the OWL program at the UU church was a part of why we joined recently.

My high school sex ed teacher did a really great job of saying "Look, I'm not going to lie, sex is fun, but here are ways to have fun while reducing risk for pregnancy and STDs." I feel so lucky to have had a teacher who was firmly opposed to abstinence-only education. When there was push in our community for abstinence-only ed, she threatened to quit - luckily for us (and for her employment), she is a very valuable teacher to the high school and community, so the pushing stopped. Thus more students can benefit from her lessons.

I also found, when I took OWL classes a year or two later, that almost everything I was learning in OWL I had already learned in high school sex ed. It made me realize how special it was that I (and, especially my classmates who didn't have the opportunity to take OWL) had learned so much in that H.S. class.

I'm so happy to see OWL getting some love! For the past three years I've participated in a panel for the Belmont OWL program (which is for eighth graders--I'm not sure if other groups focus on different age groups) answering questions about gender identity and sexuality.

What I love about the group is that all the adults come from different backgrounds but are really committed to be open and honest with the kids--and themselves! Last year the kids were a bit more shy about asking us (one gay man, one lesbian, one bi trans woman, one straight ally) questions, but a couple of the adults jumped right in and admitted that they were confused about a few things.

I wish I'd been closer to a UU community when I was growing up--I had painfully awkward "health" class in fifth grade, and then nothing until I was lucky enough to join a Planned Parenthood Teen Theatre in high school.

another yeay for OWL. i took a hiatus from church cause the boys were at that age where it just wasnt fun anymore, but i need to get back. they aint gonna learn shit in the texas schools.

Yay for the UUs getting recognition for being pragmatic and not sucky!

UU sex and ed and religious ed are really really well put together programs. (I might be biased because I taught RE at the church for the kids a year younger than OWL.)

Schizophrenia is not the same as dual personality disorder. Blithely tossing the word around whenever two contradictory ideas or sides coexist is inappropriate as it trivializes the true disorder.

I was taught in the sixth grade how to have sex with a teacher who was very open about it. I don't really remember anything, though. Just that he never said "don't have sex." In high school, I was pretty much taught "Don't have sex," but a video told us how to protect ourselves. Unfortunately, I hadn't received any prior info on condoms and such, so I almost had sex without one the summer before. Luckily, it hurt so bad the second he put it in that I flinched, and I never got pregnant! It was before then that my parents helped me decide to only have sex with someone I love and trust, and to use condoms/birth control pills and that's how it has been with my two partners since then.
And at 20, I doubt my mind will change. : )

The UUs have been doing great sex ed for decades. They were really pioneers (at least in the religious world) on this topic, IIRC.

Nice! I was in a UU sex ed program when I was like 13 or 15 or something... ridiculously worlds apart from health class in public school... don't know if it was called OWL yet, but it was dope!

On the trivial, on our last day, the minister who was leading the program had us blow up condoms like balloons and stick them to the ceiling of the church we were meeting in. Ha! Other stuff I remember, though, is things like looking at pictures of ordinary naked people to work at understanding that all bodies are beautiful (as well as whatever we were talking about that day), like taking about the average arousal times for men and women and how it's important to pay attention to where your partner's at and that it's important that both (all?) folks have a great time and, of course, lots of details about safe sex and what's effective and what's not (the minister went into the numbers on how effective different types of condoms are, birth control v. protection from STDs etc.)...

And for the UCC, dang... y'all remember their tv ads some years ago (last year?) about how love is love and how they accept all people, regardless of race, class, ability or sexuality. Much love to those who walk the walk.

Frumious, true about schizophrenia... it's a common thing to use the word colloquially this way... doesn't mean we should keep doing it, though... cognitive dissonance is much more appropriate.

Oh, and thanks for the video... Salt n Pepa were also pretty dope for being some wide-reaching sex educators when it was even more controversial to teach about being safe. Remember the "Let's Talk about AIDS" cut?

The previous program was About Your Sexuality (AYS) and it was developed by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1971. It was canned in the 90s due to its highly "controversial" nature (and the resulting scandal) and replaced by OWL, which was co-developed with the UCC.

There's more information here: http://books.google.com/books?id=1hu8c_wDwvoC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq="about+your+sexuality"+unitarian+universalist+sex+education+curriculum&source=web&ots=xnC7K8OJDL&sig=TFzIEzM3bmIXkpFA43XavFWRKtc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result

I took OWL twelve years ago, when it was still About Your Sexuality. It's called Our Whole Lives now, and I wondered whether it was because the UU church came into the spotlight way too many times and the public was overly scandalized by our comprehensive sex ed (with OMG PICTUREZ). My minister, who is since retired, was on 60 minutes around that time (she PWNED it, PS) defending the church's right to teach a non abstinence-based program.

My sex ed in school consisted mostly of "girls menstruate and boys masturbate." My daughter (now 15) did OWL last year and it was the best thing that ever happened to her. More than anything it made her feel very comfortable with the fact that she is not interested in sex right now, and she is not even sure about her sexuality. On the other hand, she feels very confident about know when she will feel ready and about how she will want to procede. She feels very sorry for people who did not get OWL. My 2 boys will also be doing OWl in the near future. I love the UUs.

I went through OWL, as well, so add in my "Yay!" for this article, too.

Socbaker, I had the same experience going through OWL as your daughter. I was interested and curious in sex, but didn't want to be doing it. OWL gave me the facts, answered all my questions, gave me healthy and complete information of what it was like, how to value my own sexuality and, most of all, laid out all my options so I was never in a position where I felt either embarrassed or pressured from friends/romantic interests.

Plus, learning how to put a condom on a banana helped me feel pretty comfortable with contraception when, a good five or six years later, I was in a position to need it with a male partner.

Anyway, UUs rock. I have really fond memories of going to Cons as a youth and teenager, and the all night Cookie Bakes, where we stayed up all night baking cookies, including "anatomically correct" gingerbread men and women. They were always a big hit with the congregation when we sold them in the morning (and donated the proceeds to charity). I saw "American Pie" for the first time at a cookie bake, which is another example of how well UUs treat their younger members. Instead of denying that part of our culture they give teens a safe place to learn about it and laugh about it and ask questions.

These valiant efforts, among other things, is why I have secured a show called "Too Afraid To Ask" on the college radio station at SMU (Southern Methodist University). I'm going to knock down some myths, drop some seriously needed knowledge, and take callers. My school is known for a culture of date rape and roofies at frat parties, and slut shaming on the internet and on campus. It's online, so everyone can listen Wednesdays at 10pm at kpni.smu.edu. All of you fabulous community members in Texas can call 214-768-KPNI. Ask for Kiki Bellafonte (hint: not my real name).

My kids are totally doing OWL. That program sounds awesome.

I went to a small town high school where we got shown graphic pictures of STDs, got told that hand holding led to sex, got told that condoms and birth control didn't work, and that there were pores in the condoms that let AIDS through.

We also had a big day where we discussed anal sex and how wrong it was. Our teacher literally sat in front of the class and said, "Kids, the penis does not belong in the rectum."

Yeah. If I had never found out ANY info myself, I don't know what I would've done.

OWL is doing great things for the community.

This couldn't have come at a better time, to be honest. I'm an RA, and I have to do a bulletin board about sex for Valentine's Day. I'm thinking of concentrating on non-traditional sex (i.e. homosexual relationships, different positions, etc.), but I don't know if I can do that without veering into the pornographic.

Anyway... I'm glad that people are finally realizing that Abstinence-Only Sex Ed doesn't work. Thankfully, my high school ignored the face that we were supposed to be abstinence-only. Enough girls in my grade got pregnant either in high school or in the two years since graduation (one is married, though, so I give her a reprieve).

I will NEVER understand the taboo that American culture seems to have against sex. It's a beautiful, normal, healthy thing to have sexual urges. We have to treat it as such. As the band Garbage says, "Sex is not the enemy."

P.S. I'm a new Feminister, and I gotta say that I love you guys!

CLASSIC link! Where the Hell did all the smart-talking girl rappers go? We had Salt and Peppa and TLC rapping about sex in the 90's and now we have...Lil Wayne?