Growing Guerrilla Sex Ed in 2021
Any other parents out there feel like they’re about to face plant?
It’s been nearly a year now since the pandemic began and schools closed. I still laugh-cry remembering how some of us thought we’d be back at school within the month.
At this point, some kids are attending school on a hybrid schedule. Some are attending full-time, with strict social distancing measures in place. As for me and my family, my 6-year-old has been fully remote this entire time. And while my husband and I are lucky in that we both work from home and this arrangement didn’t require a huge shift, focusing on work while managing her distance learning is hard as hell and it feels like my brain is leaking out of my ears and I’m hoarding chocolate in my office closet and not telling my daughter about it. Shhhhh!!!
In the midst of all this, it may feel like worrying about sex ed is a bridge too far. But I’m a firm believer that sex ed is essential at every age because it imparts lessons on boundaries, consent, bodily autonomy, healthy relational decision-making, and all those other fun things that are so crucial to leading a healthy, happy life.
Which is why Guerrilla Sex Ed is so important to me. As school districts scramble to adapt lesson plans to hybrid and remote learning environments, some subjects are falling by the wayside.
Luckily, there are so many resources out there that allow parents to keep their kids informed, and I try to share as many of them as I can find on my site.
Speaking of which…
Latest Updates to the Site
The resource pages are constantly being updated as I learn of new books, hands-on teaching tools, and more.
I continue to regularly update the blog with new sex educator spotlights, news roundups, and other posts.
I’ve added an events calendar to the site, where I’ll be tracking workshops for parents and/or their kids (for all the educators reading this, let me know if you’d like your workshops to be included!).
What’s Still to Come…
In January, SIECUS released their 2021 State of Sex Education Legislative Overview. So, in the coming months, I’ll be using that information to update the Guerrilla Sex Ed Legislation pages. This may take some time as I juggle work, child, and the slow slipping away of my mental capacities, so please bear with me!
I also want to make sure I’m catering both the site and this newsletter to the parents who need it most. To that end, I’m considering making this newsletter a more regular thing… something that goes out once a month, and that contains something that would provide you with some added value. One of those things would be an advice column, where I answer one sex ed-related question a month. If you have any questions you’d like me to take on in a future newsletter, you can respond to this email or contact me here.
And now that there are more of you here — aware of Guerrilla Sex Ed and reading this newsletter — I’d like to re-up some of the questions I asked via survey when I first launched the site back in September:
What has been your greatest barrier to sexuality information?
What are your greatest fears around sexuality education, whether in the context of what your kids might learn in the classroom, or what you might teach them at home?
What types of questions do you want a site like Guerrilla Sex Ed to answer for you?
To answer any or all of these questions, you can respond to this email, use my contact form, or pop a comment below.
And if you’re interested in more than just sex ed for parents and their kids, you can always subscribe to Thunder Thighs, my monthly newsletter where I share feminist- and health-related news, new clips, recommendations, reaction GIFs, and more.
Love to you all for your support. 😘 - Steph