So, I was reading Susie Bright’s book Full Exposure for our book club next week and was thoroughly inspired by it. And the great part is, these aren’t new ideas to me. I’ve been working in and obsessing over sexuality and sex education for years and have rolled these ideas out in my head over and over and over, mashed them up and rolled them out again… and Susie still managed to present them in a fresh and invigorating way, in a new and enlightening context. I plan on immediately reading it again.
It also got me thinking about something else. Now maybe it’s because I lead a double professional life, peddling both sexuality education and environmental education. These are two different jobs of mine, but I got to thinking… I kinda wish there was a way to integrate them. Because I wonder if one is really truly possible without the other. Can we really care about our own bodies if we don’t care about that biggest body… the Earth that we rely on and still abuse day in and day out, intentionally and unintentionally? And conversely, can we really care about the health of the planet if we’re ignoring or judging or repressing our own sexual needs and desires?
I’ve been a big proponent of the Jocelyn Elders school of thought when it comes to sex ed… talk to the kids about masturbation as a part of the curriculum. Of course, she got fired from her Attorney Generalship for saying so… But now that environmental education is seeping into the public school system, whether formally or informally, I think we have an opportunity to revisit this question of personal sexual ownership as part and parcel of the grander discussion of conservation and respect for the planet. That huge celestial body that we can no sooner live without than we can our own bodies.
Pipe dream? Probably. But stranger things have happened… why not Erotic Environmental Education?
On that note, I leave you with a link to a porn site called Fuck for Forest that donates proceeds to environmental causes… the ones that will let them, anyway. Dirty dirty porn money!
–Eden
