fandomhigh | Sex Ed [Tuesday 03/07]

"Good day, everyone," Ronan said, standing up at the front of class, after everyone (or, at least, everyone who was showing up) had settled into the class. "Today's class is going to be mostly me talking, although I hope to avoid that in the future. Still, I want to go over a few things that you'll all need to know for the rest of the workshop.

"First off, I want to stress something: this is a safe space. That's going to mean a lot of different things. One: no homophobia, heterophobia, biphobia, transphobia, cisphobia, slut-shaming, chastity-shaming, shaming of people who identify as asexual or demisexual, shaming of anyone who identifies as a non-binary gender, or any other form of harrassment. Full stop. I don't want to hear any hatred in this class, and you do not want to see what happens if I do.

"Two: if anyone discloses personal information in this class, that information is not to be repeated outside of this classroom without the express permission of that person. I want this to be an opportunity for people to ask any question that comes to mind, and they do not need people gossiping and speculating behind their backs.

"Third:" and here Ronan abruptly started smiling -- it was probably a little disconcerting after the 'fuck up and I will fuck you up' speech, really. "While I can't stop anyone from assuming things -- that's just sentient nature for you -- you are required to think about your assumptions. This includes things you have learned about sex in the past. This includes things you have learned about sexual orientation, gender identity, reproduction, health, masturbation, polyamory, and any number of other subjects that we will be discussing in this workshop.

"Some of these may make you feel uncomfortable, due to your upbringing or your cultural background. That is okay -- but it is also something I challenge you to overcome. I fully accept that some people are not comfortable with sex, or ready to have it at any given time in their lives for any number of reasons, but I want you all to understand, going in, that it can be a perfectly natural, perfectly healthy expression of any number of emotional responses, from romantic love straight through to physical lust. Also perfectly natural and perfectly healthy is the desire not to have it -- whether generally or situationally. I want you all -- I hope you all will feel comfortable enough, in this room, to self-disclose, although I also want to stress that this is in no way a requirement for the course."

Ronan leaned back against the wall beside the blackboard, looking at his students. "So this is where you start talking," he said. "Introductions are a traditional first-class activity at Fandom High. You'll be tired of them by week's end, I'm sure, but for now: name, grade, and one fact about your culture's stance on rights for sexual and gender minorities."

[Potentially NSFW, depending on workplace, for mention of concepts related to sex, and sexual and gender identity. ~~Please wait for~~ OCD is up!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sexy icons!

Britta Perry

Miriam Black

Ace McShane

Liara T'Soni

Arietty Clock

Sparkle

This may not be what you expected from a high school summer camp sex ed workshop, but it's what you're getting.

Miriam still had her gloves on, not that this had turned out to be some touchy-feeling hug-the-sin-out-of-you school like she'd wondered before arriving. But she had to laugh about being stuck in sex ed, even though it seemed like a much cooler class than the sex ed back home.

And it didn't hurt that the teacher was hot.

Arietty blushed the furious blush of a very sheltered teenager.

If Mum and Dad knew she were here, they would absolutely die.

Sparkle had been kind of iffy about this class, coming into the room. Woo, sex-education, where they'd learn all about anatomy and, like, this is how babies are made, and junk.

And then Ronan had started talking, started stressing equality and an open mind. And by the end of the lecture, Sparkle was leaning forward, listening intently.

As he said: name, grade, and one fact about your culture's stance on rights for sexual and gender minorities. Make it messy, all!

"Britta Perry," she offered, sitting up with a certain self-entitled importance, "forced senior, and I come from a culture that's incredibly frightened of a woman in charge of her own sexuality, and they should be. Because we're awesome."

"So, modern America, then?" Ronan asked. "I think it's 'awesome' for anyone to be in control of their own sexuality, woman or not, but I have to agree that it frightens some people, yes. Where do you think that fear comes from?"

"Miriam Black," Miriam said. "Senior. Where I'm from everybody's way too fucking uptight about what people do in the bedroom unless they're married, straight, and doing it missionary style. Those people just need to relax and get themselves laid."

"Why do you think having sex would help them?" Ronan asked. "And what makes 'married, straight, and missionary' the all-important trifecta?"

Trifecta of boring, but Ronan wasn't actually about to say that out loud.

"Maybe if they found out it's fun instead of a chore, they'd lighten up," Miriam said with a big grin. Then she shrugged. "Don't ask me why they care so much about what other people are doing if it's not that 'all-important trifecta.' They think it's God's will or some stupid shit."

"My name is Liara T'Soni," Liara said, somewhat uncomfortably. She didn't enjoy being in the spotlight. "I am told I am a freshman, and... well, my species is mono-gendered."

Awkward. Awwwkward.

"There is a prejudice against pureblood asari," she added, "But I am not sure if that is similar."

Ronan perked up at that -- sorry, Liara, you just piqued his interest. "Really? Do you mind me asking, do you reproduce parthenogenically? Or is there some other mechanism of reproduction?"

"It is a form of parthenogenesis, yes." At least as long as they were talking in scientific rather than personal terms, she was a little more comfortable. "My species is capable of aligning their central nervous system with that of any other sentient being. We then use the genetic blueprint of the other person to randomize certain genetic information. The result is an embryo distinct from the mother, but still genetically asari."

Ace lifted her chin from her folded hands and directed a wide-eyed glance her way. "Really? Hunh, what d'ya know, I was right!"

...Sort of? In entirely the wrong direction (http://fandomhigh.livejournal.com/3146334.html?thread=192224094#t192224094).

Arietty was really considering just laying low in the back. It wouldn't be hard. Just like back home in Hackney, very few people were ever looking for someone only four inches tall.

In the end, though, she thought of how nice all the beans she'd met so far had been and decided to brave it out.

"Hello!" she called, standing on her backpack on the edge of her desk to make herself at least a tiny bit more visible. "I'm Arietty Clock! This is my first year of school! And, um." And cue more blushing, before she continued with slightly less full bellied projection. "I don't really know, actually? My father didn't let me meet any other people until just last year."

This was not one of the classes Ace had, this time, chosen for herself. She'd done this at Greenford High already, thanks, and didn't need to sit through another class full of stiff-necked clinical euphemisms, female tittering and badly-drawn anatomical cartoons scrawled across the pages of her re-cycled textbook -- but there it was on her schedule, all the same.

Now that she was here, though, she couldn't say she minded the view -- or the attitude.

"I'm Ace." She shot a dark look at her hands while forming the answer to Ronan's question. "I'm from the UK in the nineteen-eighties." His accent sounded Irish and his name certainly was, so maybe he'd get the point without elaboration, but Ace added it anyway for the rest of the class. "What rights?"

"Sparkle," he rattled off, pulling himself to his feet, crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn't going to bother with justifying his name, this semester. It was his name, and to hell with anyone who didn't like it. "I'm a Sophomore, and I'm from Canada... So, legal gay marriage right across the map, and gay families can adopt, and all that good stuff. I mean, there's still a stigma about it from the stuck-up hardasses who think w- who think that same-sex couples are going to like I don't know, run around convincing all the straight people to divorce and stop making squirming little ankle-biters and society is going to collapse in a rain of fire from the sky... But they're all full of shit, and most people know it."

And then he took a breath.

He is here before, after, and during class, if you want or need him for anything a little more private. And if you're worried about squirrels, he can take care of that, too.

It's been a while since I've taught a sex ed class, so please, everyone, let me know if I overstep somewhere.

Sex Ed [Tuesday 03/07]

Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Introductions

Re: Introductions

Re: Introductions

Re: Introductions

Re: Introductions

Re: Introductions

Re: Introductions

Re: Introductions

Re: Introductions

Re: Introductions

Re: Introductions

Re: Introductions

Re: Introductions

Speak to Ronan

OOC