Friday, February 1, 2013
Journal 1: Intro and Communication
Welcome, Super Sexplorers! You've found our TOP SECRET JOURNAL! Remember to email your facilitators once you've picked your journal name so we can identify you. You must post once to the journal every week, but don't limit yourself! We encourage you to use this as a space for dialogue and exchange.
Your first journal entry covers our "Introduction" AND "Communication" sections, so it has two parts:
A. Pick 2 sections from the syllabus and tell us what you'd like to get out of them. Is there a specific question you want answered, a concern about class dynamics during that particular discussion, or a subtopic you'd like to explore?
Everyone should have the syllabus, but just in case, here are the sections (feel free to include things we've already covered if we missed something important):
A- Intro
B- Communication
C- Anatomy, Sex and Gender
D- Power and Privilege
E- Womyn's Health and Menstruation
F- Contraception and Sexually Transmitted Infections
G- Body Image and Representations of Womyn/Gender
H- Reproductive Choices and Motherhood
I- Self-Pleasure, Pleasure and Orgasm
J- Sexual Practices and Orientation
K- Porn, Erotica and Sex Work
L- Relationships
M- Gender-Based Violence
N- Empowerment
B. We talked a lot about the way we like to communicate, and now we'd like you to think about the way you can support others in affirming your communication style. How can you help a partner or friend communicate with you better, especially when talking about touchy subjects?
Remember, this is YOUR space to correspond with your classmates and facilitators. Safe/Brave Space rules apply... let us know what you want to see! xoxo. T&R
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A. During the Reproductive Choices & Motherhood section, I would really like to explore the idea that the anatomical female body is "made for" having children and the pressure within that statement: to have children and to express the desire to have children/desire to be pregnant/desire to breast feed etc. I know there is sometimes a lot of shock, judgement, and misunderstanding that accompanies a woman expressing not wanting to go through the process of bringing a new life into the world and I think its important to ask why those emotions exist and why there is a projected unnaturalness about anxiety towards or not wanting to be pregnant/give birth.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Self-Pleasure, Pleasure and Orgasm section, I'm very interested to discuss orgasms. Why are they the pinnacle of pleasure? Why is it such a common belief that sex isn't good unless one experiences an orgasm? Does it truly need to be the ultimate goal? And *gasp* are orgasms symbolically overhyped?
B. I'd like to start this by recognizing that all communication is effected by the situation and that there is no fool-proof way to anticipate every problem within communication. That being said I'm going to try my best to be open and honest with myself and you all about how I can make our communication most effective. So- in order for me to best communicate with others how I would like them to respond to me, I think much of it will be an edit as we go situation. Should someone respond to me in such a way that makes me feel uncomfortable, (and I understand this will not be an easy thing to do, but I think its an important thing to exercise in this space), I will let them know specifically (gently, and with kindness) whatever it was they said or did that rubbed me the wrong way (a facial expression, a sound, a word, body language, etc). On the other end of the spectrum, I most certainly plan on telling other people when their response to me made me feel encouraged, or more comfortable, so as to reaffirm that positive method of communicating with me.
Also, if I am aware ahead of time I am about to embark on a subject that is touchy for me, I plan on prefacing my opinion with directions (I guess you could call them) on how I would or would not like people to respond to me in that situation. This seems like the best I can come up with that would be most effective and realistic for me.
Thank you all for reading and see you Monday!