Title:	Sexuality and Aging
Authors:	Jennifer Hillman
Keywords:	Sexuality and Aging
Issue Date:	2012
Publisher:	Springer
Description:	Sometime around the late 1970s my mother, a high school home economics teacher, was asked to teach sex education. Until then, no such thing was taught in the district. We lived in a small town in Southeastern Pennsylvania that was socially conserva- tive, to say the least. In my mother’s own experience as a teacher there were many students who came to her for help when facing challenging situations about boy- friends, girlfriends, alcohol use, birth control, and what to do when birth control failed. Although my mother was uncomfortable with the idea of teaching sex educa- tion initially, she knew that it was desperately needed. Once she gathered her teach- ing materials, she experimented with her delivery on my younger brother and myself. I remember sitting with my mouth open, being shocked to hear my mother talk about erections, wet dreams, menstruation, gynecological exams, and how to use tampons, condoms, and other such things while she was pointing out details on colorful ana- tomically correct charts. I also remember that these lessons had a huge impact upon me and allowed me to make wise choices about various things when the time came. Probably most importantly, I learned that it was OK to talk about sex. While in college, I vividly remember the campus nurse and de facto sex educator talking to us in at a large assembly about a deadly new sexually transmitted disease called AIDS. The nurse managed to do this in such a way that we left her talk not feeling afraid, but empowered and informed. Soon after, I volunteered as a peer health educator. I went around campus speaking to various sororities and other primarily female groups about the free annual gynecological exams available at the college health center. I explained what a gynecological exam was, how important they were, and that you didn’t lose your virginity by having one. I was shocked how many girls never had an exam because they were afraid, because their parents never talked to them about it, or because their parents even forbid it. The nurse lent me a collection of speculums, applicators for pap tests, and tubes of lubricants so that I could show the girls what kind of equipment was used. I also made it fun to pass around these materials as part of a health “show and tell” game. I also informed the girls that you had the right to talk with the doctor with all of your clothes on before the exam and to ask the doctor explain and get permission for everything he was going to do.
URI:	http://10.6.20.12:80/handle/123456789/51135
ISBN:	978-1-4614-3399-6
Appears in Collections:	Population Studies

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