Alternative Routes to Becoming a Sex Educator

If you’re passionate about this stuff, and you keep yourself informed with up to date information, and you talk to people about it sometimes, you’re already a sex educator! Phew, now that that’s out of the way, you can get to work on being a sex educator who gets shit done.

The traditional route to becoming a sex educator is to go to college, major in sociology, social work, psychology, health, or gender studies, maybe intern at Planned Parenthood or another sex ed nonprofit, and then look for a job at a sex ed nonprofit. (You can find a list of colleges that have undergrad and grad programs in sexuality and gender studies here.) This is a great way to become a sex educator—but it's not the only way!

I recommend that you start by brainstorming about what you want your work as a sex educator to consist of.

What kinds of things do you like to do? What are you good at? Who are you most interested in working with?

Asking yourself these questions will help you to figure out what type of work you can do to be the most effective sex educator you can be.

Take a minute to brainstorm and write down some things that you like to do, and some things that you’re good at. Spoiler: There will likely be a lot of overlap.

*** Do it. ***

Great. Now you have a list of your skill set. Look at that!

Before we move on, take a minute to take this What Kind of Changemaker are You? Quiz. It’s a fun exercise than can help you think a little more about the ways that you’re naturally drawn to contribute. (Note: I’m having you do this after making your own lists, because you are the expert on you. The quiz is a potentially helpful supplement to what you already know about yourself.)

*** Quiz time. ***

Cool, hopefully that was fun and at least a little informative.

So… How can you apply some of these things to sex education?

Well, unfortunately I can’t see your list, so I can’t tailor my suggestions to the things you’re good at. But I’m going to try to give a bunch of different suggestions so hopefully there’s something on here that you could see yourself being psyched about.

​
Ideas for Getting Shit Done & Establishing Yourself as a Sex Educator
​
  1. Be findable. Make a website, blog, Instagram account, or other online platform where people can find out that you are passionate about sexuality. This gives people a chance to be excited about your work/message, give you feedback, share ideas, tell you about opportunities and people you should know about who are doing similar work, etc.

  2. Connect with people who are passionate about the stuff you’re passionate about. You can collaborate, learn from each other, etc. Google “[your city] sex positive” and variations of that to find people, or go to events about sexuality where you can meet like-minded people. Ask them to get coffee with you and chat.

  3. Have a workshop/class. Just go for it! Dive in! If you think that leading workshops might be your thing, there’s no need to wait around for someone to ask you to have a workshop for their organization. You can set a location and date yourself, invite people yourself, and there you have it, you have a workshop! See tips on how to make this work here.

    You can also apply to lead a workshop at a sexuality conference. You might be surprised to find that conference organizers are happy to have you as a presenter as long as you know your shit and are easy to work with, even if they’ve never heard of you.

  4. Get a job as a community health educator. This is often code for sexuality educator. Plus, there are often jobs available (especially for people ages 18 to 20-something, but some are for people of all ages) that don’t require college degrees. Many of these jobs offer great training, and will pay you for the training hours (the opposite of how college works). For people who might not want to (or have the resources to) go to a traditional four year college, this is a great way to jump right into teaching sex education without going through years of education. If you live in the Boston area, you can often find some current health educator job openings in Boston's Sex-Positive Newsletter.

  5. Make the sex education materials you want to see used in classrooms (or other educational spaces). This can include zines, articles, worksheets, blogs, videos, and much more! Basically whatever you like making. Then get them out into the world! Find ideas for distributing your creations here.

  6. Build a community. Start a regularly-meeting discussion group, social hour, newsletter, or other group that encourages people to connect with others who are interested in sexual freedom. This shows people that they’re not alone in a city of people who are less than accepting of sexual diversity. Giving people a space to share ideas, learn from each other, and meet people who have different experiences than their own can be really powerful. And you can benefit from being a part of that community as well.

There are also lots of other ways to become a sex educator. Do what feels right to you! :)