The state of sex education in the United States is a policy maelstrom: hotly debated, constantly churning, never resolved. And yet of all curriculum taught in schools, there is arguably no other topic more relevant or more universally applicable. It is one of the few times at school when the hidden curriculum reveals itself: Students are explicitly taught how to relate with others, how to care for themselves, how to move through society with respect and agency.
A comprehensive sex education program should—at the very least—teach children about asking for consent, recognizing predatory behavior, and identifying their own bodily autonomy. A further goal should be to help students think critically about power structures, gender norms, and sexual identity. Failing to meet these standards doesn’t shield students from adverse outcomes; rather, it leaves them vulnerable to suffering from or even repeating patterns of sexual violence.
Formal education is a primary tool of cultural reproduction, in which a society’s norms, values, and behaviors are transmitted across generations. In this way, sex education and sexual violence are inexorably linked—the failures of one lead to the proliferation of the other. I created this portfolio to explore this relationship, examining the ways in which theory, research, policy, and community interact and impact this cultural development.
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My portfolio didn’t start as an examination of sex education and sexual violence. The paid research work I completed while at Vanderbilt didn’t relate to that; I didn’t even take a gender studies class. Why would I choose to reflect my master’s experience through a topic I had never formally studied?
But as I began planning my portfolio, my initial plans didn’t feel right. They didn’t inspire me. And eventually I reflected back to why I first decided to go back to school. It wasn’t to “find my passion,” but to learn new skills to do the work about which I was already passionate.
I’ve never held a full-time job related to women’s health and reproductive rights, but it’s also never been far from my path. An early home video shows me marching around my parents’ basement, holding a pro-choice sign as I chant the slogan. I’ve volunteered as a crisis response advocate and hotline responder for victims of sexual and family trauma, as a clinic greeter for Planned Parenthood, as an instructional coordinator teaching young people about healthy relationships, as a constituent lobbying for state legislation to help mothers in the corrections system care for their children. My social media and Internet history are replete with media and research articles on bystander intervention, black women’s maternal health, access to abortion clinics, protective networks for sex workers.
My completed portfolio, then, reflects these commitments in new ways, using the skills I learned at Vanderbilt. Living in Nashville put me in touch with new networks of people who inspired and motivated me—I interview one such person in my podcast on Title IX changes and campus sexual assault. Incorporating my professors’ exhaustive feedback on my in-class policy writing, my policy memo reflects research I conducted as an intern with Advocates for Women’s and Kids’ Equality. As part of a Vanderbilt anthropology class, I submitted a proposal and subsequently conducted an IRB-approved online survey on the extent to which young adults responded to their sex education curriculum; my research brief presents a condensed version of these results and analyses. Lastly, I explore the social construction of target populations in my opinion editorial, relating this prominent policy theory to current events in the #MeToo movement.
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In addition to the sources listed in each individual element of my portfolios, the following were key sources guiding my overall journey of discovery and creation.
Books
Carlson, D., & Roseboro, D. L. (Eds.). (2011). The Sexuality Curriculum and Youth Culture. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Articles
Cashin, A., & Weissbourd, R. (2017, October 16). Sexual harassment among teens is pervasive: Here are 6 ways parents can help change that.
The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Garsd, J. (2015, June 1). Beyond the birds and the bees: Surviving sex ed today. National Public Radio. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/
Svrluga, S., & Anderson, N. (2017, September 7). DeVos decries ‘failed system’ on campus sexual assault, vows to replace it. The Washington
Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Yoffe, E. (2017, September 6). The uncomfortable truth about campus rape policy. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/
Research & Data
Guttmacher Institute. (2017, September). American Adolescents’ Sources of Sexual Health Information. Retrieved from http://www.guttmacher.org/
Guttmacher Institute. (2017, October 1). Sex and HIV Education: State Laws and Policies. Retrieved from http://www.guttmacher.org/
Santelli, J. S. et al. (2017). Abstinence-only-until-marriage: An updated review of U.S. policies and programs and their impact. Journal of Adolescent Health, 61(3), 273-280.
Weissbourd, R., Anderson, T. R., Cashin, A., and McIntyre, J. (2017). The talk: How adults can promote young people’s healthy relationships and prevent misogyny and sexual harassment. Retrieved from Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Making Caring Common Project: https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/
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