Working in Sex Ed?

[thewrit3r]

Hi, everyone,

I’ve been at Scarleteen for awhile and seeing the information here, plus hearing about my mom’s work with HIV-positive patients (where she also discusses safe sexual practices) made me consider a career in sex education. I’m pretty frustrated with how sex ed in the USA is now but I see places like Scarleteen and other organizations doing really great work that inspires me to help educate others (and myself!)

I know a quick Google search could probably bring up the requirements and qualifications for working in sex ed, but I wanted to talk to people here who work right in the field How did you get into the field? For someone like me who may be interested, where’s a good place to start?

I’m graduating with a bachelor’s degree this year but hey there’s always room for more school

[Sam W]

Hi thewrit3r,

It's always so cool to see someone else getting interested in this field! Something that's interesting about sex ed as a profession is that people get into it in SO many different ways. I actually go through the path I followed, as well as offer some advice for other people who are thinking they want to enter this field, in this piece: https://www.scarleteen.com/article/advi ... _i_do_that. One thing that I tell people who are interested in this work is to think about if there are particular elements of it that appeal to them. For instance, some people really like the idea of working on advocacy or policy, others like direct services, others want to do something directly linked to sexual healthcare, and so on.

The degree question is actually an interesting one, because I'm not sure I've met two people in this line of work who have the same academic background. I was a sociology undergrad, and was already working here when I got my masters in social work. Other people went through sexology programs or got masters of public health. And quite a few people came in without a specialized degree.

[thewrit3r]

Hi, Sam,

Thanks! That’s given me a lot to think about. I only came to this realization that I may be interested in working in this field a few years ago. And I’m honestly interested in SO many different things that even if I narrowed down things in sex ed, I’d may be interested in other jobs. But of course like you said it’s not like I have to be in this career forever (or any career for that matter) if I decide to pursue it.

I’m definitely interested in sex education at the high school level which I know is going to be a hurdle, but hey, we’ll see what we can learn and go from there I suppose

It’s funny with the degree requirement not being set in stone; my mom majored in English but she’s now working as a health educator/counselor/advocate/etc. in her line of work. It literally fell into her lap too; she was looking for jobs and she happened to connect with the employees at this one even though she wasn’t even looking for a job in sexual health to begin with! So that definitely encourages me to keep my eyes open for opportunities I may not have seen myself doing but interest me; I’m starting to realize that your degree doesn’t necessarily limit what you can do in the work field

[Siân]

It's okay to not have all the answers! Exploring a few things that you find interesting, and seeing where they take you is totally valid and can be a really rewarding journey - as well as taking you unexpected places, as your mom's experience shows.

Do you have any more specific questions about this right now?

[thewrit3r]

I don’t think so, but talking here and reading the article Sam sent definitely helped me think about things more and look into it. Thanks!