My hope for the future of sex education is to create a world where we love and accept ourselves and others exactly as we are. A world where we are empowered by our sexuality enabling each of us to live fully expressed, happy and healthy lives. A world that comprehensive sexuality education is truly all-inclusive and goes beyond preventative education. Incorporating mindfulness into our curricula will provide youth with a layer that most education programs miss the mark on, being able to tune into and voice how we feel and what want and need. This is what drives healthy decision-making in relationships and with sex. While there is much work that we as individuals can do to build that within ourselves, the systemic problems we face with sexism, misogyny, homophobia, gender inequality, and many other types of degradation and oppression need to shift.
We learn about sexuality from many sources as we grow, our families, religion, school, our peers, and the media to name a few. Part of the problem is that the messages we receive are often conflicting for us as we develop, not leaving us with a strong foundation of values around our sexuality, often leaving us riddled with confusion, shame, and guilt. We are in a sexually saturated world, yet one that is quite repressed. We need to start constructing those messages and values from birth by providing parents with the tools to truly understand sexuality and how to provide developmentally appropriate messages. We need to normalize that sexuality is an integral part of who we are as humans. To celebrate that it is a lifelong, living breathing part of us that ebbs and flows throughout our lifetime and that it’s just as important to encourage a healthy sex life when we are 80 as it is to celebrate a baby finding their genitals the same as we do when they discover their toes. Once we can instill this sense of health at home, we will have an easier time facilitating this kind of curricula in schools.
One significant part of the reason why our schools tend to be resistant to implementing comprehensive curricula is due to the fear of backlash from parents. So, if we are able to provide parents with support and education around creating sexually healthy homes, we can translate it into our classrooms. School districts play an important role in this as they can be offering parent education programs that complement their already existing health education programs and providing them with the language and skills to encourage healthy sexuality in our kids, which will, in turn, create happier and healthier parents. Parents are partners in education, and our educational systems need to provide the support parents need to help nurture our youth into sexually healthy adults.
Heather Simonson founded Sea Change Holistic Wellness Center to support the overall wellness for mothers and mothers to be in Long Island. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator and Sex Therapist and was voted as Long Island’s Best Sex Therapist. Heather’s education and experience in both counseling and health education, combined with her knowledge of integrative therapeutic techniques enable her to employ a truly holistic perspective of healing. She draws from both eastern and western practices in her powerful work with clients providing individual, couples, and family counseling for people of all ages and abilities. To learn more about Heather and her mission, read more here.
