so you want to be a sex educator
So, You Want To Be A Sex Educator
By Marshall Miller and Dorian Solot
You want to be a sex educator? Great! The world needs more sex educators! This page will give you some more information about how to get started.If you're like many of us, you've noticed how easy it is for friends to pursue their career passions. If you want to be a lawyer, for example, you can take pre-law courses in college, intern for law firms over the summer, apply to law schools throughout the country, take the LSAT, and you're on your way. With sexuality education, the path isn't as clearly marked, but that doesn't mean you can't find your way and make a lifelong career out of educating others about healthy sexuality.
For those looking for ways to get started, we've got a few suggestions:
First, read everything about sex you can find. Odds are that if you're interested in this career path, you may already be doing this, but if you don't, make it a habit to check out the sex section of any bookstore you're in - look at every book. Most people go to the sex section of bookstores to find something they are personally interested in, or to solve a specific problem they have. A sex educator goes beyond what they are personally interested in to get a grasp on everything other people want to read about. If it's on the shelf in the bookstore, someone wants to know about it, and if you read it, you'll be able to educate them based on what you've learned.
Next, take a look at who is already doing sexuality education in your community, and see what you can learn from them. One of the best places for this is your local Planned Parenthood affiliate. Many Planned Parenthoods have libraries packed with great information on sexuality, trainings on sexuality-related topics, and opportunities to volunteer. For example, the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts offers a three-day training called the Sexuality Education Cornerstone Seminar. Other agencies that might have opportunities for training and volunteering are HIV/AIDS service organizations; gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender groups; and agencies that work with youth. You might try calling different agencies and setting up "informational interviews" with staff there to learn about what they do and see if there are ways you can get training, volunteer, borrow materials, shadow an educator, etc.
If you're lucky enough to live in or near the handful of cities with feminist sex toy and bookstores, they can also provide great opportunities for browsing, taking classes, and talking to the staff. Stores like these pride themselves on being friendly, well-lit, sex-positive, and welcoming to people of all genders and sexual orientations. Those cities include:
Albuquerque, NM: Self-Serve
Baltimore, MD: Sugar
Berkeley, CA: Good Vibrations
Boston, MA: Good Vibrations
Chicago, IL: Early to Bed; Tulip
Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada): Venus Envy
Madison, WI: A Woman's Touch
Milwaukee, WI: The Tool Shed
Minneapolis, MN: The Smitten Kitten
New York, NY: Eve's Garden; Babeland
Northhampton, MA: Oh My!
Oakland, CA: Feelmore 510
Ottawa, Ontario (Canada): Venus Envy
Portland, ME: Nomia Boutique
Portland, OR: It's My Pleasure; SheBop
Provincetown, MA: Wild Hearts
San Diego, CA: The Rubber Rose
San Francisco, CA: Good Vibrations
Scottsdale, GA: Aphrodite's Toy Box
Seattle, WA: Babeland
Ventura, CA: Trystology
Toronto, Ontario (Canada): Come as You Are; Good for Her
Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada): Womyn's Ware
If you're ready to dive in a bit deeper, one potential next step is to attend a national conference or workshop on sexuality. The Sex Ed Conference is the largest conference in the United States that is exclusively devoted to sex education. It's held annually in New Jersey and organized by The Center for Sex Education.
There are two national organizations, American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (ASSECT) and Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (the acronym is pronounced "Quad-S") focused on sexuality education and research and they each hold an annual conference. We'd also recommend spending some time looking at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) website and the website of Center for Research & Education on Gender and Sexuality, including the information about their Summer Institute.
You also might want to explore taking a SAR, or Sexual Attitude Reassessment. One of the oldest and most respected of these was the Annual Thornfield Workshop on Sexuality, which unfortunately has long stopped its regular summer offerings, but will forever be memorialized in Brian McNaught's book Sex Camp. You can find an upcoming listing of SARs and other educational offerings here. Depending on your particular interest, there are numerous other conferences on sexuality-related topics, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues; women's sexuality; and youth sexuality education. In general, conferences and workshops are a great way to get more education about sexuality, to network with other people in the field, and to learn about other opportunities you might want to pursue.
Marshall is a trainer of teachers for Our Whole Lives, a comprehensive sexuality education program created by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ Board of Homeland Ministries. OWL is taught in both faith-based and community settings, such as Planned Parenthood affiliates. Even if you're not in a position to teach OWL, the trainings themselves provide a great learning opportunity for aspiring sex educators. Check the online calendar for upcoming dates.
Believe it or not,
it is possible to get a Ph.D. in Sexology. Two of the best known doctoral
level sexuality programs in the United States are the Institute for Advanced Study of Human
Sexuality in San Francisco and the one hosted at Widener
University, just outside of Philadelphia. Both
programs offer night and weekend classes, to enable students to continue
to work while pursuing their degrees. Widener also hosts a "Careers in
Sexuality" conference every year. You can see a list of other
programs at the
Quad-S website. Of course, you can get just about any graduate degree
and make the focus of your study (and your dissertation) a
sexuality-related topic. Many successful professional sex educators do not
have a degree in the field, but it is an option, particularly if you'd
like to become a professor at a university.
As you explore these different opportunities, you might want to
think about what aspects of sexuality education appeal to you the most,
and what types of skills you have that you believe will be most useful for
this work. Some people really enjoy writing about sex. Others like public
speaking and educating groups. Others want to research sex in a lab. Below
is our unofficial list of a few of the different "tracks" a person with an
interest in sex could pursue.
School and
youth track: This includes school health teachers, guidance
counselors, and people who work in school- and community-based programs
designed to reduce HIV, STIs, and unwanted pregnancies among youth. While
this track may have the greatest number of jobs, it's also one of the most
challenging, given that many youth programs are currently required to
teach only abstinence until marriage.
Academic/scientific/medical track: After receiving a graduate
degree, you might get a position at a university or a place like the Kinsey Institute, to conduct
sexuality research. Or you might be a medical provider who addresses
sexual problems, performs gender reassignment surgeries, or provides
OB/GYN care.
Academic/humanities track: This includes teaching women's studies
with a focus on sexuality, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
studies.
Community health track: This includes people who work in HIV, STI,
and pregnancy prevention programs targeted to adults, both in the United
States and in developing countries. Many of these programs promote safer sex among populations at high risk for HIV, and are funded through public health grants.
Advocacy/legal track: This includes the lawyers who work for the ACLU or the National Center for Lesbian Rights; organizations that lobby like Advocates for Youth; the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, etc.
Counseling and therapy track: Given that sex is an important issue in many peoples' lives, there are lots of opportunities for counselors and therapists. AASECT, mentioned above, certifies sex therapists. This category might also include HIV test counselors, with lots of overlap with the above categories, such as a school nurse who counsels students. It might also include ministers or other clergy who focus on helping people address the intersection of sexuality and spirituality -- for instance, see the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing.
Artist track: Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues is probably the best example of this, but many artists explore sexuality themes in their work.
Adult education track: This includes people who lead seminars, write books, write sex columns in newspapers, and work in stores like the ones listed above.
Our work, teaching sex education programs to college students, falls into
this category. We've hired a team of amazing sex
educators, and are occasionally in a position to hire more. If you think you might be interested, you live in or near the Northeastern part of the U.S., and you graduated from college at least two years ago, feel free to email your resume and a cover letter telling us a little bit about yourself to
info@sexualityeducation.com .
There are also a number of companies that hire people to sell sex toys and give workshops at in-home parties. These include Athena’s , My Secret Soiree, and Pure Romance.
Many of the sex toy stores listed above also offer in-home parties. These companies vary considerably in terms of what they sell, how their parties work, and how their consultants are trained and paid.
Journalism track: A close overlap with the adult education track, those in the journalism track focus on writing about sex. A job or internship at Nerve.com could be a perfect match here.
And of course, the possibilities include occupations with that overlap with many of the above tracks and ones that aren't yet listed.
Good luck, have fun, and stay safe! Let us know where life's journey brings you -- we would love to hear!
For further reading, see I Want To Be a Sex Educator. Er, How do I do That? on Scarleteen.com, and "Tips for Emerging Sexology Professionals: Network and Nurturing" (available in the February 2006 issue of Contemporary Sexuality, page 13 ), by Bill Taverner, MA, the co-editor of the American Journal of Sexuality Education.