SIECUS Report articles from March 2004

SIECUS Report archives from March 2004

SIECUS turns forty.(From the President)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... For this special anniversary issue of the SIECUS Report, we looked to our rich history and past publications to identify reacurring themes, how they have changed, what we can learn from our experiences, and where our efforts are still needed....

1971: The sexuality of aging.(Forty Years of Growing SIECUS on Sexuality and Aging)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... ... Society tends to inflict sexual incapacity on the aging person as a kind of wish fulfillment, as if to say, "You are old and finished with life, so you should be finished with sex--especially since trying to meet your sex-related needs...

1976: sexuality and aging.(Forty Years of Growing SIECUS on Sexuality and Aging)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... ... What Can We Do? For those who are old now, sexuality can be a solace, a continuing source of positive self-image, and a preservative. It can be--if it is maintained, or revived, without impertinent interference, or at least not condemned,...

1999: Viagra 1999.(Forty Years of Growing SIECUS on Sexuality and Aging)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Viagra has--for better or for worse--affected American marriages and relationships forever. Consider the wife who welcomes home her 65-year-old husband who has just picked up a prescription of Viagra, has a smile on his face, and asks to...

2002: gay and lesbian aging.(Forty Years of Growing SIECUS on Sexuality and Aging)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... ... Empirical research demonstrates that the image of the older gay or lesbian as lonely, isolated, depressed, and sexless is, indeed, a myth. Most enjoy a high level of satisfaction in their lives, have unique coping skills which can...

1980: parent-child communication.(Forty Years of Encouragment SIECUS on Family Communication about Sexuality)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... ... When it comes to talking about sexuality, most parent's don't. Today's mothers and fathers are struggling to reconcile new realities and new attitudes with the messages about sexuality they themselves received while growing up. They are...

1994: forming a partnership between parents and sexuality educators reflections of a parent advocate.(Forty Years of Encouragment SIECUS on Family Communication about Sexuality)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... ... The majority of parents are confused about what their children need, but, despite this confusion, they support sexuality education. This article stems from my growing concern about two issues: 1) ambivalence toward parents on the part of...

2001: kids need parents as sexuality educators; we need parents as advocates.(Forty Years of Encouragment SIECUS on Family Communication about Sexuality)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... For many years now, we have given lip service to the phrase "parents are their children's first sexuality educators." We have talked about their importance when, in fact, we know that many parents and caregivers are not talking to their...

1982: what does AIDS mean?(Forty Years of Discovery SIECUS on the HIV/AIDS Pandemic)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... As currently understood, the recently characterized syndrome of acquired immune-deficiency (AIDS) is at once the first epidemic of immune-deficiency and the deadliest sexually transmitted disease in recorded medical history. Having already...

1986; Aids: avoiding witch-hunts.(Forty Years of Discovery SIECUS on the HIV/AIDS Pandemic)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a serious matter to those of us in the field of human sexuality. Not only is there the potential for an epidemic, but the fears aroused by the threat of AIDS may lead to many kinds of drastic public...

1988: the AIDS epidemic implications for the sexuality education of our youth.(Forty Years of Discovery SIECUS on the HIV/AIDS Pandemic)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... ... Five Primary Goals for AIDS Prevention Programs AIDS prevention programs for young people should have the following five primary goals: First, programs should be designed to eliminate misinformation about HIV and to reduce panic...

2002: HIV/AIDS prevention and sexuality education must change to meet their promise.(Forty Years of Discovery SIECUS on the HIV/AIDS Pandemic)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... The absence of certain subjects in education is compounded by what might be called a series of approaches to such education that have solidified over the years. I will say something about five. First, until recently, the majority of general...

1965: why the need for a sex information and education council of the united states as a new, separate organization.(40 Years of Action SIECUS on SIECUS)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... ... Why indeed? The answers to these questions would be as numerous, and as varied, as the three-dozen directors of SIECUS. These directors selected for their professional achievements, are leaders who are associated with a wide number of...

1984: SIECUS 1984.(40 Years of Action SIECUS on SIECUS)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... The present is only a tiny moving dot on the continuum of time--a dot marking the intersection between the past and the future. Thus writing about SIECUS as I see it today is impossible without acknowledging the legacy of what has already been...

1994; One SIECUS vision: the future.(40 Years of Action SIECUS on SIECUS)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... The SIECUS mission affirms sexuality as a natural and healthy part of living and advocates the right of individuals to make responsible sexual choices. This is still a radical vision of crucial importance in today's world. It challenges...

2004: building on four decades of leadership.(40 Years of Action SIECUS on SIECUS)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... In 1964, a group of committed individuals banded together to form SIECUS in an effort to: "provide a broad interdisciplinary approach that will deal uniquely with human sexuality as a health entity"; "... [find] ways to...

1970: homosexuality and objectivity.(Forty Years of Speaking out SIECUS on GLBTQ Issues)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... An article by Charles Socarides in the Journal of the American Medical Association titled "Homosexuality and Medicine" (May 18, 1970, vol. 212: 1199-1202) reflects an unfortunate potpourri of prejudice and misinformation shared by a great...

1990: homophobia in HIV/AIDS education.(Forty Years of Speaking out SIECUS on GLBTQ Issues)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... ... Blaming, hostility, denial, and misinformation are not unique issues for HIV educators. They are common manifestations of homophobia, broadly defined as the fear and hatred of those who love and sexually desire people of the same gender....

2001: social and developmental challenges for lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth.(Forty Years of Speaking out SIECUS on GLBTQ Issues)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... Although the vast majority of lesbian and gay youth become well adjusted adults who lead satisfying, productive lives, they face additional developmental challenges that require a range of coping skills and adaptation. The struggle to develop...

1980: the SIECUS/Uppsala principles basic to education for sexuality.(Forty Years of Sharing SIECUS on Sexuality Issues Worldwide)
March 22, 2004... The principles that follow were first set down by SIECUS staff in 1976, then commented on at length and approved with changes by the SIECUS Board of Directors in 1997. The Board again considered them in 1978, with further refinement. In...

1996: SIECUS is pioneering a worldwide sexuality education effort.(Forty Years of Sharing SIECUS on Sexuality Issues Worldwide)(Sex Information and Education Council of the United States)
March 22, 2004... The concept of sexual health is increasingly being recognized as a basic human right, as reflected in the actions of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in September 1994, and the Beijing Women's Health Conference...

2002: governments need to provide sexual health services to their citizens.(Forty Years of Sharing SIECUS on Sexuality Issues Worldwide)
March 22, 2004... I am writing to you from the 14th Annual International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain, where more than 10,000 scientists, activists, policymakers, and people living with HIV/AIDS are meeting to discuss ways to prevent and treat this virus...

1968: a need in sex education--teacher preparation.(Forty Years of Teaching SIECUS on Training Sexuality Educators)
March 22, 2004... Currently we are experiencing an increasing demand for sex education. Churches, youth work agencies, and especially the school find themselves pressured into developing new programs and curricula. SIECUS views this as welcome evidence of a...

1991: the omnipresent need professional training for sexuality education teachers.(Forty Years of Teaching SIECUS on Training Sexuality Educators)
March 22, 2004... ... Thus, as we face, again and still, the persistent dilemma of promoting appropriate training experiences for classroom teachers of sexuality education, let us recognize the special obligation which the field of sexology/sexual science owes...

2003: what teachers want, need, and deserve.(Forty Years of Teaching SIECUS on Training Sexuality Educators)
March 22, 2004... ... As a human sexuality educator, I work with public school teachers, mostly in the Northeast, but also across the country, to help them feel more confident and competent teaching the young people with whom they work. Over the last 10 years, I...

1967: SIECUS hears from young men.(Forty Years of Listening SIECUS on the Voices of Young People)
March 22, 2004... An Invitation Dear Dr. Calderone: As a teenager I find that my world is constantly changing and right now what is my world but a group of loosely connected ideas and attitudes? What are these attitudes? They are my outlook on...

2003: young people talk about sex.(Forty Years of Listening SIECUS on the Voices of Young People)
March 22, 2004... Schools Should Help Children Survive in the Real World Telling a 16-year-old boy or girl to abstain from sex is about as effective as stopping a moving train with your body. And telling every parent of a 16-year-old boy or girl to talk to...

1978 legal briefs financing abortion: ploys revisited.(Forty Years of Policy SIECUS on Sexual and Reproductive Rights)
March 22, 2004... Congress recently ended a four-month legislative deadlock on federally funded abortions for the poor. Under the compromise approved by the Congress, poor women who receive health care under the federal-state Medicaid program may have a...

1991 overturn the Gag Rule now.(Forty Years of Policy SIECUS on Sexual and Reproductive Rights)
March 22, 2004... As a result of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, we are one step closer to the end of safe and legal abortion in the United States. We are one step closer to government-approved censorship of freedom of speech. We are one step closer to the...

2003 election 2002: what does it mean for reproductive and sexual health.(Forty Years of Policy SIECUS on Sexual and Reproductive Rights)
March 22, 2004... Confident in victory, Republicans have decided they are on the right track and have therefore basically re-elected their leadership in the U.S. Congress. The November 25 issue of The Washington Post reported that the Bush Administration...

1974 sexuality and the handicapped.(Forty Years of Knowledge SIECUS on Sexuality and Disability)
March 22, 2004... "We can feel... We can love... We are like other people." --Margaret, in the film Like Other People ... Society's general approach to the handicapped is to deny their existence. Failing that, we fund institutions and agencies to...

1986 sexuality and disability: looking backward and forward.(Forty Years of Knowledge SIECUS on Sexuality and Disability)
March 22, 2004... ... Many suggestions relating to what professionals in the field of sexuality could do to ensure the future growth of the field [sexuality and disability] were offered. Some of the suggestions are as follows: 1. We need more research in...

2001 parents as sexuality educators for their children with developmental disabilities.(Forty Years of Knowledge SIECUS on Sexuality and Disability)
March 22, 2004... Historically, the sexuality of individuals with developmental disabilities has been both feared and denied. For centuries, numerous myths prevailed, alleging that people with developmental disabilities were asexual, oversexed, sexually...

1970 sex education lawsuit Kansas--impressions and implications.(Forty Years of Advocacy SIECUS on Sexuality Education Controversies)
March 22, 2004... ... For several months a small group of individuals calling themselves TASTE (Topekans Against Sex Training Education) had been holding public meetings aimed at discrediting sex education. Films used in the school program were their major...

1986 sex education must be stopped!(Forty Years of Advocacy SIECUS on Sexuality Education Controversies)
March 22, 2004... Since sex education causes sexual expression--or, in the words of Phyllis Schlafly and friends, "promiscuity"--this group feels that it must be prevented at all costs. According to Schlafly, teenage sexual activity, which is encouraged by sex...

1992 scared chaste?: Fear-based educational curricula.(Forty Years of Advocacy SIECUS on Sexuality Education Controversies)
March 22, 2004... There has been a recent proliferation of sexuality education curricula that rely upon fear and shame to discourage students from engaging in sexual behavior. Referred to as abstinence-only curricula, these programs typically omit critical...

2003 a controversial decade: 10 years of tracking debates around sexuality education.(Forty Years of Advocacy SIECUS on Sexuality Education Controversies)
March 22, 2004... ... What We Have Learned We cannot deny that proponents of a strict abstinence-only-until-marriage approach have had a very good decade. There has been a dramatic rise in the amount of money that both federal and state governments spend on...