Sex as a concept and subject remains hampered by the notion of procreation as its main purpose. Minds need to change around this for safety, sanity and yes, even pleasure. Unfortunately, the only remaining education in our schools is soley focused on birth control. We need to lift sex education out of this archaic place to open a dialogue around intimate, safe, pleasurable and consensual sex, so that these topics do not remain niche; hidden in sex meet-ups, sex conferences, academic or “deviant” circles. SexEd aims to raise sex education from the trenches, into the streets and eventually the schools—through artist and community collaborations, workshops, exhibitions and publications of curriculum the US has never dared to try. The SexEd project was started because there is currently no adequate sexual education in the US, particularly for youth and young adults. This leaves a vacuum to be filled with misinformation led by extremist opinion rather than fact.

Sexual education is the right of all. Students enrolled in US public schools should be receiving information about sexual health as part of a standard and enforced curriculum. There is no federal mandate that anything other than abstinence-only sex education is provided in public schools. Proven to be an inefficient and ineffectual method for teaching about sex and achieving lower birth rates among teens, this does nothing to inform young people with regards to sexually transmitted diseases, a healthy relationship to one’s body and healthy sexual behavior. HIV/AIDS is not gone. We live with this and many, many more sexually transmitted diseases that our youth are sadly not talking about, not thinking about, and not prepared to protect themselves against. To add to this, we are living in a world in which technology is making it easier to communicate and have sexual relationships 24/7 at any distance and at any age. This new(ish) social sphere is wonderful in many ways, but needs to be addressed as a specific space that has its own, unique rules of social engagement.

Worthwhile resources exist, including Planned Parenthood and community/education-oriented stores like Babeland. However, these places are often not accessible to youth populations or those living outside of urban environments. This leaves young people in a perilous position, reliant on (mis)information they may or may not be taught at home, in abstinence-only classes at school or provided by peers.

The SexEd project is an ongoing quest to expose the current state of sexual education and encourage a public discourse around the topic of sexual health through a series of art projects and community collaborations. Contemporary artists with a social practice tackle tough issues and take on multiple roles: artist, activist, community organizer, spotlight and microphone. With these abilities, such artists are able to challenge, raise consciousness, visualize alternatives, and galvanize efforts. For over 40 years, Krzysztof Wodiczko’s public and technical interventions with marginalized communities—from Poland to Mexico to Japan to the US—have served as platforms to speak to specific issues and traumas, often not merely facilitating awareness, but also dialogue around solutions. Paul Chan’s work with and for the city of New Orleans to produce public performances of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” in the middle of the Ninth Ward reengaged the community and public in a conversation about a city and people devastated and in limbo. Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ Touch Sanitation had her shaking the hands of 8,500 of New York City’s sanitation workers to acknowledge unrecognized workers for their incredibly important role in the city, and raise awareness of labor issues and our relationship to waste in general. We witnessed how, during the height of the AIDS crisis in the late 80s and 90s, the galvanizing efforts and imagination of Act Up! and Gran Fury changed forever the landscape and look of protest and social activism. Using this framework, we will create projects, commission work, grant residencies, and fund publications and community collaborations to develop sex education projects and curricula that are art-inspired and community-based—something that does not currently exist in the United States.