I woke up Monday morning as sunlight filtered through new spring leaves and fell on my window and the tiny chapel below my room. Springtime on the East Coast is striking to someone who lives in California and never witnesses such a verdant rebirth. Spring is often associated with youth and innocence, but in reality it is dramatic resurgence of life, reproduction, and vitality that is neither innocence or inexperienced. In fact Spring should be a celebration of sexuality and passion. After all, those flowers on the trees and the songs bird sing are all advertisements for sex.
Looking out my window still foggy from sleep and a little jet lagged, I started to think about sexuality and new beginnings. I realized that the tranquil and blossoming landscape I was gazing upon is home to rebirth of sexuality research, after all I’m in Bloomington, Indiana home of Alfred Kinsey, the Kinsey Institute, and the Center for Sexual Health Promotion.
It’s my first time here, and it feels like a pilgrimage. Walking around a campus and a town that has not changed much since Kinsey worked here, I wonder if the abundance of Spring in this sleepy Indiana town inspired his sexuality research. While he may have lived during a moment in American history where human sexuality was silenced, the natural world bombarded all of your senses with the ubiquity of sex: the birds that sing in your ears, the bugs crawling across your arm when you sit on the grassy quad, or the riot of color you see when you look at the flowers on the perfectly manicured lawn.
It no wonder Alfred Kinsey insisted upon making human sexuality a topic for research and discovery. In doing so, he also open the doorway for sexuality education and the NSRC’s campaign for sexual literacy.
It’s refreshing to know that such strong sexuality work is still alive here. At our regional training, students, community activists, and faculty researchers came together to discuss the state of sexuality research. Nine students presented their research on topics as varied as women’s experiences with lubricants to the legal precedents for asylum and sexual identities. A panel composed a community activist, Kathleen Baldwin, a researcher and director of the Center for Health Promotion, Michael Reece, and a PhD candidate, Christopher Fisher discussed the benefits of conducting community based participatory research.
And while, I never darken the door of the Kinsey Institute I did feel close to many of the goals Kinsey held, namely a commitment to improving research and general understanding of human sexuality. After the day long event I felt invigorated, inspired and ready to bring new life back to my work as a sexuality educator and advocate.
The NSRC will resume regional trainings in Fall 2009. Stay tuned for details on a regional training near you.
