Blindfish RSE

I have started teaching a lesson on the media's portrayal of Sex and Relationship. The lesson focuses on movies, TV shows and visual pornography. But with all the media hype around 50 Shades of Grey I wanted to do a small scale survey of young people I work with to see if the hype had any grounding in reality. Are young people reading it and is it impacting young people?  At the end of a session looking at the Distortion of Media I handed out some small surveys. Just half a dozen questions and a space for general feedback. I did this with two year groups both mixed gender. A group of year 10 students (aged 14-15) and a group of year 12 students (aged 16-17). With the older group I also asked if the book had encouraged them to experiment with "BDSM/fetish/kinky stuff" but talking with school staff it was decided not to ask that direct question to the year 10 groups. Below are some of the figures from my study, please note it is very small scale and may not ref...

Treating the Sex Ed past of america as a learning opportunity Just posting this info graphic by a guy called G reg Voakes  who contacted me letting me know it was online to be shared (thank you). Whilst it is focused on the USA lots of the statistics are very informative for our work in Chester and the UK. I have always thought about the USA as a grand experiment in SRE approaches, we different approaches applied in entire states. But the experiment should be wrapped up. I think that it has conclusively proven that abstinence only education is not effective and that condom only education is not enough. We need comprehensive education that covers it all from the right to say no, emotional well being, relationships, STIs and contraceptives. (plus in my opinion, sex and technology for the next generation)  Created by: PublicHealthDegree.com

Mumsnet survey reveals that parents think that schools should do Sex and Relationship lessons on sexting, Porn and the media.    (Click here to read their results)   This survey was done in November last year (not sure when they announced the results) so again I am a little slow on reading it. But it is a great encouragement to be reading this the day before I teach my first test lesson looking at how media (especially pornography) distorts sex. To be honest I have been a bit suspicious of the mumsnet group. I assumed (wrongly, I apologise) that they would be against sex education of their children. I am so glad to be proven wrong.  The results of this survey are a fantastic stamp of approval to my aims. With 80% of respondents agreeing that sex and relationship education should include " Sex education should explore sex and the media (to include subjects such as sexting* and pornography)." But when they break it down int...

A brief history of sexting and the power of media manipulation  Blog by Adam McLane Whilst I was interested in reading this article I disagree with some of its conclusions. At the moment I am doing some research in the UK looking at online risk taking behaviour with students aged 13-15. I work as a sex and relationship educator and have started including content on sexting with the lessons we teach in high schools. Whilst the history of sexting you outlined seems true and likely the media has done a great job of whipping up the issue I think the problem of sexting is larger then 1%. Our study which in this round has had 160 young people has a higher rate with 20% having seen a naked picture of someone they know. Now in a group of just 160 young people it could 1 or 2 have sent a naked picture and most have seen copies of these 1% pictures. But 20% seeing a naked picture of someone they know is significant. Last year we did not ask that question but we did a...