I, like the next person, love my vagina, and I love getting my annual exam. It makes me feel like a liberated, sexually healthy woman.  However a new attempt at being "culturally sensitive" has turned my annual joy into racial shame.

Being that I am poor, I use a clinic that is "family pact" happy and up until this summer I was completely satisfied with my experiences there.

The most recent visit just started off so normal. Walked in, went up to the counter and showed my i.d.  The woman behind the nurse's desk spoke to me casually, read my i.d. then did a double-take at me.

"Will you be needing an interpreter?"  the nurse asked

Having been to this clinic several times in the past I was confused by the question,

"for what"? I asked

"your exam"

  I shook my head at her. What an odd question.

 Next I was instructed that I needed to pee in a cup for a pregnancy test. I asked if it was necesary since I had just ended my period. She agressively insisted that I needed to do it,

"it's policy" she snapped.

After peeing I waited for the doctor and thought about race. Was the woman at the desk targeting me, or was I overreacting? Surely this was a new policy and I just needed to relax and do what they think is best. This is a health clinic. They know what they're doing.

When the Doctor came into the room she asked me if I felt comfortable communicating in English....

The Centers for Disease Control is considering promoting routine circumcision for baby boys in the US as a means of decreasing the spread of HIV, says the NYTimes.

Not only is this ignorant; it is dangerous. To women, and to people of color.

Public health policy makers have been talking up circumcision as a way to reduce HIV transmission ever since data first showed that it could reduce infection rates by up to 50-60% among African men. PEPFAR, UNAIDS and others jumped on the surgical bandwagon, ramping up efforts to promote circumcision in Africa. Family Health International even created a Male Circumcision Clearinghouse with the latest information on research and intervention.

And no wonder the joy. 50% reduction of transmission is fabulous. Unless of course, you knew that there was another way to reduce transmission by close to 100%, called... condoms. The fact is, promoting condom use in Africa has not been super-effective, and often because the public health officials...

Although I frequently attend professional and academic conferences focused on sexuality, it is the conferences not focused on sexuality that end up teaching me the most about how we are going to empower a nation to more effectively talk about its sexual health, education and rights.

This past week, at the 2009 AARP Diversity and Aging in the 21st Century: Power of Inclusion Conference I was reminded just how imperative it is to include the new framework of lifelong sexual literacy within the emerging dialogue between the fields of diversity and aging where it has previously not existed.

The current youth-centric and “one size fits all” approach to “comprehensive sexuality education” does not mean a thing for the older adults it does nothing to serve. It also does very little to address other nation-wide gender, racial, class…diversities and we are all responsible and accountable for the sexual inequalities that erupt from...

Next week NSRC is heading to Chicago for the 2009 AARP Diversity and Aging: Power of Inclusion Conference. 

We'll be presenting on the need to include sexual identity and sexuality itself within the framework of all diversity dialogues on aging. Most people think of diversity embodying such things as culture, race, sexual identity, gender, class, immigration status, disability, faith and so forth... Our intention is to ensure that healthy sexuality/sexual literacy itself is also included on that list and then integrated within future dialogues on aging and diversity.

It's not easy for people working with older adults to talk about sexuality and LGBT issues and so for many, the discussion does not exist at all or when it does it erupts from a reaction to a problem, dysfunction or disease rather than as a proactive solution to greater health, happiness and well being. NSRC wants to work with AARP and other national partners to think about how we might all be able to expand dialogues and policies about sexuality and aging in ways that embrace and respect older adults-providing them with the health, dignity and civil...

Today, May 27, 2009, is the first ever World Multiple Sclerosis Day, a day dedicated to uniting MS organizations and individuals world wide in the name of mobilizing a truly global movement to end MS.

As someone who has MS and is also a sexuality educator, my contribution to a new global movement for MS awareness is to work with NSRC to provide the best (U.S. based) resources I know of to support the (sexual) lives of people with MS and those who are intimately...

Last week, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) released the 2008, 6th edition of its SIECUS State Profiles: A Portrait of Sexuality Education and Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in the States. 

SIECUS is the convening body of the National Coalition to Support Sexuality Education (NCSSE), a coalition of over 140 national organizations committed to medically accurate, age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education for all children and youth in the United States. NSRC became an active member of NCSSE two years ago. Since that time, we have attended and presented at biannual NCSSE meetings, signed on to dozens of letters urging states to reject abstinence-only funding and thanking them when they did, and recommended NCSSE coalition membership to some of our national organizational partners and allies.

Today I had the opportunity to partake in an NCSSE coalition conference call, to learn more about this truly paradigm shifting, 700+ page report. During the call, I was reminded by just how...

Originally posted on RH Reality Check

By Heather Corinna

Maya asks:

It seems as if girls at my school are very experienced sexually. They all talk about hooking up, giving head, getting head, getting fingered, and all that sort of thing. I, having never even kissed a boy or had a boyfriend, feel a bit left behind. I wanted to know if most girls my age, 15 (like on average), have had sexual experience like this.

Heather replies:

Maya,

I think it's so important to try not to get hung up on the idea that what other people are doing (or not) sexually has any relevance to what we do or don't do. I completely get wanting to have some idea of where we're at with where others are at, but with something as personal and diverse as sexuality, it's a good idea not to put too much stock in the sex lives of others when it comes to our own sex lives and how we feel about them.

One thing anyone who works in the study of sexuality or sexual health knows is that self-reporting (what people anecdotally say to others about themselves, rather than what we can find out based on measurable things like pregnancy or STI rates) when it comes to sexuality is notoriously unreliable, especially between young people. So often,

True or False: Young people in the United States are more likely to learn about sexuality sitting in classrooms than anywhere else. If you said true, think again. Mounting evidence from researchers, media professionals, service providers and policy advocates suggests otherwise. Are we now experiencing a paradigm shift in the geography of "sex ed"? Absolutely, and thankfully, there's no going back.

Yesterday I attended a Guttmacher Institute webinar entitled, "Where Do Young People Learn About Sexual Health?: Education Beyond the Classroom." Panelists included Guttmacher Institute's own Senior Research Associate, Dr. Rachel Jones; Dr. Kate Ott, Associate Director of the Religious Institute for Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing; Jennifer Weidenbaum, Associate Director of Girls, Inc NYC; and William...

Remember when you were a child and your parents asked you what you wanted to do with your life? I do. And I can honestly say that "being a community leader in the sexual health field" was nowhere on my mind. Back then I was pretty sure I wanted to be a florist.

I think I can honestly speak for many of my fellow colleagues in the field of sexual health when I say that it is almost completely by accident that we have arrived  here. I'm a historian by academic training with a public relations professional background and most of my colleagues share similar trajectories of being health educators, teachers/professors, social workers, therapists, clergy, doctors, journalists, social scientists and the list goes on. What would it have been like for all of us to have had actual focused professional development training in sexual health as we made our decision to move into this field? How much more productive and...

When I'm teaching a course for students interested in careers in sexuality or facilitating a workshop at conferences like the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, I usually ask them to tell me what brought them to sexuality studies.  While I have met one or two folks whose parents were sexuality educators and they knew from a young age that they would follow the family business, it is fairly rare that many of us showed up on "Career Day" in school dressed as a sexuality educator or researcher.  (Could you imagine the look on the teachers and career counselors faces?) I often hear about experiences, such as classes or volunteer opportunities, where someone realized that it was their calling to study and teach about sex and sexuality.

I had a similar experience when I was an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin studying biology.  Since I was a young boy, I dreamt of being a scientist working in a lab and performing all sorts of cool experiments (it was either that or become a chef - I dressed as each for career days in 5th and 6th grades, respectively) until I began studying to be a biologist and discovered how monotonous and tedious most of the work was - not to mention how horribly isolating it was to work in a lab.  During my junior year, I enrolled in a human sexuality course - one of those huge survey courses - and felt a spark that ignited...

The CDC released a new report yesterday detailing the rising rates of STDs-especially among women, minorities and young people aged 18-24. The report discusses how much of the recent progress being made to eliminate syphilis has been reversed. Furthermore, the report highlights how STDs cost the U.S. health care system as much as $15.3 billion dollars annually.

Years of abstinence only education have no doubt led to this record breaking rise in STD rates by promoting ignorance as a national policy.

Dr. John Douglas, Director of the CDC's Division on STD Prevention hits the nail in the head of this problem-namely, that society itself is not being responsible enough when it comes to discussing sexual health....doctors often choose not to discuss STDs and sexual health with their patients, clergy fail to address sexual health, teachers are gagged from speaking about it due to dangerous abstinence policies....and parents often think everyone else is handling it so they don't have to or want to.

America needs to talk about sex. All of us, not some of us because we are each responsible for ourselves and others. 

One fantastic way to talk about sex and learn realistic strategies for decreasing STD and HIV rates among youth is to attend...

The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing released a new study today called: Sex and the Seminary: Preparing Ministers for Sexual Health and Justice. This comprehensive survey data provides even further and compelling proof that we are living in a national state of emergency when it comes to the lack of connection being made between sexuality and religion. The bad news is that even the most progressive of the seminaries surveyed are not adequately providing sexuality education and training. The good news is that despite this unholy disconnect, there are many organizations and religious denominations nation-wide working to turn this deadly trend around.

NSRC began training clergy in 2001 at our first annual Summer Institute on Sexuality, Society and Health. In 2003, we held our first Religion, Spirituality and Sexuality Interfaith Roundtable Discussion—much to the dismay of many of our colleagues in sexual health who frown on religion (many if not most of whom have endured religious persecution based on sexuality in one way or another).  Over the years, in our...

Shout-out to all the females who want to step up and take control of your protection; your moment in the sun has finally arrived!  The Female Health Company has developed a new version of the female condom made of synthetic latex in a considerably less expensive manufacturing process--and it was approved this week by the FDA Advisory Panel.  FC2  prevents the transmission of STIs and prevents pregnancy, allowing women not only the opportunity to be in charge of their contraception, but their overall health as well.  Plus, the new device has the potential for wider acceptability and utilization since it is expected to be more affordable for individuals and programs, the latter of which might actually push it this time around.  Oh, and did I mention that it feels and sounds slightly less like a Ziplock sandwich bag?

Our own Dr. Colleen Hoff, director of the Center on Research on Gender and Sexuality, co-authored a study on the OG female condom...