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Race is an often unspoken concern in the debate over sexuality education. For example, research suggests that the move toward abstinence-only education has had a particularly negative impact on young Black men. In addition, media and other portrayals of youth of color as hypersexed, immoral, and predatory make it difficult for sexuality educators to address young people’s needs in a neutral and affirming way. Health Initiatives for Youth (HIFY), a leading innovator of youth development and comprehensive health education curricula, addresses these inequities by grounding its work in the belief that all young people have the right to safe, fun, and consensual sex. By encouraging young people, and especially young people of color, to think critically about their communities and the media as learning grounds for how to interact as sexual beings, HIFY supports youth in challenging the status quo. This transforms young people into allies for all marginal communities and supports them as leaders in the effort to create sustainable strategies for building healthier relationships and communities.

Carnelius Quinn is HIFY’s Program Manager, where he is responsible for supporting curriculum development and community collaborations. He graduated from San Francisco State University with a double BA in Theatre and Sociology. He used this combination to create educational theatre with “Teens Teaching Through Theatre” troupe (T4), which empowers young people to conduct informal community research in order to generate relevant and exciting scripts on health disparities and social issues in their communities. Carnelius currently serves on Equity Committee of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.

Dr. Jessica Fields is the President of HIFY's Board of Directors and Associate Professor of Sociology at San Francisco State University. She is also a Senior Researcher at the SFSU Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality, and the author of Risky Lessons: Sex Education and Social Inequality (Rutgers University Press, 2008). In Risky Lessons, Jessica brings readers inside three North Carolina middle schools to explore how sex education's formal and informal lessons reflect and reinforce social inequalities, including racist ideas about sexuality, bodies, and youth. In this presentation, Jessica will first draw on insights from Risky Lessons and other current research to explore the relationship between race and curricular choices in school-based sex education. Carnelius will then introduce listeners to HIFY’s approach to comprehensive sexuality education and highlight examples of HIFY’s work with San Francisco Bay Area youth of color.

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