Queering Sex Ed & Consent

Student-Taught Course, taught by Margot Lewis. 

Each of us is inhabiting a body. Our felt senses are part of our most innate beings. Our experiences in our bodies range from vehicles of delight through which to connect with the world, to challenging obstacles to work around. Part of this fully human experience is our sexuality. In the USA today, comprehensive sex education is often left out of classrooms and conversations, leaving many of us underprepared to understand sexuality, sexual health, and consent holistically. In this course on sex positive sex education, consent, and embodiment, we go through “sex ed 101” together, covering topics such as queer sex, safer sex, masturbation, etc, with a focus on being sex, body, kink, sex worker, and queer & trans positive. This course will utilize feminist and queer theory frameworks to examine the ways that folks with different identities access information about their bodies and sexual health, and will transition into critical deep dives into personal boundaries and consent, both inside and outside the bedroom. We will apply these ideas on a personal level, with exercises on reflecting on our own boundaries and relationship to feeling embodied in ourselves. This course will be discussion based, and somewhat directed by student interest. Together we will utilize somatic psychology, embodiment techniques, and engage with a variety of book sections, articles, and websites in order to deepen our understandings of these complex topics, in hopes that we are able to come away from this course with increased self knowledge and awareness of the ways we interact with the world through our bodies, in order to be empowered to engage in thoughtful conversations and interactions outside of the classroom space. Furthermore, this course will deepen student’s understandings of queer experiences and nuances of consent and sex education. This course will offer a context for why critical discussions about sexuality are needed today and in what ways these discussions impact us personally and on a larger scale.

Credit/Evaluation: Demonstration of learning will be primarily assessed through classroom engagement and participation, interaction with readings (and other sources), and regular attendance. We will write reflective papers, engage in art making, and have one final project due at the end of the quarter. Due to the nature of the course, we will sometimes cover sensitive or intense subjects, so it will be paramount that students are willing to engage with these topics as best as we are able within our capacity.

Texts: excerpts from various sources will be available on Canvas.