Parents and Caregivers as Sexuality Educators
Resources from Workshop 1: General Information and Starting Points
- For Goodness Sex: Changing the Way We Talk to Teens About Sexuality, Values, and Health by Al Vernacchio. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, 2014.
- From Diapers to Dating: A Parent's Guide to Raising Sexually Healthy Children--from Infancy to Middle School by Debra W. Haffner. Newmarket Press, New York, NY, 2008.
- Sexuality Talking Points: A Guide to Thoughtful Conversations Among Parents and Children by Melanie Davis. Honest Exchange, Somerville, NJ, 2013.
- Talk to Me First: Everything You Need to Know to Become Your Kids Go-To Person about Sex by Deborah Roffman. Da Capo Press, Boston, MA, 2012.
More Information and Next Steps
- Unhushed, the website of sexuality educator Dr. Karen Rayne, whose mission is to break-through the social silence and stigma surrounding sexuality and [invite] parents and youth to engage in self-reflection, conversation, and dialogue, http://www.unhushed.net/blog
- Tools for Parents, offered by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, http://www.plannedparenthood.org/parents
- Parents Sex Ed Center, offered by Advocates for Youth, http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/parents
- Programs & Resources for Parents & Caregivers, offered by Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-southwestern-oregon/local-training-education/programs-resources-parents-caregivers
Resources from Workshop 2: Communication
- Talking to Kids About Sexuality, frequently asked questions and guidance offered by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/parents/talking-to-kids-about-sex-and-sexuality
- Sex Ed: Teens: Advice for Parents, video interviews with teens discussing how parents can communicate better with their children on the topic of sex education, offered by Planned Parenthood of Montana, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRM6WzFonjk
- Parenting Tips: A Tool for Talking about Sex, Introduction, several videos on talking with your teens about sex, offered by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKyhsARetVs
Resources from Workshop 3: Sexual Health
- Scarleteen.com, an online resource for sexuality, sex, sexual health, relationship information, advice, and support since 1998, www.Scarleteen.com
- Go Ask Alice!, an online health question-and-answer resource produced by a team of Columbia University health promotion specialists, healthcare providers, and other health professionals, www.GoAskAlice.com
- Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), an e-publication offered by the Office on Women's Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, http://www.WomensHealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/sexually-transmitted-infections.html
- Contraception, an overview of many contraceptive methods and the effectiveness of each, available at the CDC website, http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/unintendedpregnancy/contraception.htm
- S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-To-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get You Through High School and College by Heather Corinna
- Our Bodies, Ourselves by the Boston Women's Health Book Collective
- Guide to Getting It On by Paul Joannides
Resources for Young Teenagers
- It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
- "What's Happening to My Body? Book for Boys" & What's Happening to My Body? Book for Girls" by Lynda Madaras
- Body Drama by Nancy Amanda Redd
- The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
- Changing Bodies, Changing Lives by Ruth Bell
- Deal with It! A Whole New Approach to Your Body, Brain, and Life as a gURL by Esther Drill, Rebecca Odes, and Heather McDonald
- From Boys to Men: All About Adolescence and You by Michael Gurian
- Growing Up: It's A Girl Thing by Mavis Jukes
- Sex, Puberty and All That Stuff: A Guide to Growing Up by Jacqui Bailey
- What's Happening to Me? The Answers to Some of the World's Most Embarrassing Questions by Peter Mayle
Resources from Workshop 4: Gender Identity
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Justice, a number of resources related to LGBTQ equality and being a Welcoming Congregation from the Unitarian Universalist Association, http://www.uua.org/lgbtq/
- Understanding the Complexities of Gender, a TEDx talk with comedian and social justice advocate Sam Killermann, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRcPXtqdKjE
- Gender Spectrum, whose stated mission is to help create gender sensitive and inclusive environments for all children and teens, https://www.genderspectrum.org/.
- Note: The section on Parenting and Family may be of particular interest: https://www.genderspectrum.org/child-family/parenting
- The Genderbread Person, http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2015/03/the-genderbread-person-v3/
Resources from Workshop 5: Sexual Orientation
- Imagine A World Where Being Gay Is the Norm & Being Straight Would Be The Minority!, a 20-minute video from exploring what it would be like if heterosexuality were considered deviant, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnOJgDW0gPI
- PFLAG (Parents and Families of Lesbians and Gays) Publications, a substantial body of free, downloadable PDFs that cover a wide variety of issues, http://community.pflag.org/freepublications
- Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality by Hanne Blank (2012), an engaging, in-depth discussion of the history of the terms heterosexual and homosexual
Resources from Workshop 6: Relationship Constellations
- Parents, Teens and the Culture of Sex: The Claims of Parenting - a half-hour BBC radio conversation on topics from the book Not Under My Roof by University of Massachusetts sociologist Amy Schalet (comparative research in America and Holland on teenage sex in the parental home), http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017x0vm
- Parents Sex Ed Center - online resources from Advocates for Youth: http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/parents-sex-ed-center-home
Resources from Workshop 7: Decision Making
- Dear Daughter: I Hope You Have Awesome Sex, a letter from father Ferrett Steinmetz to his daughter, encouraging her to own her sexuality, on The Good Men Project website
- Sex and Sensibility, a blog by sexuality educator Deborah Roffman on how to talk with your children and teens about sex
- Teenage Brains, an article by David Dobbs exploring the research on adolescent decision-making and peers, on the National Geographic website
- The Mysterious Workings of the Adolescent Brain, a TED Talk by cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore about the development of the teenage brain
Resources from Workshop 8: Consent Education
- Love Is Respect - online resource to educate and empower youth to prevent and end dating abuse"
- The National Domestic Violence Hotline website - includes a 24-hour helpline and extensive resources for anyone who is or might be experiencing domestic violence or isn't sure.
- Dating Abuse: Tools for Talking to Teens - website and training program for parents, teachers, and other adults on how to initiate and hold conversations with teens about dating abuse,
- Abuse & Incest National Network - website for details about state-specific laws regarding the legal definition of rape and other related laws that vary by state.
- Interpersonal and Physical Dating Violence Among Teens by Antoinette Davis - detailed statistics regarding the percentage of teens who experience dating violence (September 2008). For updated statistics, google adolescent dating violence statistics
Resources from Workshop 9: Social Media
- Apophenia - blog by researcher danah boyd, in which she posts her ongoing thoughts on privacy, context, youth culture, social media, and big data
- SafeKids.com - website offering numerous resources on Internet safety
- Common Sense Media - website dedicated to helping families make smart media choices and helping parents and caregivers navigate the challenges of raising children in this digital age
- Parent's Guide to Internet Safety: Sexuality and the Internet - an article on the Advocates for Youth website by Barbara Huberman, RN, BSN, MEd
Resources from Workshop 10: Pornography
- Gail Dines website - anti-pornography activist and author of Pornland: How porn has hijacked our sexuality
- Dr. Marty Klein website - expert on sex and porn addiction
- Robert Jensen website - anti-porn feminist and author of Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity
- Susie Bright website, pro-porn feminist
- Internet and Social Media - Our Whole Lives training video on sexually explicit media from the UUA Library of Video and Audio Files
(The short link to this page is frederickuu.org/ParentOWL.)