I was 14, and no one (including myself) took it seriously. All I remember is the classroom erupting in laughter when we flipped the page to a diagram of a penis.
Flash forward four years, and it’s my freshman year of college. The campus is small, people are drinking every night on the weekend, and hookup culture is prevalent. In short, people are having sex. (Shocking!) After a full year of learning, hearing, experiencing, and soaking up Denison culture, it is easy to see how potentially dangerous it could be for students who had little to no sex education to be thrown into a college campus where sex is relevant. If writing workshops are required for every freshman to take so that they are ready for college academics, why shouldn’t sex education be held to the same standard?
safe
Introducing (It’s) My Pleasure. A close friend of mine and I decided to create this publication with the goal of students having access to information on a wide variety of sexual matters. The publication will discuss comprehensive sexual education (sex education that includes gender, sexual and reproductive health and HIV, sexual rights and citizenship, pleasure, violence, diversity, and relationships). This publication does not by any means take the place of a sex ed course, because we are not educators, but instead it will hopefully open a conversation on what is usually deemed as taboo. This is why it will be open to student contributions. There will be a staff of writers and editors, but in addition, submissions (anonymous or not) are always welcome!
We are hoping that with (It’s) My Pleasure, easily accessible information can be provided to students so that we can all have a sound base of knowledge. With students across the gender and sexuality spectrum sharing stories and experiences, we can become more diverse and aware campus. Sexual education is a human right: you as a human deserve access to knowledge, and then be able to act on that. With this, we can make Denison a safer and healthier campus and culture for students.
Want to get involved? Meetings for (It’s) My Pleasure will take place every Tuesday at 8pm in room 219. For more information or questions, contact us at itsmypleasure@denison.edu. Feel free to follow on Instagram, too @itsmypleasure_du!
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-great-northwest-haw… ation/comprehensive-sexuality-education