Pornography Literacy Curriculum Training, December 8, 2018

Participants will learn more about the "Truth About Pornography" curriculum as described in Maggie Jones' New York Times article found here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/magazine/teenagers-learning-online-porn-literacy-sex-education.html

*****Your ticket covers registration ONLY. It does not cover food, travel or lodging. Food, travel and lodging is arranged by each participant on their own. (We may invite you to participate in a $15 catered group lunch option, details will be sent in November).

One hard copy of the curriculum manual will be distributed at the event. The curriculum is not available for purchase outside of the event. The curriculum is a 10-hour/5-session class focusing on dating and relationship safety, consent and respect. It provides information about sexually explicit media, dating violence, sexual consent, and gender norms. People trained to use the curriculum may implement it in any number of sessions at their site.

This training does not show any pornography. The "Truth About Pornography" class does not show any sexually explicit media nor does it encourage youth to seek out or view sexually explicit media. The class does *not* teach youth how to watch sexually explicit media. Research suggests the class does not increase pornography-viewing by youth participants (see research study referenced below).

Topics of the curriculum include:

-Why are we talking about pornography?

-The history of sexually explicit images in society (what is beauty to you, how has that changed over time, what gets deemed obscene and why?)

-Sex in mainstream pornography reinforcing traditional gender norms

-Potential harms of pornography exposure and the developing adolescent brain (compulsive behavior, not addiction)

-Healthy intimacy (knowing your boundaries, understanding what intimacy is/feels like or doesn’t)

-How to flirt in a healthy way (are men entitled to women’s attention?)

-Pornography doesn't necessarily reflect reality

-Revenge porn, and disseminating selfies, and the law

-Talking (or not talking) with parents and peers about pornography

The aim of the program is pornography literacy, which means giving youth tools to analyze what they may see. The curriculum is non-judgmental though adheres to the idea that free, mainstream sexually explicit media can promote unhealthy sexual scripts for youth. The curriculum does not support the position that all pornography is demonstrably harmful to all people in all contexts. We are supportive of youth who are LGBTQ+. The curriculum has been pilot-tested with youth who are primarily urban-residing youth of color with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Evaluation results are available here: https://tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15546128.2018.1437100

Click on REGISTRATION, order 1 ticket, and the following page will collect your registration information.

We reserve the right to rescind tickets and refund registration fees if the event is undersubscribed within 21 days of the event. You may refund your ticket up to 1 week before the event. All refunds are less $15 for administrative handling.