Cory Silverberg is a sex educator and the author of “What Makes a Baby”, “Sex is a Funny Word”, and the new book “You Know, Sex” which is for children 10+. Cory spoke in this interview about teaching and learning about sex as it relates to not only reproduction, but also pleasure, power, and identity. These are valuable ideas for science educators looking to put their teachings about sex in context with students’ whole lives.
Resource Roundup: gender-inclusive sex education
Resource Roundup is a newly periodic attempt to capture all the links aggregated through conversations and requests, shared by many. We focus on science education materials but have encountered enough sex education-adjacent curriculum to share the collection below. Your mileage may vary. (RXS)
For a comprehensive sex ed curriculum check out Advocate for Youth's 3Rs . It's completely free unlike most curricula and they just did a big update of the lessons this year!
GIB offers a longer language guide (sex ed is the last category) and has a Healthy Teen Tipsheet linked there.
Queer Sex Ed’s Gender Expansive Puberty: An Educational Guide
Short on time? BIG rec for the → zines← on Queer Sex Ed Community Curriculum about dysphoria vs. dysmorphia, anti-fat bias, science, sex, and society, sex diversity in nature, boundaries, and gender expansive puberty, and more! [Ed. note: I made certain pages a station for discussion that they then had to record the synthesis of before they moved on.]
Gender Spectrum's Gender Inclusive Puberty & Health Education Principles and Resources
Sex Ed for Social Change (SIECUS) has this Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (K-12) that may help with scope & sequence concordance with the National Sex Education Standards supplementing.
very accessible sex determination & non-disjunction activity by Sabrina Kayed, based on the Scientific American "Beyond XX and XY" poster, and has students trace chromosome to gonads to hormones to organs to traits development based on the sex chromosomes available
Planned Parenthoods have peer education groups who do guest lessons Teen Council
SparkEd - Planned Parenthood sex ed lessons
Planned Parenthood lessons (y en español)
LGBTQ Family + Gender Diversity Elementary Teaching Guide (SFUSD)
Gender Inclusive Language Guidance for SFUSD Educators (SFUSD)
Sex Education Collective may help you find nearby folks to collaborate with
Turner Syndrome Foundation's Guide to Your Body for people with Turner Syndrome (XO)
Oregon DoE sexuality education newsletter has a lot of links grouped by topic
#sex ed tagged articles from Teen Vogue
More LGBTQ-inclusive sex ed reduces odds of bullying, depression, suicidal thoughts, and victimization (J Adolesc Health)
Title: Associations of LGBTQ-inclusive sex education with mental health outcomes and school-based victimization in U.S. high school students
Journal: Journal of Adolescent Health
Public access URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6478545/pdf/nihms-1516132.pdf
Summary: Students with a greater proportion of LGBTQ-inclusive sex education have lower odds of experiencing school-based victimization and adverse mental health [such as depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts, or making a plan to commit suicide
Adapting Language for Diverse (A)Genders, Bodies, and (A)Sexualities
clear infographics (see above for examples),
a checklist with advice for challenging situations such as:
and a statements-editing activity from a workshop by SextEd (a free and confidential texting helpline that answers questions about sex, dating, and health within 24 hours) and ACCM (AIDS Community Care Montreal).
“We also know it can be challenging to use inclusive language when students, peers, or service users don’t, or they’re not familiar with the practice. In these cases, you can still take the time to gently explain why you speak or write the way that you do: to respect the diversity in people’s sexualities, genders, and bodies. If someone asks why you phrased something a certain way, you can take the time to explain why.
In situations where a person is asking a question or speaking in a way that isn’t inclusive, you can....
— Use phrases like “Yes, men, or anyone with a penis, can get an erection at random.”
— Gently remind them of identities they didn’t include in their statement or question, “Yeah, for sure. But I also
think it’s important to keep in mind that some men don’t have penises, and some women do, to make sure we’re
being inclusive.””
Challenge norms & build interruption skills
Headline: Male Adolescents’ Gender Attitudes and Violence: Implications for Youth Violence Prevention
[What they measured:] This study analyzed the associations among male adolescents’ gender attitudes, intentions to intervene, witnessing peers’ abusive behaviors, and multiple forms of adolescent violence perpetration.
[Who they studied:] Data were from a cross-sectional survey conducted at baseline with 866 male adolescents in community settings (i.e., youth-serving organizations, churches, after school programs, and libraries) across 20 lower-resource neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, PA from August 2015 to June 2017, as part of a cluster RCT.28 Eligible youth were aged 13—19 years, identified as male, and recruited to participate in a gender-specific violence prevention program.
[Goals] This community-based evaluation aims to inform future youth violence prevention efforts through the identification of potential predictors of interpersonal violence perpetration.
[Conclusions] Findings support violence prevention strategies that challenge harmful gender and social norms while simultaneously increasing youths’ skills in interrupting peers’ disrespectful and harmful behaviors.
Citation
Miller E, Culyba AJ, Paglisotti T, Massof M, Gao Q, Ports KA, Kato-Wallace J, Pulerwitz J, Espelage DL, Abebe KZ, Jones KA. Male Adolescents' Gender Attitudes and Violence: Implications for Youth Violence Prevention. Am J Prev Med. 2020 Mar;58(3):396-406. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2019.10.009. Epub 2019 Dec 27. PMID: 31889621; PMCID: PMC7039734.
Remember Thomas the blind bisexual goose
ID: Thomas, a white goose, with two black swans named Henry and Henrietta. The three adults stand surrounding several gray baby swans sitting in a nest. Thomas played the role of a "doting uncle" to Henry and Henrietta's many children.
Thomas was a New Zealand goose who rose to prominence for his notable relationships and behaviors. He formed close, lasting bonds with both male and female swans and was involved in a "love triangle". Thomas became blind later in life. He reared many children, both his biological children and young orphaned geese and swans.
Below are two article commemorating Thomas’ life, published shortly after his death.
Queerspawn Resource Project
The Queerspawn Resource Project develops and compiles resources that reflect the complex, authentic, and intersectional experiences of people with one or more LGBTQ+ parents/guardians and advancing advocacy work that furthers inclusion of queerspawn and their perspectives. Resources include children’s and adult book lists, allyship guidance, a language guide, and media collections.
Queer Animals Are Everywhere. Science Is Finally Catching On.
This article by animal studies graduate student Eliot Schrefer for The Washington Post highlights a recent surge in scholarship on same-sex animal behavior which challenges longstanding misconceptions about the connection between animal sexuality and evolution.
Language Drops Visual Dictionary
This visual dictionary by Language Drops is available as a web page or a smartphone app. This can be a useful tool for working with multilingual students. For example, the link below is for a set of words called Words for Gender Pronouns in Arabic.
Differences in Sex Determination Investigation
Alex Maes created this investigation which includes a variety of videos and infographics also featured on this website. Two versions are available, one more scaffolded than the other.
Alex writes:
I've made a lesson like this too using lots of resources from genderinclusivebiology.com, as well, as some of my own. I have an individual, less scaffolded version I do with my IB juniors, and a more scaffolded version with whole class, individual, and small group components I did with my freshman! Feel free to use!
Edit (6/8/23): Thank you to Wayne for noting the lesson materials include diagrams including humans in a chart entitled hermaphrodites. It is important to discuss with students how language changes when describing human versus non-human species because of how “hermaphrodite” was historically used as a pejorative to stigmatize people. Wayne provided the link embedded in the disclaimer most frequently seen on related GIB posts: Editor’s note: The term "hermaphrodite" is appropriate for referring to non-human animals with sex characteristics that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. For humans, “intersex” is the appropriate term—learn more here! (-RXS)
Gamete competition, gamete limitation, and the evolution of the two sexes
Sex can be classified in many ways depending on the species and context. The one fundamental method of classification that applies to all living things is to look at the size of the gametes. This article summarizes the concept of anisogamy (having two gametes of different size) and its evolutionary origins.
Lesson Plan: The Guardian Frogs of Borneo
In this lesson for grades 5-8, students explore diversity in mating and parental behaviors across species with a clearly defined concept of sex as opposed to gender.
Dads Also Pass on Mitochondrial DNA, Contrary to Long-Standing Belief
This article from Smithsonian Magazine describes new evidence that some people receive their mitochondrial DNA from the sperm cell rather than the egg cell that made them. This contradicts a longstanding generalization that only egg cells contribute mitochondrial DNA.
This article uses the words mother/maternal and father/paternal to refer to two contributors of genetic material in humans. Consider speaking with your students about other terms that may be more inclusive of all people and their families, such as sperm-derived and egg-derived DNA.
The Intersex Roadshow (Blog)
In this blog, intersex sociologist Dr. Cary Gabriel Costello writes about current intersex issues in historical context.
Intersex people are supposed to lie low and keep quiet. Not me.
I'm not defective, I'm not disordered, I'm not ashamed. I just don't fit in your M/F boxes.
I'm intersex by birth and honest by choice.
InstaGene Mendelian Inheritance App
The most authentic way to teach Mendelian genetics is to focus on real-life traits in humans and non-human species. The InstaGene app is a user-friendly database of single-locus Mendelian traits in several species. The name of the gene, dominant allele, recessive allele, and source are given. Both allele phenotypes are explicitly named, with neither referred to as “normal”. Many of the alleles code for non-harmful variations, which averts the common association between mutation and disease. The app was created with Glide Apps and can be viewed, copied, and remixed all in a web browser - no app download required.
InstaGene can be used as a teacher reference or it can be given to students for reference while they complete practice problems. A set of sample problems, with model language, is provided below.
Inclusive Genetics Activities by Elizabeth Duthinh
Elizabeth Duthinh, a physician and high school teacher, developed these inclusive activity and practice problem sets covering the Monohybrid Cross, Dihybrid Cross, X-linked Traits, Non-Mendelian Inheritance, and the PTC taste lab.
Elizabeth writes:
These problem sets and PTC tasting lab are adapted to cover Mendelian genetics without presuming gender based on chromosomes and without assuming families and individuals are cisgender or heterosexual. We suggest pairing the X-linked characteristics problem set with the video What it's Like to be Intersex by InterACT and a short introduction to the SRY region of the Y chromosome.
Sex Determination and Non-disjunction Lesson by Sabrina Kayed
This highly accessible lesson was designed by Sabrina Kayed for Grade 11 Biology. The lesson is designed to move students’ understanding of biological sex beyond the simplistic binary model and introduce them to the idea of sex as a spectrum.
Response to Common Criticisms to Gender Inclusive Teaching
Making gender-inclusive changes to our curriculum sometimes elicits the attention and concern of the school community. This resource, containing suggested responses to common criticisms and concerns, was a part of our The Science Teacher article “Gender-Inclusive Biology: A framework in action”
Gender Spectrum have also put together a collection of responses to common concerns about teaching about gender in non-science-specific context.
Archaeology's Sexual Revolution
Male, female, transgender, and other circular symbols made of multi-colored bones
Read this article, which details the reckoning archaeology has had to do when addressing the complex, non-binary nature of biological sex characteristics. Includes several case studies of ambiguous archaeological remains which have pushed scientists to reconsider preconceived notions of both gender and sex in prehistoric times.
Inclusive Zines from the Queer Sex Ed Community Curriculum
Clownfish, a dolphin, a whale, and other fish swim over the title “Sex Diversity in Nature: A brief exploration of sex diversity in the natural world.”
The Queer Sex Ed Community Curriculum is an LGBTQ-led project that is developing inclusive, trauma-informed, and sex-positive resources for use with youth. Their resource library includes zines, posters, and training materials that you can implement in your classroom. Check out the awesome Sex Diversity in Nature Zine, as well as their zine on Deconstructing the Gender Binary.