the reason for living, or it all comes down to sex, but really not
Once upon a time I was an anthropologist. That is to say that I was paid money to do anthrogeekery sorts of things. Actually, to be more specific, I was a Medical Anthropologist, focusing on women's and children's health issues. To be even more specific I focused on Native American and Hispanic women's health issues. My personal primary research was on cervical cancer, which we now know is caused by HPV. At the time this information was just coming out and wasn't commonly accepted knowledge, primarily because of the stigma involved.
When one is studying topics like cervical cancer, which is a result of an STD, and women's health issues, one ends up talking about human sexuality. A lot. With a lot of different types of people. Just by being in anthropology I talked about sex a lot. Sex is important to people, I studied people, so, well, there you go.
When working with general education students taking anthropology survey courses it was always important to incorporate humor. Hell, it was important to start with funny and keep the lighthearted funny going through all the lectures. One good way to begin, at least at the time, was by saying, Salt-N-Pepa. "In the famous words of Salt-N-Pepa, let's talk about sex," . It was a line guaranteed to fill the room with laughter and reduce tension. (If I ever teach again I'll have to find a new line since no one taking such classes has any idea who Salt-N-Pepa ever were.) Once one was working with straight anthropology majors one could jump right into the topic. But then we also spent a lot of time discussing penis fencing, and after one has talked about penis fencing for the first time one can talk about any bloody old thing with a room full of people. ( Read more... )
When one is studying topics like cervical cancer, which is a result of an STD, and women's health issues, one ends up talking about human sexuality. A lot. With a lot of different types of people. Just by being in anthropology I talked about sex a lot. Sex is important to people, I studied people, so, well, there you go.
When working with general education students taking anthropology survey courses it was always important to incorporate humor. Hell, it was important to start with funny and keep the lighthearted funny going through all the lectures. One good way to begin, at least at the time, was by saying, Salt-N-Pepa. "In the famous words of Salt-N-Pepa, let's talk about sex," . It was a line guaranteed to fill the room with laughter and reduce tension. (If I ever teach again I'll have to find a new line since no one taking such classes has any idea who Salt-N-Pepa ever were.) Once one was working with straight anthropology majors one could jump right into the topic. But then we also spent a lot of time discussing penis fencing, and after one has talked about penis fencing for the first time one can talk about any bloody old thing with a room full of people. ( Read more... )