Gender, Sexuality and Consent

Seeking truth, a core Quaker testimony, has us listening to and reflecting on the student and adult experiences shared through social media, with outside experts via interviews, and through an online survey shared with our community. These stories are hard to face at times and they make clear that every one of us needs to do work, individually and collectively, to improve school culture so that all, students and adults, feel safe and valued at PC.

Specifically, accounts about sexual misconduct, homophobic statements and the sense of privilege some students demonstrate at the expense of others is a call to action for the PC community around gender equity, sexuality and consent education.

Faculty and staff will have time to reflect and discuss student and adult accounts in back-to-school in late August. Before those discussions, teachers have been asked to review the following resources related to gender equity, sexuality, and consent this summer.

General Information about Sexuality, Gender and Inclusivity

• Deborah Roffman  Talk Sexuality; Third Space with Jen Cort (podcast, 41 minutes)
• Understanding Gender; Gender Spectrum
• What is intersectionality, and what does it have to do with me?; YW Boston Blog, March 29, 2017

Sexual and Gender-Based Assault, Harassment, Consent and Rape Culture

• The Secret of Sexual Assault in Schools; NEAToday, December 4, 2017.

• Disrupting Rape Culture Through Education; Teaching Tolerance, September 15, 2016.

• Consent at Every Age; Usable Knowledge, Harvard Graduate School of Education, December 19, 2018.

• Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment in Schools; AAUW, 2011.  This report includes the following sections of interest.  Each section is only a few pages:Executive Summary, pp. 2-4

  • Defining Sexual Harassment in Education, pp. 6-8

  • Prevalence of Sexual Harassment at School, 10-17

  • Emotional and Educational Toll of Sexual Harassment on Students, pp. 20-28

  • Preventing Sexual Harassment at School, pp. 30-40
     

• LGBT Students Are Not Safe at School; The Atlantic, October 18, 2016.

• What Teenagers Are Learning From Online Porn; The New York Times Magazine, February 7, 2018.

Questions?

Naté Hall, Interim Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.