The Sex Ed Team at the Moishe Kavod House in Brookline, MA
had our first ever (first annual?) team retreat ten day ago. We wanted to spend
a whole day talking together about sex, sexuality, and relationships in our
lives and in our communities so that we could create a safe space in which to
really dive into the trickier, stickier, more complex questions that came up
during our workshops this past year.
We had 18 people in attendance, including people who had
been integrally involved in the team for the past year or more as well as
people for whom the retreat was their first team event. Many people wanted to
join us but couldn’t make it, so I thought I’d provide here a little taste of
the questions we asked each other:
*How does your Judaism [religion,
spirituality] impact your sexuality? How does your sexuality impact your
Judaism [religion, spirituality]?
*What happens when I don’t fit into
the question you’re asking?
*What are the two most salient
pieces of your identity? How do these identities make you feel powerful,
powerless, or both at different times throughout your life?
*Do your sexual ethics change in
different relationships?
*What personal needs does sex ed
meet for you? What personal needs could sex ed meet for you in the future?
*How can we broaden and deepen our
impact on the world through sex ed?
We also had three small groups break out for an hour in the
afternoon. Their discussions focused on three different themes: jealousy, asexuality,
and body image.
By the end of the day, I could feel that the people in the
room were very excited and ready to take on leadership of the team in the
coming year and get some great work done. We want to do a thorough revision of
our six-part curriculum, paying special attention to issues of power,
privilege, and identity in framing the activities and informing the
discussions, as well as working to integrate Judaism and Jewish learning in a
variety of ways. We will also continue to make space for structured and
unstructured conversations in our community about relevant topics related to
sex, sexuality, and relationships. In addition, we will explore the process of
building power so that we can engage in outreach work, take action, and have an
impact on the world at large.
If you want to hear more about our work or maybe get
involved, feel free to contact me directly or email our team leaders at
EthicalSexuality (at) kavodhouse (dot) com.
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