A recent study showed that teens pledging to remain virgins were as likely to have sexual encounters as those who made no pledge.  Children pledging to remain celibate not only were as likely to have sex as other children, they were less likely to take the necessary precautions to prevent pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases.  Despite these sobering facts, some parents continue to oppose comprehensive sex education, and instead insist on "abstinence only" sex education.

Melissa Sinclair will discuss how sex education is taught in schools now, describe our society's attitudes to sex education, and suggest what we ALL can do (if you have children or not, if they are grown or not) to improve how we view and talk about sex in society.

Melissa Sinclair is currently a stay-at-home mom, but has worked with sexual education in various times of her life.  She was a peer educator in college for sex education and sexual assault prevention, started a group at another university for sexual assault prevention and sex education, and then worked for several years in university residence life and student activities which dealt with issues and programming around safe sex.  Most recently, she taught the Our Whole Lives curriculum at the Northern Virginia Ethical Society.