Group #4
Group four
Developing a Feminist Sex Education Curriculum
We feel that it is necessary to not only cover the issue of abstinence in a sex education curriculum but to also arm students with facts, statistics, and other ways in which, although not as effective as abstinence, will help them in protecting themselves when it comes to sex. Therefore, we have developed the following curriculum for a high school sex education class.
The curriculum in our sex education course would include:
• Sexual behavior, sexual identity and orientation– how to act appropriately and if your partner is pressuring you, push the “maturity” issue, see the last two topics on this page
• birth control - explain how different forms of birth control work. In particular, the pill since so many girls take that, some to regulate their cycle, some for birth control. Also talk about how effective each kind of birth control is and risks associated with them. For example, what is the long term effect of taking the pill?
• STDs - how common they are, what can be done to cure or prevent them, and what can't be done, and also which STDs can be found in blood tests. Some STDs can't be detected easily even if you and a potential partner get blood tests
• Emergency Contraceptives-how they work, where they are available, etc.
• Abortion - how does one make this decision, where to get help if you are under 18 and also if over 18.
Also, students would be told that the only 100% effective way to prevent getting pregnant or getting STDs is abstinence. It is important that they know that though some forms of birth control are very effective and condoms prevent some STDs, none of it is foolproof.
The activity that we have chosen to help our students identify and better understand sex education is a game that is set up like “Jeopardy” and includes facts and statistics that the students themselves have researched. Of course before the game is played, over several weeks students will be provided with the proper information on all topics concerning sex education (listed above) and many discussion groups will take place, until the students feel quite comfortable with their new found knowledge about the subject at hand. Groups of students will be given topics to research and generate questions for the game. When the game is played the students will only be able to choose a topic in which they did not generate questions for.
The game will be as follows:
Topics to choose from:
Sexual behavior & Sexual identity/ orientation
Birth Control methods & Abortion
STDs/Protection/Facts/Myths
Emergency Contraception
The object of the game is for students to answer enough questions correctly to win the game by manner of a point system (group with the most points win!)
The class will be broken into four groups (teams)
All teams will have cards with the answers, as well as blank ones, the team will huddle together either write the answer out or simply choose the correct card.
Each team will have the same amount of blank cards and cards with answers on them.
Whatever the amount of points are at stake for the particular topic chosen will be awarded to the team when they answer correctly, as in the TV show game Jeopardy. Example –the team might pick STDs for 100 points, if they answer correctly, they get the points.
We feel as though this is an effective and fun way to reinforce what the students have learned about sex education.