Sexual and Gender Diverse Adolescents and the Failures of Traditional Education in Public Education: Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

I am considering using the sources listed below to write a research paper on whether abstinence-only sexual education as taught in public schools is as effective as comprehensive sexual education programs in reducing negative effects from sexual activity in students which are defined as increases in teen pregnancy rates and sexually transmitted diseases. I am not fully confident of my topic yet and I might need to narrow the focus of my thesis.

1. Blount, J. M. (2016). Controlling Sex: Modern Histories of Sex Education. Reviews in American History, 44(4), 611-620.

This article discusses the recent publication of both scientific and historical studies that have been published on the history of sexuality. This article was published by Johns Hopkins University Press. The authors recognize that writings in sexual education history are lacking due to a few challenges -good scholarship requires understanding young people as sexual beings and acknowledging the sexuality of adults who work with them- but suggests that these challenges can be overcome if they are understood and correlated into collected data. Some themes recognized by the authors in sexual education historical scholarship are the political controversy over sexual education, the segregation of students by gender and race in teaching situations, tendencies to normalize and perpetuate specific gender and sexuality norms, and racial stereotypes. This article reviews both published articles and books in which the history of sexuality has been researched and presented and suggests either faults or successes of each. This article really won’t be of much help for use in a short cited paper as almost all materials reviewed are books which require a great deal of time to read, utilize, and cite appropriately. I did enjoy reading the article and perusing its recommendations; if the time frame for paper preparation and development was longer, the sources cited in the article would be quite helpful. This was the article that I enjoyed the most out of all the ones read.

2. Denny, G., & Young, M. (2006). An Evaluation of an Abstinence‐Only Sex Education Curriculum: An 18‐Month Follow‐up. Journal of School Health, 76(8), 414-422.

This article discusses research into how successful abstinence-only sexual education programs are in achieving their stated goals: that students will abstain from all sexual contact and activity except within the context of marriage. Research data was collected as part of an 18 month follow-up evaluation with both students and teachers recruited from fifteen school districts; curriculum was taught to participating upper elementary, middle school and high school students. The research suggests that for some students, this form of sexual education led to less sexual activity and more positive knowledge and greater intent to remain abstinent was achieved long term. Research conducted included attempts to create controlled conditions for teaching and organizing data, both pretests and post test for participants. Sample size was quite large and the questionnaires (tests) given to students were extensive; however, the study is fairly limited due to the inability to randomly choose research participants, concerns about validity of self reported data, and a sizable group of students that did not participate in the follow up research. This article is consistent to the results reported in #3 and may be based on the same data set. However, as some of the data listed appears to be contradicted by other sources, I think this article needs to be carefully assessed to see if it is biased or if the data isn’t being presented appropriately. I think this could be an great secondary source if the article can be validated as the information provided does give specific data supporting positive results for abstinence-only education.

3. Denny, G., Young, M., Rausch, S., & Spear, C. (2002). An evaluation of an abstinence education curriculum series: Sex Can Wait. American Journal Of Health Behavior, 26(5), 366-377.

This article presents findings from a study of the effects of a particular abstinence program titled “Sex Can Wait.” The series was taught to students in upper elementary, junior high, and high school levels with the goals of the program being to delay sexual initiation, develop life skills and self esteem in participants, and produce positive changes both in attitude towards abstinence and recent sexual behavior. To obtain the results described, participants for the study were recruited from fifteen school districts, divided by grade level into two separate groups. One group was taught the “Sex Can Wait” protocols and the second group was taught the “current practice” protocol. Teachers also received training in the “Sex Can Wait” curriculum which follows the guidelines set up in Title V. The data collected suggests that teachers are satisfied with the training provided to them, followed the curriculum as presented, and that positive impact outcomes for students in some grade levels was achieved. The authors also state that the research shows that for some grade levels new knowledge was not retained after the program completion, suggesting some failure either in the teaching or curriculum itself. However, final findings describe some positive outcomes for elementary and high school students that were taught the “Sex Can Wait” protocol including abstinent behavior and transitional sexual behavior (from virgin to non-virgin status.) However, based on questions acknowledged during the study, sexual behavior was defined as vaginal virginity and heterosexual penile penetration, suggesting that all other forms of sexual intimacy were neither acknowledged or studied. This suggested to me that the data may be missing many aspects of teen sexual behavior, skewing the results. This research was funded by the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs which is a program through the office of the US Department of Health and Human Services. This research appears to be the same project and data presented in the article listed as #2 in this bibliography with more authors listed in this specific publication of the results. More data limitations were cited in this article than in #2 as well, suggesting better recognition of research limitations. I think that it would be a good source to use to show some positive outcomes from abstinence-only education as the majority of the articles I found support comprehensive sex education.

4. Hess, A. (2010). Hold the sex, please: the discursive politics between national and local abstinence education providers. Sex Education, 10(3), 251-266. doi:10.1080/14681811.2010.491632

This article discusses research into how abstinence-only sexual education is understood by both national organizations and by the local education providers. Using in-depth interviews with 21 grantees in New York State and participant observations from two federally supported abstinence only education conferences, this article compares and contrasts the beliefs and practicalities of the national movements that frame abstinence as both scientifically and morally legitimate and local providers who interpret their work through the lens of community norms. Some of the topics covered include how abstinence education frames student’s views on safe sex, marriage, homosexuality, decision making, good health, and foundational skills for building healthy partner relationships. It concludes with recognizing that while the federal guidelines on abstinence education discourage atypical interpretations, local education providers continue to liberally interpret the guidelines to develop strategies promoting positive student growth and sexual decisions. This source should be useful as it describes some of the different ways that abstinence education is viewed and taught, which is important when determining the effectiveness of the teaching criteria. This article has challenged my preconceived views on abstinence-only teaching protocols – I had assumed abstinence-only education meant just that- to encompass the reality of teaching a combination of both comprehensive and abstinence sexual education.

5. Jeffries, W. L., Dodge, B., Bandiera, F. C., & Reece, M. (2010). Beyond abstinence-only: relationships between abstinence education and comprehensive topic instruction. Sex Education, 10(2), 171-185. doi:10.1080/14681811003666317

This article discussed whether abstinence-only education methods are used as an end point or as part of a sexual education program that covers contraception, gender and sexual identity, etc. Using a small sample survey group of Florida teachers who were teaching subjects that made them likely to be the teachers of sexual education, this survey tried to determine the relationship between the two ways of teaching sexual education: comprehensive and abstinence-only. This study suggest that sexual education teachers who teach abstinence-only sexual education also teach topics classified that are usually part of comprehensive sexual education. However, as this study is modest due to small sample size, geographical location, political pressure on teaching and funding, and possible selection bias, it is important to recognize the limitations in the research study itself. As this study does have some limitations, it isn’t a great primary source for a research paper. However, the small sample size they used in this research is similar to some of the other papers I viewed, so this paper could be used to support their conclusions.

6. Kohler, P. K., Manhart, L. E., & Lafferty, W. E. (2008). Abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education and the initiation of sexual activity and teen pregnancy. Journal of Adolescent Health, 42(4), 344-351.

This article uses research comparing the sexual health risks of individuals aged 15-19 years due to either abstinence-only sexual education or comprehensive sexual education protocols. Results on students who received no sexual education were collected as well and suggest that students who received a comprehensive sexual education were less likely to report teen pregnancy than those individuals who reported no sexual education at all or abstinence-only programming. Also, abstinence-only programs didn’t reduce the likelihood of engaging in vaginal intercourse. However, individuals who participated in either comprehensive sexual education or abstinence-only sexual education did not report reduced rates of sexual transmitted diseases. Another conclusion was that teaching about contraception was not associated with teenage sexual activity. This article presented statistics that show sexual behavior among teens happens at similar rates in all developed nations, however negative consequences such as teen pregnancy and STDs happen at a higher rate in the United States. The authors also acknowledge that all forms of education supported by federal funding under current law must include abstinence-only messaging. Data was collected through a nationwide survey sponsored by the National Center of Health Statistics, was based on probability samples, and was restricted to 1719 never-married heterosexual teens aged 15-19, and reported sexual education and behavior. One point of interest is that the authors acknowledge that they only used subjects that reported hetero-normative urges and behavior, which acknowledged that a large fraction of the population was left out of the study. While reading several of the other papers, I had to really hunt in the data to determine that particular sexualities and sexual practices were omitted. I found it very useful to have that information acknowledged at the outset.

7. Kirby, D., Short, L., Collins, J., Rugg, D., Kolbe, L., Howard, M., … Zabin, L. S. (1994). School-based programs to reduce sexual risk behaviors: a review of effectiveness. Public Health Reports, 109(3), 339–360.

This article reviews 23 studies of school-based programs that cataloged adolescent sexual behavior, documented negative consequences to adolescents who participate in sexual activity, and assessed ways to reduce risky sexual behavior by this population. It was determined that not all sexual and AIDS educational programs had significant effects on young adult sexual behavior, but specific programs did delay the initiation of intercourse, reduced the frequency of intercourse, reduced the number of sexual partners, and increase the use of contraception. The results include the fact that there is not sufficient evidence to show that either abstinence-only sexual education or comprehensive sexual education delay intercourse or affect other sexual behaviors. How the authors determined which studies were selected for review was carefully described and all studies selected were heavily cited with appropriate documentation of research methodology. This article is laid out in an easy to read format and includes many cited studies that I can use.

8. Rubenstein, R. (2017). Sex Education: Funding Facts, Not Fear. Health Matrix: Journal Of Law-Medicine, 27525-554.

This article uses research from many other sources to develop its thesis that sexual education in America is inconsistent both in content and application and also in its effectiveness in producing positive outcomes. It discusses how the way abstinence-only sexual education and comprehensive sexual education are compared to each other is fundamentally flawed. In short, the author states that no study can be correct in choosing which form of education is more effective when the two forms of sexual education compared do not share common goals. Comprehensive sexual education is taught to try to reduce negative impacts of sexual activity on participants and that abstinence-only programs are taught to reduce all sexual activity. Drawing on statistics and research data from many organizations, this article addresses the failures of abstinence-only education due to the teaching of medically inaccurate information, the presentation of heterosexual and gender norms as scientific fact, and the use of negative analogies (chewed gum, licked cupcakes, dirty toothbrushes, spit in cups, etc.) It suggests as a model the “California Healthy Youth Act,” which has provisions requiring scientifically and medically accurate teachings, material appropriate and inclusive of diverse learners, appropriate safety and effectiveness statistics for contraception, and passive consent procedures that require all students to be taught the required information unless the parent objects. The article compares and contrasts different ways of teaching both abstinence only educational models and comprehensive sexual education that emphasizes the failures of both types of programs when information is inaccurate or not included. The authors’ recommendations include cutting all federal funding for abstinence programs and moving funding towards programs that provide comprehensive sexual education with the provisions includes in the “CHYA” mentioned previously. This source does have a very specific slant and, while the information appears reliable from the sources cited, recognizing a potential bias is important. This source is pretty helpful because it does have a lot of carefully bulleted information with clear cited research, making the data mentioned in the paper easier to analyze and use.

9. Santelli, J., Ott, M. A., Lyon, M., Rogers, J., Summers, D., & Schleifer, R. (2006). Abstinence and abstinence-only education: a review of US policies and programs. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38(1), 72-81.

This article tries to recognize the broad support for adolescent education in this country while acknowledging the controversial ways that education is determined and taught. The authors determine that abstinence is a necessary and appropriate topic in comprehensive sexual education protocols, but recognize that abstinence only education has not been shown to be effective in producing lower rates of teenage pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases. The authors of this article find, after reviewing several studies on both types of education, that the emphasis on abstinence-only education and federal funding of such is undermining more effective teaching protocols for sexual education and




10. Silva, M. (2002). The effectiveness of school-based sex education programs in the promotion of abstinent behavior: a meta-analysis. Health Education Research, 17(4), 471-48

This article presents findings from 12 studies conducted from 1987 to 2002 which focused on the overall effect of educational interventions on abstinent behavior. The author discusses the differences between the values expressed in abstinence-only and comprehensive sexual education, but recognizes that both programs strive to foster positive decision making and problem solving skills in students to help students make healthy decisions for themselves. Primary sources for research data were located using ERIC, PyschLIT, MEDLINE, and the Social Science Citation Index and these sources were then winnowed using eligibility criteria listed in the article. The findings indicate a small effect of abstinent interventions with significant variations shown in groups represented by parental participation and percentage of female participants. This article has a lot of sources and readily discusses some of the ways the author recognizes limitations in the studies analyzed; however, this will be a challenging source to use as I found it extremely difficult to understand. It feels like an article that I could really learn a lot from if I had someone knowledgeable to help me figure out the parts that I do not understand.

11. Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. (2011). Abstinence-only education and teen pregnancy rates: why we need comprehensive sex education in the US. PLoS One, 6(10), e24658.

This article uses statistics and research studies to examine the rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease in teenagers over the course of ten years during which abstinent education was the most funded and taught curriculum. One statistic emphasized is that the United States ranks first among all developed nations in both teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and that these numbers have risen steadily after ten years of abstinence teaching. When choosing information to study, material was collected from the Education Commission of the States to determine state laws on sexual education and the level of emphasis on abstinence in state laws and policies. Data on confounding factors (socio-economics, educational attainment, ethnic composition and Medicaid waivers for family planning) was collected and correlated to discover whether these factors had an effect on teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. When the data were analyzed, there was a positive correlation between abstinence education and teen pregnancy; the more emphasis on abstinence-only sexual activity, the higher the rate of teen pregnancy and STDs occurred. The authors recommend less federal spending on abstinence education and higher funding towards comprehensive sexual education to lower rates of sexual transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy. The authors also recommend that the federal government create requirements or guidelines for schools to follow so that sexual education is consistent and teachers are well trained. The hope is that these guidelines would help bring the level of negative sexual outcomes for teens down to the current rates of other developed countries. This article agrees with other papers that I have found and makes similar recommendations for successful changes. The way it is written also makes it easy to understand for me so it would make a good source for me to use. I think this article gives me a good jumping off point to frame my thesis argument and then I can use other articles to help confirm or question the data listed.

12. Weed, S. E., Ericksen, I. H., Lewis, A., Grant, G. E., & Wibberly, K. H. (2008). An abstinence program's impact on cognitive mediators and sexual initiation. American Journal of Health Behavior, 32(1), 60-73.

This article discussed the research performed by the authors into whether abstinence education for virgin seventh graders in Virginia has an effect on delaying or limiting sexual behavior. The main points of the study were to assess the impact of abstinence education programs on the initiation of sexual intercourse in teenagers and to learn more about the mechanisms that learn more about the stimuli that move adolescents to initiate sexual intercourse. The results suggest that abstinence-only education can achieve significant delay of sexual initiation in teenage participants. The data were collected in a one year evaluation of an abstinence education curriculum being used in Virginia public school systems. The program complied with the guidelines set by Title V and was taught as a nine unit course as part of the required physical/ health education classes held in participating public schools. Data collection included pre- and post self reports in which the authors paid particular attention to developing questions for optimal accuracy. This article appears to be well researched and the authors provided many useful citations; however, a few phrases throughout the document felt incendiary and stereotyped. This article clearly defined sex and discussed how the results can vary depending on how sexual activity is defined.

Sexual and Gender Diverse Adolescents and the Failures of Traditional Education in Public Education: Post #3

* Third part of the term paper titled "Sexual and Gender Diverse Adolescents and the Failures of Traditional Education in Public Education." This post covers the Methodological Framework for Research, Preliminary Implications, and the Conclusion portion of the paper.


Methodological Framework for Research

In order to ascertain what information should be used to develop a comprehensive sexual education curricula to be taught in public schools, a firm baseline of knowledge must be developed. It is proposed that a 2 page survey with optional telephone or in-person interviews should be used for data collection. It is vital that a diverse geographic area be chosen which will ensure the number of respondents needed and also gives more legitimacy to the data collected. The area chosen for this study is Clark County, Nevada which has a diverse population in both very large metropolitan and rural areas and has the fifth largest school district in the United States. This county has almost sixty high schools (magnet and charter high schools included) which allows for the response of at least 70,000 students (full high school student population was estimated as 89,438 as of 2012 so student population might be higher or lower based on community growth.) (no author, 2013) This survey should be given to all students who attend any public middle or high school in the selected county. The survey will be multiple choice and should be electronically scored.

It is recommended that the survey be presented to students on a Wednesday during second period (to assure the most attendance by participants) and that students should be given fifteen minutes to fill out the questionnaire. This recommendation means that students will receive the survey during classes that may not be focused on health; however, this will assure that the full student population is covered if all potential participants are given the survey at approximately the same time.

Confidentiality should be stressed to the students and questionnaires should be picked up by the teacher at the end of the period. Survey questions will contain questions on age of sexual initiation, behaviors used, sexual orientation and gender identity, negative consequences of sexual behavior, and related content including racial identity, relationship development and positive life skills. A survey was chosen over interviews as the best form of research as many people feel more comfortable with answering anonymous questions; it is a less expensive method of collecting large forms of data; and helps to eliminate evaluator bias as every participant gets the same questions. By using such a large group of participants, students who claim sexual diversity can have their thoughts heard and research can get a general idea of what percentage of the student population is gender or sexually diverse.

Preliminary Implications

There are a some potential implications for conducting this research and analyzing the results from data collected. As there doesn’t appear to be much research on diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, this study should give researchers a better understanding of what percentage of students who claim sexual or gender diversity other than heterosexuality. Current research tends to remove this data so the estimates of the statistics of sexual diversity are just that: an estimate. Having a better understanding of what the actual numbers are will give both educators and elected officials a real understanding of the human cost of ineffective sexual education for sexual diverse students. It is one thing to understand that sexual diverse students are most likely to have ‘negative consequences’ due to sexual behavior and imagining those consequences to be felt by a few or small group of individuals. It is another to recognize that the number of affected individuals is larger than assumed. If the numbers of sexually diverse adolescents tend towards the estimated population of American adults who claim sexual diversity, then the population would be estimated between 3.1% to 4.9%. (Gates, 2017) That suggests that possible numbers of sexually diverse high school students in Clark County, Nevada could be estimated as between 2,772 to 4,382 students. It must also be acknowledged that these estimates could be low as the negative social and economic costs to ‘outted’ sexually diverse adults can be quite high. This information should extend the research already collected on some forms of adolescent heterosexual behavior to a more complete picture on all forms of adolescent sexual behavior. Information gleaned from respondent data can then be used to develop a thoughtful and comprehensive sexual education curriculum for use in public schools. Having this information available to those who are attempting to create relevant and useful curricula for students is vital to their success. It is vital to recognize that there may be a small minority of students who will still not feel comfortable with the survey and may choose to not complete it or complete it with false information. However, it is hoped that due to the specific way that the survey is presented to students can help minimize this particular limitation in the data collected.

Another implication is that future researchers could feel more comfortable creating proposals that are more inclusive of sexual diversity rather than removing or throwing out the data collected. Sexuality has many forms and behaviors and limiting the majority of research to heterosexual ‘penile to vaginal’ intercourse leaves out a lot of sexual behavior for all sexual claimants. More research that focuses on sexual behavior in general- including sexual behavior that is socially distasteful such as bestiality- will create a solid baseline on human sexuality, theoretically creating new understanding of human relationships and behavior. The implications of a deeper understanding of human sexual diversity and behavior can be huge as sexual desire and behavior affects so much of ‘the human condition’ and can affect the research of many scientific subjects including biology, psychology, sociology, etc.

Other implications of this research are the ways that the aggregated data could be used to not only shape public school curricula, but also public policy towards education and sexual diversity in our society. In our current political climate and in many communities both in America and around the world, living openly as a sexually diverse individual can come with significant negative consequences from families, communities, and society at large. Using solid research to work towards greater understanding and tolerance of sexual diversity in our society can bring about higher levels of personal and economic success and reduce the negative consequences of sexual diversity that not only harm individuals, but our society as a whole. Civil protections for sexually diverse individuals in housing, the workplace, medical care, family and relationship development, personal safety, and social safety nets could have immense consequences for our society as a whole. Whether these consequences are positive or negative will be determined by the civil protections developed, implemented and disseminated to our society as a whole.

Conclusion

There are many assumptions made about the sexualities and sexual behavior of American adolescents. While there have been numerous studies of some forms of adolescent sexual behavior, there has been very little research on sexual diversity and behavior. I argue that the previous research performed and used to determine the curricula disseminated to public school adolescents is too limited and too politicized to create effective, comprehensive programs. Assumptions about the sexualities of teachers, religious preferences in teaching, how curricula is taught to students, the sexualities of students themselves, political viewpoints, and the needs for a stable society create hurdles for effective and positive sexual education. Assumptions are not always correct and can leave the majority of adolescents without any real information on how to make positive choices with their sexuality and behavior. These negative consequences- including disease and pregnancy-come at both an individual and societal cost. This research will be instrumental in changing the focus of sexual education curricula towards an effective comprehensive program for all students which can truly be used to minimize the negative consequences currently faced by American youth and bring the statistics of these consequences closer to the lower numbers found in other first world nations. As a foundation for further study, this research can be used to more fully understand the true spectrum of sexual diversity and behavior in our society and lead towards more tolerance and understanding throughout society as a whole.

Sexual and Gender Diverse Adolescents and the Failures of Traditional Education in Public Education: Post #2

* Second part of the term paper titled "Sexual and Gender Diverse Adolescents and the Failures of Traditional Education in Public Education." This post covers the Literature Review portion of the paper.

Literature Review

There has been much discussion and disagreement about how the subject of sexual education should be taught in schools and what information should be provided in those classes. This discussion has included parents and schools as well as local, state, and federal governments and influence has flowed both ways. These conversations tend to revolve around concerns about government involvement in family life and sexual education, parental control of the information taught, moral values that might be included in sexual education, and what constitutes age appropriate sexual behavior. (Shtarkshall et al., 2007) The history of sexual education, which recently has enjoyed a increase in research and publications, illuminates a wide variety of curricula and the ways and means of teaching them. (Blout, 2016) It appears that the only consistency in the teaching of sexual education is the controversy and the zeal of the advocates and reformers that are drawn to it.

Over the last few decades, there has been much research has focused on whether different methods of sexual education have been ‘successful’ in terms of stated goals and the desires of the community. However, even here there is disagreement as to what the goals of sexual education programs are: whether to promote safe sexual behaviors in the events of the initiation of sexual experience, prevent negative consequences of sexual behavior such as sexually transmitted disease and pregnancy, or to restrict any sexual behaviors by individuals before marriage for moral or social reasons. It is also difficult to determine whether curricula or outcomes of sexual education are successful because its difficult to collate data across diverse studies. New research provides data that can be used for changing current programs and making them more efficient and successful for students. As it is generally accepted that public schools are the one institution in our society that is regularly attended by most young people, it is schools that have the widest opportunity and responsibility for teaching and addressing sexual risk taking behaviors. (Kirby et al., 1994; Silva, 2002) While limited sexual education has been available to young people for decades, “the AIDS epidemic would change the way many people viewed sexual education; the question was no longer whether schools would teach sexual education; it was what they would teach, and how, and to what end.” (Zimmerman, 2015)

For the purposes of clarity throughout this review, I would like to clearly define a few terms that will be used going forward:

Abstinence-only sexual education is typically defined as curricula that tell learners that they should wait to participate in sexual intimacy until they are married. (Kirby et al., 1994) These programs may also contain extra lessons on self esteem, communication, decision making, life planning, and cooperative learning. (Denny et al., 2002) To receive federal funding, these programs must also comply with Section 510 A-H of Title V which includes: an exclusive purpose to teach the social, psychological and health gains that are achieved through sexual abstinence, that abstinence is the expected standards for all students and the only certain way to avoid STD’s and pregnancy (Kohler et al., 2008), that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected social standard and that sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to have harmful consequences for the student, potential children, and society. It must teach students how to reject sexual advances, how alcohol and drug use increase vulnerability to sexual advances, and the importance of attaining self sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity. (Rubenstein, 2017) Federal law also states that programs that use federal funds can not teach about contraceptives except to emphasis failure rates. (Jeffries et al., 2010)

Comprehensive sexual education (CSE) is defined as programming that seeks to postpone early sexual involvement, but also discusses both abstinence and contraception (the different methods available, instructions for use, etc.) as well as HIV/AIDS prevention. Some comprehensive programming also teaches other pertinent topics: human development and puberty, reproductive anatomy and health, pregnancy and prenatal care, consent, development of positive relationships, decision making, communication and interpersonal skills, and intimacy. (Kirby et al., 1994) Also, this type of sexual education may, if allowed by law, discuss sexual assault, sexual orientation, other sexual behaviors, and gender identity. (Jeffries et al., 2010)

One of the most important and easily quantifiable reasons that successful sexual education is needed can be seen in the recent statistics released for 2015 from the Centers of Disease Control. In that year, a total of 229,715 babies were born to women between the ages 15–19 years, for a birth rate of 22.3 per 1,000 women in this age group. In the same year, young adults (aged 13-24) accounted for an estimated 22% of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States. Half of the nearly 20 million new STDs reported each year were diagnosed in individuals between 15 to 24 years of age. (CDC, Sexual 2017) While 2015 shows birth rates for American teenagers at a record low with evidence suggesting the declines are due to abstinence and consistent contraception use, the teen pregnancy rate in the United States is still substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations, and racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in teen birth rates persist. (CDC, Teen 2017; Stanger-Hall and Hall, 2011)

Because we as a society have determined that pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are unfavorable outcomes for adolescents, research identifying distinguishing characteristics in effective sexual education programs- whether comprehensive or abstinence-only- is key. According to Kirby et al., effective programs used social learning theories such as social cognitive theory, social inoculation theory, and cognitive behavioral theory, etc. as a foundation for program development and included a narrow focus on reducing sexual risk-taking behaviors that may lead to STD’s or unintended pregnancy. (1994) According to Jeffries et al., more than 140 national scientific organizations acknowledge that CSE can effectively meet adolescents’ sexual needs. Their conclusions are based upon numerous findings that CSE effectively promotes abstinence and may delay sexual debut, reduce sexual frequency, reduce the number of lifetime sexual partners, reduce the risk of STD transmission, and increase the likelihood of consistent contraceptive use. (2010) Silva, who analyzed the success rates of several studies, found that some studies believe that more parental involvement in teaching sexual behavior may have contributed to higher abstinence rates; however, she acknowledges that parents who were willing and able to participate in these programs may differ in important demographic or lifestyle characteristics from those who did not participate, possibly skewing the data collected. (2002) Through research based on a national analysis of all state data available, Stanger-Hall and Hall show that abstinence-only education doesn't reduce, and likely increases teen pregnancy rates, while comprehensive sexual education that included abstinence as a desired behavior was correlated with the lowest teen pregnancy rates across states. (2011) However, all of these studies have some limitations which make for a shaky foundation when creating new programs and protocols for more effective sexual education. As suggested by Silva, research in sex education could be greatly improved if more efforts were directed to test interventions utilizing random controlled trials, measuring intervening variables variables and a more careful and detailed reporting of the results. (2002)

One clear oversight in both abstinence-only and many comprehensive sexual education programs is the recognition and teaching of sexual diversity. Very little research has been completed with a view to understanding how to recognize and teach individuals who claim a sexuality other than heterosexuality and students who report any form of sexuality other than heterosexuality are removed from studies to keep the results consistent for the majority population studied. For example, Kohler et al. specify in their research that “Individuals reporting sexual orientation other than heterosexual were also excluded as programs do not address same-sex behaviors.” (2008) Denny and Young state that in their questionnaires that sexual intercourse is defined as “ the male’s penis is in the female’s vagina” while Weed and his group of researchers measured data based on “virgin students who went on to have vaginal sexual intercourse.” (2006; 2008) Valenti writes that educators in abstinence-only sexual education are mandated to define the term ‘marriage’ as only “a legal union between one man and one women as a husband and wife” and the word ‘spouse’ as only “a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife” (Valenti, 2009) Luker notes in her book that she restricted herself to heterosexuality discussions “as the public discussion itself did.” (2006) Blount states that same sex desire and gender nonconformity have been so strenuously and consistently rooted out of sexual education curricula that the need for rigorous scholarship and additions to sex education protocols is significant. (2016)

This oversight in the acknowledgment and instruction of sexual diversity has come at a high cost to LGBTQI students and young adults. Among young people (aged 13-24) diagnosed with HIV in 2015, 81% were gay and bisexual males. (CDC, Sexual 2017) Data provided from the 2015 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey of surveyed LGBT students states that these students are at an increased risk of being threatened, bullied, or injured on school property or online. LGBT students are also at an increased risk of sexual and physical dating violence, and rape. (no author, LGBT…2017) These students are more likely to have problems with depression and are four times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexual youth. (Frieden et al., 2015) Eight states- Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah- limit what teachers can say about homosexuality and some of these states require inaccurate information to be shared with students. (Segal, 2017) For instance, Alabama education law requires that sex education programs emphasize that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public, that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state, and prevents educators from mentioning “that some methods of sex are safe methods for homosexual sex.” (Rubenstein, 2017) Hess notes that if some abstinence-only providers mention homosexuality, it is mentioned as a lifestyle with shocking negative consequences that can only be solved by marrying someone of the opposite gender. (2010) Therefore, students who do not identify as heterosexual may not find any mention of sexual diversity in their taught curriculum and, if it is mentioned, only negative or possibly inaccurate information is provided. It is important to note that until recently, same sex marriage was not an available option for homosexual individuals, effectively telling these students that they must remain celibate throughout their life span. While the legal union of marriage is now open to either heterosexual or homosexual relationships, many sexual education programs still teach that if you are homosexual, you must remain abstinent unless you marry a partner of the opposite sex. (Hess, 2010) Lastly, teachers who identify as LGBTQI fall in the minority and it can still be a challenge for a teacher that is known to identify as other than heterosexual to keep a teaching job. This discrimination suggests to students that their sexuality can affect future employment unless closeted. (Jennings, 2005; Jackson, 2007)

Another significant problem with specific abstinence-only curricula is how these lessons are taught: metaphors used, abstinence decisions as absolutes, etc. Most abstinence-only curricula do not discuss consent or sexual assault, but do use metaphors that imply that sexual activity degrades the female body. (Valenti, 2009) These metaphors include licked cupcakes or chocolate, sharing cups of spit, chewed up gum, old and worn out shoes, a piece of tape, a rose with no petals, etc. (Rubenstein, 2017) When these metaphors are used or demonstrated to students, many students who have been victims of sexual assault see themselves as broken, dirty, or worthless. These metaphors increase feelings of shame, anger, and embarrassment in victims-- most of whom are women. (Valenti, 2009) Another drawback to using these metaphors is that the use of them can diminish the self worth of individuals who choose to have sex and make them more vulnerable to other health conditions such as depression, eating disorders, etc.

Therefore, it is vitally important that research is conducted and programs tailored to use successful strategies for teaching sexual education to students. An abbreviated listing of sexual education laws per state was compiled by the Guttmacher Foundation in early 2017 which found only 13 states require that the information taught in sexual education protocols must be medically accurate, only eight states require the teaching should be ‘culturally appropriate and unbiased’, and only two states require that sexual education teachings cannot promote religion. (no author, Sex 2017) According to Blount, no program will be successful until the curricula recognize young people as sexual beings, a viewpoint that defies many community assumptions about the sexual innocence of youth. He also states that researchers need to recognize or acknowledge the sexuality of adults who work with adolescents instead of the current standard of assumed asexuality or sexual purity of school workers as a class. (2016) It should also be a given that teachers’ beliefs about the content of sexual education curricula may influence what they teach their students despite what is specifically in the curriculum itself. (Jeffries et al., 2010) Zimmerman suggests that no program will be successful if, at its core, the goals are to control sexuality by fear. (2015) As there is so little consensus on what to teach, how to teach it, when to teach it and what aspects of programs are the most successful, it is vital to encourage further research and scholarship into the matter.

Sexual and Gender Diverse Adolescents and the Failures of Traditional Education in Public Education: An Introduction

This post is an introduction to the next few post sharing a term paper that I completed for a class that I took that focused on sociology and education. The paper is long so I intend to break it into a few posts and I will have a post listing all sources for those who are interested. This topic is near and dear to my heart as I didn't feel like I got a very healthy view of sexuality from my public and religious education and I wondered how widespread disinformation or a lack of information was being taught. Turns out, its really more common than I expected. If fact, it appears that a lack of comprehensive sexual education is the norm and not an outlier at all.

I hope my readers enjoy the paper and, per usual, I am interested in your critique and comments. Enjoy.

Self Care.... Filled with Hormones

I have been struggling this semester. I think there are a few reasons including feeling a lot less motivation with the loss of my grandpa, work health problems... the usual suspects. I tried to work on some homework but I seem to be unable to concentrate on either history nor interdisciplinary studies so I found myself roaming my shelves for something to read. I have agreed to try and take some time for self care- I'm quite terrible at it and I am working to do a little better- and I have decided that some of my self care should include stretching and fun reading. My eyes slid down the rows of books and then stopped on my nutrition textbook. I have never been willing to get rid of it because I sometimes find myself using it as a resource for trying to understand comments from my doctor better or even as a resource for a history paper. So, amusingly enough I hauled it to the couch (We can't say I picked it up because it's huge) for a bit of 'light, restful reading. I found myself quite frustrated by the reading so please take that in mind when I discuss my thoughts below... I guess it wasn't very restful reading.

I entered this chapter with little knowledge about hormones and how they affect the average person’s body, and by extension, my own. I have listened to doctors chatting about my hormones to my parents from about the age of 14 onward. In almost every doctor’s appointment that I attend as well as incidental evidence in my own life, my hormones are in control of me… and not me of them. I see menstruation and the whole process of hormones in a very negative light. As early as 18 years old I wanted to get a hysterectomy to try and end at least part of the process. The only thing that has stopped me from a hysterectomy is money... and if I was offered the opportunity to have it done tomorrow and have it paid for...I would not hesitate at all. As mentioned in the text, some of the societal and cultural ideas around menstruation are definitely alive in my mind for I too believe that I am filthier and more disgusting during the time of my menstruation and I want to avoid people and try to do anything I can to hide it. I don't talk about it much and I used to go to great lengths to hide any evidence including sanitary supplies from any one in my home- I even used to hide it from my husband when I was married... which was challenging and sure looks foolish from where I stand now. The way I think sure has changed... as evidenced that I am try to talk about it here. I found myself a bit bemused to read the words on the pages in front of me such as “One Indian phrase for menstruation is the flower growing in the house of the god of love” and “when researchers looked for positive changes in the premenstrual phase, they can find those as well." I haven't found those yet I guess.

The chapter listed a lot of research on women's health as well as hormones and sexuality. I suspect that the reason there appears to be so much research focused towards these topics is that hormonal changes are seen as an overall negative in quality of life for the majority of women. As Americans live in a fairly patriarchal society and women are not seen or treated in many cases as equal to men, focusing on the differences- and perceived negative differences- makes perfect sense. In general, if we look for the bad over the good that is what we will find. As a history buff, the discussion of women, women’s health, and sexuality have been seen in a negative light throughout many cultures and ages in time. The text also mentions that religion can also play a role in how hormonal changes, menstruation and reproductive activities are viewed and treated. It seems clear to me that many cultures and religions view the unique actions of women's bodies as problematic and use social pressure to control these actions, using members of both genders to create and reinforce this pressure. Another thing that most people who practice medicine have noticed that wasn’t mentioned in the text is that there is gender bias when it comes to many serious problems such as pain, heart attack, etc. How a person is treated when experiencing these disorders can vary widely based on the gender of the person experiencing them and that bias tends to create more negative outcomes for women than for men. What these facts and ideas say about our culture are not great. If the perspectives and biases in our culture and society tend to be more negative towards women, their health and potential in our society, it shouldn’t come as a shock that more studies are focused on the negative aspects of women and their health when research is being discussed, funded, and developed. If society sees men unconsciously as physically better and less hormonal as the male gender has no outward appearance of hormonal changes as stated in the text, then it also makes sense that research is much less likely to turn its focus toward men. Research in general tends to start with the spark of an idea on how something works, an idea of how to change something, or even how to fix a problem or perceived difficulty. If a culture in general is unable to recognize that men’s hormonal cycles exist or that they are important, no funding or time is going to be focused on that as it will be seen as waste of time and resources. I think that creates difficulty for both genders as men’s health and experience is ignored or undervalued so that problems are not recognized and potentially helped and women find that that their health and the study of their health is focused more on the negative aspects of it – or perceived negative aspects- and less on the positive traits and aspects of the health differences.

If more research was focused towards men and their health as well as hormonal cycles, I believe that we could gain knowledge that could be quite beneficial for men and the health problems that occur for them. However, it must be acknowledged that the majority of all medical research is focused on men- just not hormonal research- and it is vital to start including women in these processes. Excuses for leaving women out of health studies include the perceived 'variability' of their hormone cycle and the 'uniqueness' of the female body's functions... which feels a bit like a cope out. After all, the majority of all of our bodies- male and female- work and respond the same in similar circumstances.

I am not sure that reading this was really good self care or if I found myself distracted and worked up about something that really isn't super relevant to my life right now. But I found a few things that I was interested in researching at some point. I wonder how much of my health problems is based on some of the external influences the text mentioned. Do I feel more pain because of hormonal changes or because I feel like I ‘should’? Do I feel dirty and awful because of my sensory disorders which cause challenges with the physical sensations… or do I feel that way because I have been taught/ influenced to feel that way? Are the mental symptoms of confusion and personality ‘changes’ really a part of the hormonal changes, part of what I expect to happen, or pieces of both intertwined in the perspective and package of me? Certainly interesting questions to ponder this evening. Although the ponder must end soon as the guys are headed over. :D

What are your thoughts?

Overlapping Identities and Critique on “Ms. Amerikkka”

*A link to the song can be found here.

To truly understand life as lived in America today, it is desirable to consider the issues of race, class, gender, sexuality and nationality and how they intersect in the lives of its citizens. Recognizing that how each individual identifies themselves and how that creates and changes their physical realties and relationship with other people and the social structures around them not only creates and shapes their reality but also changes ours is an important aspect of true empathy and understanding towards those around us. Understanding these issues and how they affect the lives of ourselves and others also gives us the ability to create positive and lasting change for ourselves and our communities. Successful feminist activists in this country attempt to understand intersecting identities and use their understanding and creative abilities to help develop social awareness of inequality, discrimination, racism and other undesirable social practices. One such artist is Edwin Hayes, Jr, better known by his stage name Aceyalone. Mr. Hayes is a rapper from California who has released a few albums as well as his work for other musical organizations. This paper will discuss and critique the lyrics of his song “Miss Amerikkka”, his critique and anthropomorphizing / caricature of the United States of America.

The song starts by giving us an image of a man flying home on a plane to Los Angeles sitting next to a woman who tells him what America looks like from her vantage point. His words go on to give us an image of a large woman, uninhibited and mentally ill, on the quick road to ruin and death unable to see how her behavior is reckless or dangerous to all who depend on her and live with her. The imagery is graphic; a woman eating, digesting and defecating her children… a neglecting mother who abuses and neglects her children as they weep and starve…. her minions locking up or shooting those who disagree or criticize her. It is four minutes of thoughtful but angry commentary on the author’s view of America today.

One aspect of these lyrics is that they adequately express the ways that class, race and privilege intersect in the lives of people in this country. The recognition that minorities and people of color are more likely to struggle with class issues as well as discrimination and fewer opportunities to advance is vital because this helps express how complex our society and its flaws are. If someone faces discrimination due to their skin color or sexuality… or both, they are more likely to have fewer opportunities, less physical and financial stability, and fewer support systems or safety nets when difficulties arise. Without these positive and stabilizing resources, individuals are held down in the vortex of issues that society and culture have created that limit access to privilege and power to the few individuals who do not find it necessary to deal with the consequences of the race, class, gender or sexuality. These lyrics discuss many of the ways that these issues intersect in people’s lives and ask important questions to ask each of us to think and recognize where we fit into the equation that is America. One example reads: “How can people still be hungry, when there’s a surplus?” If we look at that question, really focus and look at the statistics of people who are food insecure in this country, we may not be surprised to see how high the statistics rise if numbers are separated by race or sexual identity. I have asked myself many times how the richest country in the world has so many poor and downtrodden people and I cannot discover a reasonable explanation… at least not one that is healthy for our country or any of its citizens.

Unfortunately this song is also an example of how a lack of understanding of how race, privilege, culture and gender can actually help hold up the same institutions that you are trying to change. In most media outlets in this country, the United States is portrayed as “Uncle Sam” an older white male or father figure. This portrayal makes perfect sense when we look at the political ideas that our culture spreads in its own lands and abroad: America is the nurturing father figure, the world’ super-cop, the patriarchal leader of the ‘Free’ world. However, the imagery in this song gives all the negative characteristics discussed about America to the basic negative stereotypes of women. By keeping the emphasis on negative stereotypes of women and their traditional gender roles- bad mother, no shame, lack of innocence, bad girl, mirror of reflection, disgraced, etc.… it helps keep the questioning and criticism focused away from the individuals who are in power and could more effectively create great social change… the powerful, rich, white men in positions of great strength. Traditionally and effectively, women of any race have very little direct influence in the large power structures in this control and therefore, it is much easier to criticize the status quo if the criticism is put on the ‘backs’ of those who have no power to change it. Even the name of this great lady (Ms. Amerikkka) suggests the author’s intended focus on built in, institutionalized racism in our culture and also suggests a small dig at feminism… for she is a Ms.… the stereotypical feminist without a male to control her… and the lyrics let us know the negative consequences of that choice.

During a lecture titled “Cultural Criticism and Transformation”, bell hooks states, “How can there be an interplay between all of those different forces? Popular culture is one of the places where there can be an interplay.” We are able to watch, listen and understand many forms of creative expression in our society between painting, writing, movies, sculpting, and music. For those with more power and privilege in our society, they can actively create, market and push the images and music that we are bombarded in during our daily lives… from the instrumentals played in elevators and ‘hold’ music… to the music played in stores and available to find and purchase. For those individuals who try to create and market outside the system, the road can be very challenging and untenable. Some artists are successful –Anne DiFranco being an example -but the sheer amount of work and motivation can be impossible for the majority. Aceyalone has created a haunting piece of imagery that in less than four minutes compels us to look at racism and class in our society. He also provides us with the ability to understand how the overlapping of different cultural constructs can both help and hinder us in our attempts for change, financial security and stability. A provoking song, indeed.

pictures found at: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15-love-hate/, https://aceyalone.bandcamp.com/track/ms-amerikkka-bonus-track, http://genius.com/Bell-hooks-beyonce-is-a-terrorist-annotated

Personal Musings on Gender Discrimination and Inequality

In so many ways, this is an amazing time of the year. It feels so peaceful and wonderful to enjoy this time before the struggle to get out in the snow and the piercing cold really settles in and the next few months feel dreary and hunched and dark. So as the semester winds down and we finish up, I find myself reading, contemplating and comparing some of the things learned this semester learned along with my choices, my life and those around me. My thoughts have drifted back to focus more on gender discrimination, harassment, the wape gap and gender inequality at work.

Gender discrimination at work is a challenging topic and how gender affects the work place and work flow is something that I am still not sure I understand even after the readings. The one thing I feel pretty sure of is that I think most of us do not really understand how gender affects them in the work place and how to change it. I have worked for a few different places and have lived in a few different states and even though I have been working for over two decades, I do not really understand entirely how my gender as a woman has affected me in the work force. I can only be pretty sure in a few ways of direct consequences and the readings suggested a few more for my contemplating.

One of the statistics mentioned this semester was that 88.50% of women believe that they have faced harassment and discrimination in the work place. I have dealt with some harassment myself and was fired when I was 23 years old and complained to a supervisor about a co-worker. One month later I was denied unemployment payments even though I had excellent performance reviews for the three years before. I took that experience very personally and only the readings that suggested that some others have been denied benefits for the same reasons suggested to me that the experience might have been more about my gender than me personally. I have managed to work pretty hard to keep to myself and to try and keep myself separate at work because I haven’t wanted trouble for myself and the only female supervisor I have ever had wasn’t a very satisfactory experience for me. I feel like my idiosyncrasies are more accepted by males and so I find that I feel more comfortable in female sparse environments. When I think back, I find that most of the harassment I have received has been from women unless it was overtly sexual… then I tend to have troubles with men. I seem to be doing very well at my current job and I work almost exclusively with men… I wonder how much of my difficulties with women has less to do with my difficulties with communication and more to do with preconceived gender roles by myself and my female coworkers.

I have also found that the gaps in my employment due to family concerns has potentially caused me some significant wage loss… although I do wonder how much of that can also be placed on my lack of easily definable job skills. I do not have a degree and have been trained by on the job or by personal study for many of my jobs. I am definitely a women working in a blue collar job- I am told I am a professional, but my work is fairly physically demanding and I have flexible changing schedules, and even though I am full time, I have very few benefits for it… even my health care comes from the medical marketplace. “Because a blue collar woman learns most of her visible skills on the job rather than in the classroom… she must undergo her training in an extremely vulnerable situation… (as such) there are few visible skills by which the entry level female blue collar worker can be assessed. In situations such as this, where there are few cues available to evaluate ability, evaluators tend to rely more heavily on external characteristics such as gender as a means for judging a worker’s competence.” When I re-read this statement, I thought about how easy it has been for other co-workers to claim my accomplishments for themselves and I can see how my communication challenges combined with that could make me look like an under-desirable employee. I found myself sad but also a more motivated to work hard to stay in the job I am in. I do not make enough, but I am comfortable and respected and that feels pretty awesome and comfortable. Having the stability and less stress makes the financial trade off worth it for me for now.

I too have thought that prejudice and discrimination against women in the workforce has been steadily decreasing over the years so the studies listed (Cox and Harquail 1991), (Stroh, Brett and Reilly 1991) were a bit of a surprise to me. I find myself wondering again how much of my experiences are very much based in my gender and less my personality, behavior, or job performance. I’d like to take more time over the break and chat with friends about this topic and their experiences and see if maybe I can develop a deeper understanding about how it affects me and the people I interact with – both male and female. That seems like a nice interesting survey to conduct. : )

Reading about occupational stereotypes and gender stereotypes in the work place held very few surprises for me. The major surprise was how much I do seem to buy into and live / make decisions based on my acceptable and assimilation of these stereotypes. I hated being a stay at home mom and felt like what I did was fairly useless and my self-esteem was very beaten during this time. In the back of my mind I do not see myself as worth much unless I do have a job and I do tend to see my wage as what my worth as a person is. I do see many occupations as being more gender specific and I can find myself surprised when I am caught in a stereotype assumption in which I have made an unconscious assumption about who someone is based on their work or title (such as doctor) and then discover the person doesn’t fit into the image I made in my mind. One thing I feel like I have picked up from the reading is that while society suggests that the genders are becoming more equal in the workforce, the confidence that women feel (myself included) in being treated as equal is pretty low and we are far more likely to be convinced that each of us is making informed and objective decisions while the organization is making subjective decisions…. I feel like all of us are making pretty subjective decisions and judgments…. We just do not seem to recognize it all the time in ourselves. I have a lot of changing in my thought processes to accomplish.

what are your thoughts and life experience on gender discrimination or harassment? How has it affected your life?

bell hooks: Links and Thoughts on "Cultural Criticism and Transformation"

I just spent some time watching some a discussion and critique by bell hooks on American media and society. I found it difficult to watch... didn't necessarily agree with everything, but here are some of my thoughts. The links for the full talk are here, here, and here.

My first thought was that this author is the first person I have heard in years who uses the word agency outside of my church /religious faith. Every Sabbath I attend church I will hear at least one mention of the word agency in discussions on choices, consequences, the Plan of Salvation, and even gossip of mild judgment directed towards another member.   So I have gotten very used to hearing that particular word in a very specific setting with very specific meanings.  When I try to have discussions with people about helping individuals with problems such as drug abuse, debt, or homelessness, the conversation is always quickly steered into finger pointing and firm testimonies that these 'people' have made bad choices, could have made different ones and should now 'reap what they have sown'. I have never felt like I have had the words and language to really explain how I feel differently - that I believe you can only make choices that you recognize as true choices and if you do not see the choice.... how can you choose it? (I have no idea if that last sentence made a lot of sense.)  bell hooks gave me the wording that I have been looking for in this quote:

"Entitlement... a sense of agency is profoundly different [and] open to embracing ... an imagination into the future." 

I have spent a bit of time pondering these thoughts and watched this particular section a few times to make sure I internalized it.  I look back at my life and see the choices that I made to focus on marriage and family and not become a marine biologist or veterinarian and I see how while I had choices... I really didn't see the choices that I had.  So at 41 years old I am attending college and I am thrilled to be doing so yet am pretty much behind the bell curve age wise.  It's great to be able to open up and see what other choices there are out there that really are choices that I can make.  It really is freeing and I do feel like I have more imagination for my future and what I can make of it.  :)

Another thing that stuck out to me through her discussion was that Darth Vader was given a 'black voice'. (I am not convinced this was a racist decision, but I digress...) I haven't seen any of the Stars Wars movies since I was a teenager, but I think I recall that when Darth Vader was unmasked at the end of one film by his son Luke Skywalker, he was pale, white... sort of bloated looking.  It's interesting that James Earl Jones did the voice (I think that was the voice I recognized from the clips, but when the character was unmasked he wasn't actually black at all.  Am I remembering that right?  Any fans out there?  As I was thinking about this I thought about J.K. Rowlings and the Harry Potter books and how in reading most books, the general rule of thumb is that the character is white until proven otherwise.  Some Harry Potter fan sites have drawings and portraits of some of the characters where Hermione is brown or black and other characters look differently that they are portrayed in the movies and possibly in our minds.  I wonder about how it feels to read books where most of the characters are not necessarily like you... I think I just discovered anew another form of white privilege... as almost all characters I read about are made in my image. To have the 'proactive sense' of agency that Ms. Hooks talks about seems to mean more than critical thinking in my mind... more than an understanding of responsibility...  it requires true focus and vigilance about all thoughts imagined, all behavior committed, recognizing where you receive favor and where others do not.  I cannot imagine a more difficult task and one that will certainly take a lifetime to even delve past the surface of for most of us.... especially me.


Intersectional analysis is such a valuable and important way to look at information because it gives the researcher or interested party a better understanding of the causes, needs, choices, and motives of those being studied.  While simple, looking at pieces of information in small bits doesn't really give us a true and clear image. A white male moves in his space and makes decisions based not only on color and privilege, but background, environment, family, education, needs and desires, etc...  A female will do the same...  We can not truly separate ourselves from the disparate parts of ourselves that, inadvertently or wonderfully, help us to determine our choices and our life paths.  No matter how much education I get, no matter how well liked I am, I will still find limits to what I can accomplish due to experience biases, gender, environment, etc...  A woman of my age with all similar information who happens to be black has even more limits to struggle against.  To truly understand and try and change a cultural and social problem, if must be truly examined.  For instance, the text mentions how people of different genders and races are more likely to be paid according to these factors and not necessarily on education, experience, etc...  So making a change to standard pay for specific jobs will not really solve the problem even if it appears to temporarily.  Only by understanding the other aspects behind unequal pay and working to change them as well gives us a real shot at true cultural change.  Understanding how historical patterns of oppression still live on in our culture today helps us to look at ourselves, our friends and our communities and that steps towards making our communities more equitable are possible for us.  If we cannot recognize how race, gender, sex, etc... create our relationships with ourselves, our families and our communities... we will find ourselves struggling to truly understand what hinders us.  Like the seven blind monks who are touching an elephant and believe that each have something different at hand than the others, the elephant can remain hidden... even when in plain sight.

photos from: http://www.nndb.com/people/593/000115248/, https://www.pinterest.com/lilyt888999/harry-%2B-ron-%2B-hermione/, http://www.jainworld.com/literature/story25.htm

"Miss Representation"- Link and Personal Critique

The film Miss Representation was a pretty powerful documentary and it definitely hit a few nerves in my head. Here is a link to an eight minute trailer of the film. I found a link to the whole movie on youtube - here is the link for those interested!

It hit some personal memories and ways of feeling in my heart that are relevant even now in my life. I think that might say a bit about my insecurities as well. I have always felt - and still do- that my value is pretty much solely in my looks and traditional gender role conformity. Since I do not have the 'looks' I think I should have and I have been fairly unhappy and unsuccessful in my attempts to squash myself into my perceived gender role, I am always trying to make up for that lack by being helpful, generous, and not a burden to those around me. I always subconsciously ask myself if I have done "enough." My answer is always 'no'

"Is it ever going to be enough..."
"When is it ever going to be enough?"

While I do not think that I have ever consciously really asked myself these questions until now, these two questions have continued to pop into my mind over the last few evenings as I head to bed and clear my head for sleep. My last thoughts seem to center on 'being enough'. Whether I developed my lack of self esteem through society or some other path (the perpetual chicken vs egg argument), I am grateful even if a twinge pained to contemplate these thoughts. They will do me good in the long run I suspect.

Learning about media and how it changed how each of us think and how we respond to our environment based on how society and each of use views our culture is pretty powerful, confusing and also a bit depressing. I like to think that I am more than a product of my culture and yet... here I am. I recognize so many of the images they showed on this film even when they were not clearly marked as to where they came from... and I realized I have internalized a lot of the negative messages that the film discussed. I found myself thinking as I watched it of intersectional analysis and how simple I thought the world was when I was a teen when peer pressure and media really did seem to teach me what was important.

Intersectional analysis is such a valuable and important way to look at information because it gives the researcher or interested party a better understanding of the causes, needs, choices, and motives of those being studied.  While simple, looking at pieces of information in small bits doesn't really give us a true and clear image.  A white male moves in his space and makes decisions based not only on color and privilege, but background, environment, family, education, needs and desires, etc...  A female will do the same...  We can not truly separate ourselves from the disparate parts of ourselves that, inadvertently or wonderfully, help us to determine our choices and our life paths.  No matter how much education I get, no matter how well liked I am, I will still find limits to what I can accomplish due to experience biases, gender, environment, etc...  A woman of my age with all similar information who happens to be black has even more limits to struggle against.  To truly understand and try and change a cultural and social problem, if must be truly examined.  For instance, the text mentions how people of different genders and races are more likely to be paid according to these factors and not necessarily on education, experience, etc...  So making a change to standard pay for specific jobs will not really solve the problem even if it appears to temporarily.  Only by understanding the other aspects behind unequal pay and working to change them as well gives us a real shot at true cultural change. Understanding how historical patterns of oppression still live on in our culture today helps us to look at ourselves, our friends and our communities and that steps towards making our communities more equitable are possible for us.  If we cannot recognize how race, gender, sex, etc... create our relationships with ourselves, our families and our communities... we will find ourselves struggling to truly understand what hinders us.  Like the seven blind monks who are touching an elephant and believe that each have something different at hand than the others, the elephant can remain hidden... even when in plain sight.

I highly recommend this documentary. If you have the opportunity, please watch it and report back....

photos from: http://catherineannehawkins.com/good-things-46-miss-representation/, http://juliaview.com/tag/women-in-media/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Representation

Introduction to This Month’s Topic: The History of Women in Western Civilization

This was a class I wanted to take for a few reasons. One reason is that I love history and it feels like I have studied it all my life. I grew up with a thirst for it and devoured every book I could find that I could understand. I think that this passion for learning and history has served me well in my life and has been very enjoyable for me. However, I found that I felt over time that my knowledge was really very limited and as I looked at it from an education and a religious standpoint, I realized that I pretty much can give the basics on many of the individuals that have made history, but the majority are men. The exceptions in my mind can be classified as wealthy, white, powerful women such as Catherine the Great of Russia and Queen Elizabeth I of England... which were rare. Over the last year or so, I have tried to change that and have actively tried to look at the flip side of the coin so to speak. I have found the information a lot more challenging to come by and having anyone to discuss the information I do find with is difficult because the history of anyone besides men isn't taught in most standard classes so the discussion becomes a bit of a lecture or monologue.... which is no fun at all. So I saw this particular class as a lot of fun and a great resource towards gaining more knowledge, but also more guidance towards more resources for future study. I was hopeful that I can learn more not only about women and their struggles in culture, families and in creating a human history of their own, but also that I can develop a better understanding of the struggle for gender equality that is going on in my own lifetime. I also wanted to have a better understanding of how power and entitlement work between gender, class and race and how people are working towards changing the cultural biases that affect the under-privileged majority of people.

I found myself really interested in learning about how women's history is being compiled by historians and feminists today and how, as history is complied, what forces or parts of culture tend to decide which history is most important for the average student to learn about. I recognize that politics enters that equation as well so I understand that question must needs be open ended without a full solution to be had.

I think that anyone who approaches any of this information differently on a few levels. As our gender is intertwined in our mind and our thoughts without it being consciously there, each individual will have no choice but to either ignore or recognize that you will look at in the material based on your gender. However, I think that we are each much more likely to approach the material from a just as personal and unapproachable bias.... the bias of our own life experiences as well as current life circumstances. Our experiences, culture, family and our choices over time have helped each of us develop into a unique and amazing person and we cannot help but approach any topic with those biases in place and work to try and set them aside as we study and try to look at the topics addressed. I do not think that it is possible for any of us to do that completely- part of me at least has a hard time recognizing biases in myself and I assume others may have the same difficulty in self reflection and introspection. So I suspect that even when many of us appear to see the topic in the same 'light' and have the same viewpoint, we are getting there from very different paths and thoughts.

I recognize that the topics that I will address in the next several posts may be unknown to most and may also be on topics that are sensitive or cause negative emotions in yourself and others. I am not sharing them to cause any harm or anger; rather, I am sharing because I believe that the only way to change culture is to talk about it. From my writings, you will find that some of these topics were challenging for me and my emotions will hang off of some of my sentences and paragraphs. I hope that as readers, we can share our thoughts freely and discuss our feelings and concerns on the history and the topics that are discussed… many of which are still relevant to ourselves and women around the world today.

pictures from: http://www.citelighter.com/film-media/fashion/knowledgecards/womens-fashions-of-the-medieval-era, https://oregonheritage.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/oregon-womens-history-project/, https://oregonheritage.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/oregon-womens-history-project/, http://www.ora.tv/offthegrid/article/grid-history-women-history

Eugenics in America After 1945: Term Post #2

...Here are some examples:

North Carolina had a sterilization program in place from 1929-1974 in which approximately 7,600 individuals were sterilized with over 70% of those coming after 1945 when the program expanded after World War II. One unique aspect of North Carolina's laws was that they were written allowing people to be recommended for sterilization by doctors, social workers and other government employees they dealt with in their communities and homes. About 85% of those referred for sterilization were women. One guideline for sterilization was if a person had an IQ of less than 70. In July 2013, the state set aside ten million dollars for compensation to the verifiable victims of this program of which approximately 3000 are thought to be still alive.

In the 1950’s, black women in the south became targets of forced sterilization via tubal litigation or hysterectomy, commonly referred to by women as “Mississippi appendectomies,” because women entered hospitals to have abdominal surgery and left unknowingly without their uteri. In 1972, testimony before a US Senate committee brought to light at least 2,000 involuntary sterilizations that had been performed on poor black women who were mothers with multiple children. They were usually told that their appendix needed to be removed and were sterilized at that time or at the birth of a child, especially if the women was unmarried. There is evidence that many women may never have known why they couldn't conceive.

Forced sterilization practices changed and were focused on specific populations in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s through newly established federal family planning programs. Mexican and Mexican-American women were coerced or tricked into forced sterilization at the Women’s hospital of the University of Southern California- Los Angeles County Medical Center. Public concerns that the rise in Mexican immigration was overpopulating the state and purposely expanding state welfare needs was high. The idea that women became pregnant and then worked their way across the American – Mexican border to give birth and give themselves and their new family a secure financial benefit through the various welfare programs available is still an active concern in our present political climate. There is no known number of how many involuntary and coerced sterilizations there were before the federal class court case Madrigal v. Quilligan - a lawsuit brought against a hospital and their doctors by some women who discovered their unwanted sterilization. However, statistics show that elective hysterectomies had a 742% increase and tubal ligations a 470% increase within a two year time frame. At least 140 women shared their stories of being forced to agree or not being given any kind of informed consent at all. Some described situations that can only be described as blackmail. i.e.; I will not give you pain medication to finish your labor and delivery unless you comply. The lead defendant in the court case, Dr. Edward Quilligan, was quoted by a medical technician as stating, “poor minority women in L.A. County were having too many babies; that it was a strain on society; and that it was good that they be sterilized.” The plaintiffs lost their case, but the case did change and created stronger informed consent rules through legislation in California including bilingual language on the consent forms.

In 1955, the federal government changed the way that health care for Native American populations was provided. Depending on many factors, the quality of care throughout the Indian Health System varied considerably due to individual facilities, staff opinions/prejudices, and changes in 'coverage' due to Congressional appropriation hearings and decisions. These changes had some significant benefits as the new program was much better funded which helped increase services and decrease mortality. Another potential benefit which was added was the provision of family planning services. On reservations, Native American women became targets of physicians employed by the Indian Health Services who believed that restricting these women’s reproduction would reduce their poverty and dependence on the state. Through the

sharing of stories, complaints of coercion or harassment, and from research and interviews preformed through investigations, it is estimated that IHS hospitals and their affiliates sterilized between 25 and 42 percent of all Native American women of childbearing age between 1970 and 1976. Even with mandated changes requiring informed consent, added waiting periods and added safeguards, in 1974 more accusations cropped up that IHS staff in some places were not following the new guidelines and questionable sterilizations were still taking place - almost all subsidized with federal funds. Evidence shows that these types of experiences not only changed the relationships between Native Americans and the government/Indian Health System but also caused significant changes in an individual’s life and their standing in the community, as well causing economic and familial harm- some marital relationship were also severed over the procedure. In 1976, Congress passed the Indian Health Care Improvement Act which gave tribes the right to control Indian Health Service programs and there is no evidence that inappropriate sterilizations have happened after that time.

In case we believe that our society’s beliefs and behavior has changed since the late 1970's, we have other more recent examples. In 1909, California was the third state to pass a eugenics sterilization law and over the years had sterilized around 20,000 patients or around 1/3 of all the sterilizations in the country. That law was finally repealed in 1979 after a lawsuit by several women who had been coerced or forced into their own sterilizations. Yet, at least 148 women incarcerated in four California prisons were illegally sterilized in the years 2006-2011 costing the state $147,460 for the procedures. One of the physicians, Dr. James Heinrich, has stated that the practice of sterilizing female prisoners saves the state money because the patients would no longer have “unwanted children as they procreated more.” Auditors found in those cases that sometimes paperwork was altered to look like compliance with current laws was achieved and in many cases, no informed consent was attained. On September 25, 2014 California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill prohibiting forced sterilization in the state.

That the United States has not been able to shake the ideas and prejudices that informed and created the original Eugenics movement. Today eugenical ideas and procedures are still officially permitted. Voluntary sterilization for therapeutic or for reproductive reasons is a great blessing for thousands of people and should be accessible for those who need it. However, its availability gives eugenic proponents the tools they need to pressure individuals to give up their dignity and human right to reproduction. Some women may lose that right without being told of the procedure or are given false information such as it is reversible. There is even incidental evidence that federal money is being spent on experiments and science that are clearly eugenic in nature. In the end, eugenics is still very much successful in America. I am aware that I personally fit several of the ideals for eugenic sterilization –I am so myopic I am considered legally blind, suffer from celiac disease, and have two other severe medical issues as well as PTSD, and severe sensory/ anxiety issues. I have given birth to a child that also has problems with celiac disease, has sensory problems and had seizures for seven years before outgrowing them. And yet, my son is a wonderful human being and he is well liked in his community. He is smart and compassionate in spite of his disabilities and my life wouldn’t really feel worth much without him. I have chosen to not have any more children and being able to make that choice for myself is one of the most wonderful things I appreciate in my life. I am hopeful that as society recognizes the individual worth of all individuals, may the concept of eugenics pass away… and rest in peace.

pictures from: http://www.carolinapublicpress.org/9854/house-passes-eugenics-compensation-bill, http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the-american-eugenics-movement-after-world-war-ii-part-1-of-3/Content?oid=2468789&storyPage=3, http://gloriamolina.org/2014/01/15/looking-back/, http://www.quora.com/Native-Americans, http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/SD/SD.html, http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/12/opinion/la-ed-sterilization-female-prisoners-california-20130712, http://www.examiner.com/article/illegal-sterilizations-forced-on-women-california-prisons, http://rt.com/usa/167660-california-illegal-sterilization-women/