Sex and relationship education.

[Moussemoose]

A thread I inspired by another thread.

I work - think teacher but not quite - with young people from challenging backgrounds. Every year I have to deliver 'Sex and Relationship' education. When working with traditional groups, inner city boys and girls, we cover most issues you would expect and it is quite easy to add a feminist slant. Think indoctrination

The point of the thread is when dealing with boys and girls - we teach them this separately - from outside the UK (asylum seekers, economic migrants)
what are the key messages to get across from a feminist perspective?

You can't get everything across. You need to pick key points to focus on. You have to be non aggressive or you loose the whole message. Some don't know the basic facts of life.

At the moment I cover a lot but focus on:

1. basic biology
2. wear a condom
3. no means no

I'm going to integrate it more this year so will have a bit more scope. I want to cascade this to colleagues so we are all pushing the same message.

What will enable the women to control their lives and the boys to move towards a less patriarchal mindset? I say that because I am not going to win this battle just shift the ground a little we need to be realistic.

Biology: include diagrams with pubes, and also where the labia minora are of different sizes. State that all normal (some more visable than others). The kids seem to think a shaved vulva and non visable labia minora = normal.

Growth of the labia happens in puberty as well as growth of testes and penis.

You are more likely to catch all STIs except lice with shaved pubic hair.

JasmineGreen

Thankyou for your concern but we already work closely with a number of agencies. We are, in our own way, experts.

There are plenty of 'off the peg' schemes and themes available on the internet and they are a good place to start. However, to the dismay of more junior members of my team, I like planning to be bespoke.

I think staff should engage personally with planning rather than just downloading ideas from the internet. Each session needs differentiating to meet individual needs.

I am gathering ideas to fit into a detailed and thought out series of lessons, counseling sessions and workshops.

Asking for input from others is not a sign of weakness and lack of knowledge it is an acknowledgment that:

1. I don't know everything
2. MN has some excellent thinkers
3. there is always a resource your research hasn't found
4. women need to learn from the lived experiences of other women

The input so far is feeding into my planing. I'm not going to read the thread out and call it a session rest assured.

Jessesbitch

Now pubic hair is an area of interest. Arm pit and pubic hair removal is recommended by some strands of Islam - for men and women.

I am researching how common this is in the UK if anyone has anecdotal evidence it would be most welcome.