Why Do We Have To Learn This?

How do you know a relationship is healthy?
Why does our body have to change?
What do you do about sadness due to a crush?

CWHC’s Outreach and Education (OE) Program has been around for over 30 years and now provides comprehensive sexual health education to over 3,500 young people across Chicago every year. In this episode, we hear from Scout, Megan, and Clare, health educators at CWHC. Listen as they share how the OE Program amplifies CWHC’s education-focused model beyond its clinic into classrooms across Chicago, and how they use of student’s anonymous questions, like these, to guide their classes and challenge traditional power dynamics of who decides what young people get to know or question. 

Learn more about Chicago Women’s Health Center, our Outreach and Education Program, and this podcast on our website at chicagowomenshealthcenter.org

Follow us:
Instagram
Facebook

Mirror and a Flashlight is made possible by our community of support. Our special thanks to Corbett Vs Dempsey, Women Unite!, Early to Bed, Women & Children First Bookstore, Laura McAlpine Consulting for Growth, Mats Gustafsson and Catalytic Sound. 

This podcast was produced by Ari Mejia and edited by A.J. Barks, Sarah Rebecca Gaglio, and Terri Kapsalis, with additional editorial support from Lisa Schergen.

Thanks to the Outreach and Education Committee - Scout Bratt, Megan Selby, and Clare Hiyama - and to the students who shared their anonymous questions, as well as their thoughts and feelings about what is has meant to them to receive comprehensive sex education. A special thank you to Jacoba Cruz-Rodriguez, who contributes greatly to CWHC’s Outreach & Education program.

Make our work possible with a donation here.

For more information on some of the topics discussed in this episode, we recommend the following resources:

Feminist Sex Ed Resources

• Advocates for Youth: Honest Sex Education: issue area led by teen advocates and leaders
• Readings & Resources on Abolition and Reproductive Justice: a list compiled by Young Womxn of Color for Reproductive Justice, A project of Advocates for Youth
• Sex Ed is a vehicle for Racial Justice: an article from Sex Ed for Social Change (SEICUS), as part of their #SexEd4SocialChange campaign
• Sex Ed as a Human Right: an episode of, “What Would a Feminist Do?” a podcast featuring Jessica Valenti and Jaclyn Friedman
• Sexuality Education: a TEDx Talk from Al Vernacchio

Websites CWHC Health Educators Love

• Scarleteen.com: a website with some of our favorite articles, definitions, and resources for youth (some of which are written by youth!). We also recommend additional publications from this website's content creators
• Sex Posi