IT’S ONLY SEX

A sex education dialogue presented by WORTH, a University of Michigan organization

Welcome! Fill out this QR Code to ask any questions you have about sex and sexuality→ Completely anonymous!

Anonymous Questions

TODAY’S AGENDA

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WHO WE ARE + ICEBREAKER

OUR SURVEY

DR. GABRIEL’S TALK + SMALL GROUPS

ADVICE + INSIGHT

We are a sex-education focus group from WORTH (Women’s Organization on Rights To Health) at the University of Michigan.

01

WHO WE ARE

Our Members

Our Members

Libby Flower

Focus Group Leader

3rd year English Major

Noe Conahan

Graphics + Outreach

3rd year Women’s +

Gender Studies and

Art/Design Major

Emma Collins

Research

3rd year Neuroscience Major

Ahimsa Sathyakumar

Research

2nd year

Public Health Major

Ava Nicely

Focus Group Leader

3rd year BHS Major

Presley Schmus

Graphics & Outreach

2nd year BHS

& Sociology Student

Adelaide Felgner

Graphics + Outreach

1st year Political Science Major, History of Law and Policy Minor

Ariana Chaidez

Graphics & Outreach

2nd year

Neuroscience Major

Michelle Ashkenazi

Research

1st year BCN and

Economics Major

Elise VeCasey

Research

2nd year Aerospace Engineering Major

Allison Lacy

Research

2nd year BHS Major

Morgan

Sieradski

Research

1st year BCN major

Dr. Cynthia Gabriel

Dr. Gabriel teaches courses in Women's and Gender Studies and is an advisor for the Gender & Health major and minor. She conducts research about stress, trauma, and childbearing; about African-American birthing people's choices during pregnancy, labor, and birth; and about Muslim-American experiences with the U.S. healthcare system.

ICEBREAKER

On your sticky notes, write one - two

words you would use to describe

your Sex Ed experience (in high school,

middle school, etc.) → one of our

members will collect them

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OUR GOAL FOR TODAY

We want to provide a safe dialogue space to discuss our sex education experiences, answer and ask questions, learn from each other, and hear from a speaker.

SO…LET’S

TALK�ABOUT �SEX

02

OUR SURVEY

OUR SURVEY

Last semester, we surveyed over 90 students asking them about their high school sex education experiences. Here are some trends we noticed:

• 29% of responses found the quality of their high school sex-ed was very unhelpful
• 65% of responses got information on sex-related topics from the media (internet, movies, books, etc)
• 63% of responses felt that their sex-ed experience reinforced biased narratives on gender, sexuality, etc
• 43% of responses were somewhat aware of on campus resources regarding sexual health

What people told us about their Sex Ed Experience…

“I hardly remember when they covered consent, but they did a poor job of it. The only thing I learned was you need approval-[I was] not being taught *what* consent actually is and that it applies to everyone.”

“We were told that sex is merely to make babies.”

“It honestly didn’t feel really educational, it feels like some topics were avoided and all of my sex ed classes had some general health aspects included into them and I feel like I barely learned anything about sex.”

“In Michigan, teachers get funding if they only teach abstinence. My teacher got around this by having speakers come in and teach us about other forms of protection and lgbtq+ sex education as well. I loved my health teacher, but saw the strains and limitations of the teaching system towards sex ed.”

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YOUR BODY, YOUR CHOICES

CONSENT IS NOT:

CONSENT IS:

• An agreement between participants to engage in sexual activity.
• Consent should be clearly and freely communicated.
• A verbal and affirmative expression of consent can help both you and your partner to understand and respect each other’s boundaries.
• About communication. And it should happen every time for every type of activity.
• You can withdraw consent at any point if you feel uncomfortable

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• Is not given if underage, intoxicated or incapacitated by drugs or alcohol, or asleep or unconscious
• A partner who is disengaged, nonresponsive, or visibly upset
• Assuming that wearing certain clothes, flirting, or kissing is an invitation for anything more
• Pressuring someone into sexual activity by using fear or intimidation
• Assuming you have permission to engage in a sexual act because you’ve done it in the past

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The information on this slide comes from RAINN.org

v

Source: Planned Parenthood

Birth Control Survey Responses

Here is the link for the feedback we received last year from students who have/have had experience with birth control:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UKrUDpedDpJ-GaSGjayyz-DsCAraNBIlDC6PVbhQRSk/edit#gid=845604995

LGBTQ+ SEX

• Common myths surrounding LGBTQ+ sex
• Individuals on the aroace spectrum haven’t “found the right one yet”
• People of certain sexualities are more likely to cheat on their partners
• One partner always “wears the pants” in a queer relationship
• How to
• There is no one right way to have sex as a queer person
• Resources to help
• https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sex/how-do-lesbians-have-sex#oral-stimulation
• https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/gay-mans-good-sex-guide
• Queer news sources like PinkNews and them also provide insight
• Safety
• Dental dams, finger condoms, internal/external condoms
• Practice good hygiene (keep sex toys clean, wash hands, etc.)
• Sex with gender dysphoria
• Gender dysphoria: persistent feelings of discomfort/distress that occur in people whose gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth
• Can be especially hard to deal with during moments of intimacy and sex
• It is OKAY to experiment!

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DR. GABRIEL’S TALK + SMALL GROUPS

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• Share names + pronouns + where you are from
• What are your thoughts on Dr. Gabriel’s talk? What surprised you? What did you already know?
• What was your experience with sex-ed like?
• What do you think are the major problems currently with typical sex-ed programs?
• In a perfect world, what do you wish would be taught in conversations about sex and sexuality?
• Where did most of your knowledge surrounding sex come from? (ex. Parents, the internet, friends, etc.)
• Are there any questions or topics that you are curious about that were not mentioned in your sex education?

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ADVICE

Fill out this QR Code to ask any questions you have about sex and sexuality→ Completely anonymous!

Anonymous Questions

MORE RESOURCES

Talking About Sex With

Your Partner

• Focus on compliments
• Try saying “I like it when..” instead of “you aren’t doing this right” or “this doesn’t feel good”
• Spend some ~solo~ time figuring out what you like!
• If you’re confident in what feels good for you, it’ll be easier to show your partner how to do it!

Sex With Gender Dysphoria

• Dysphoria: persistent feelings of discomfort or distress that occur in people whose gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth or sex-related physical characteristics (not all trans people feel dysphoria, varies between each individual)
• Dysphoria is not always present, but can be difficult to deal with during moments of intimacy/vulnerability such as during sex

Helpful Articles:

• The Guardian: How to Talk to Your Partner About Sex
• NYTimes: It’s Tough to Talk to Your Partner About Sex. Here’s How to Start.
• Planned Parenthood: How Do I Talk to My Partner About Sex?

MORE RESOURCES

Sex, Intimacy & Emotions

• From Healthline: How Does Sex Affect Your Emotions? 12 Things to Know About Attraction and Arousal
• From Women’s Health: How To Navigate Casual Sex And Feelings, According To Sex Experts

Spectrum Center

• Serves and supports members of the U-M LGBTQIA+ communities.
• Sexual Health Resources
• They provide drop-in HIV, Chlamydia & Gonorrhea Testing, located on 3rd floor of the Union
• Free condoms, dental dams, and lube available
• Mental Health & Healthy Relationships Page
• The CAPS Trans Care Team is a group of mental health care providers specifically trained in providing affirming care to trans and non-binary students.

AVAILABLE RESOURCES AT UHS

• Gynecology and Sexual Health Clinic is on the 3rd floor of UHS
• They provide routine gynecological exams, pregnancy tests, etc.
• Generic Plan-B available for $10 at UHS Pharmacy
• STI Testing: no fees for clinic visit or most commonly tested STDs
• UHS Gender Affirming Care: Hormone therapy, STI testing, voice therapy, etc
• The Gender Affirming Care team at UHS is specifically trained in providing affirming care to trans and gender-diverse patients.
• LGBTQ+ Health & Sexual Health Pages
• Wolverine Wellness (Ground Floor of UHS): free condoms, lube, dental dams
• Contraception: (Diaphragm, Implant, IUD, Patch, Pills, Ring, Shot) Depends on insurance, but the costs for clinic visits, device insertion/removal are covered by student health service fee
• Contraception costs
• Emergency contraception

• UHS phone number: (734-764-8320)

THANKS!

@worth.umich on Instagram

If you are interested in learning more about WORTH, come to our upcoming event, Mark My Worth on Saturday, March 25, from 1-2:30 p.m in the Wolverine Room of the Union.

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, infographics & images by Freepik

Sex Ed as STI and Pregnancy Prevention

•NOT as education to responsibly have sexual encounters in one’s life

•What about pleasure?

•It’s like teaching pilots how to avoid crashing, but never teaching them how to fly smoothly…

•Teaching chemistry students what chemicals NOT to mix, but never talking about what experiments they CAN and SHOULD try

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Study of what “sexual satisfaction” means to men versus women

Gender & Selfishness

•Fisher, Moore, and Pittenger (2011)

•Female and male undergraduates used tally counters to record the number of times that they thought about sex, food, or sleep over the course of a week. The results indicated that, yes, men thought about sex modestly more frequently than women did. However, men also thought about both food and sleep significantly more often than women did. Thus, men reported a greater number of personal-need-based thoughts than did women overall.

•Fisher and colleagues suggested that men are more atten-tive to their own needs than women are. This is consistent with objectification theory, which suggests that women’s focus on others’ perceptions reduces women’s attention to their own physical needs and with ample research demonstrating men’s socialization to be agentic and self-focused. Women are socialized to be both more attuned to others’ needs and are pressured to inhibit expression of their own desires.

•Bottom line: Do men think about sex more than women do? Yes, but they also think more about their own physical needs, overall.

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•Social Messages: Women should not spend time on figuring out their own bodies because it is

•Selfish

•Dirty

•Bad/Immoral

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Selfish, Bad, Dirty, Immoral

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If you hate your body…

It’s harder to spend

Time figuring it

out

1:3 Orgasm Gap

THE GAP!!!!

•Among men who are part of a heterosexual couple, 75% say they always have an orgasm, as opposed to 26% of the women.

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Lollipops and Sex

•Anyone ever experience sex ed that used a lollipop? Tape? Or a flower with petals? To teach about promiscuity???

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