OBJECTIVES:
Participants will:
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MATERIALS
PRESENTATION GUIDE
This lesson is straightforward. For most presentations, you can simply go over the material found in the fact sheet. This guide simply provides comments on how you might present the material, suggestions for eliciting participant discussion and descriptions of supplementary material and activities you may want to use. Don't feel like you have to follow or use everything in it. You know your audience better than anyone else, you know how much time you have to make your presentation and you have your own unique ways of presenting material you're most comfortable with.
One factor to consider as you begin to plan your presentation is when to schedule this session. While the SIT lessons generally are designed to stand alone and provide flexibility in scheduling, some of the material in this lesson (e.g., sexual anatomy) needs to be covered relatively early in the SIT program since other lessons assume participants are familiar with it. You also need to consider the age of your participants. You may want to vary what you emphasize and how you present it depending upon whether you have middle school or high school aged teens in the audience. Places where this consideration may be particularly relevant are noted in this guide.
INTRODUCTION
Begin your presentation by going over the first two paragraphs of the fact sheet. As you do, be sure to emphasize that our feelings about ourselves, families and friends, as well as our bodies, change during the teenage years and that adjusting to these changes can be difficult. Stress the points that the more participants know about the changes they're experiencing the easier things will be and that this SIT lesson will help them understand how their body has changed in the past, is changing now and will change in the future.
Presentation Option 1
If your audience consists of younger teens, consider centering the rest of your presentation around the 25-minute video "The New Improved Me: Understanding Body Changes." Since it focuses on young people just beginning to undergo the changes associated with puberty, it would be a particularly effective way to present the material to teens in grade 9 and below. If you use the video, be sure to allow participants time to discuss it and ask questions. Since the video is divided into two distinct parts addressing male and female issues, you can either discuss each separately or have a general discussion at the end.
It's particularly important for participants to know basic sexual anatomy before going on to some of the other SIT lessons. Therefore, you may want to reinforce the information in the video by going over the material found in the fact sheet section titled "Your Sexual Anatomy." If you want to present it in a lecture-like format, simply talk through the fact sheet material. (If an overhead projector is available, you may want to make transparencies of the illustrations found in Figures 1 through 4 in the fact sheet.)
Note: While using illustrations like those discussed above is quite common in teen sexuality programs, use your own judgement in deciding whether or not they will work with your audience. Some teens find such diagrams threatening and some interpret them in an erotic manner. While the SIT program is designed to move teens beyond such reactions, you're the one ultimately responsible for the program and you've got to decide what to include. If you decide not to use the diagrams, you may want to make "free-hand" drawings as you discuss sexual anatomy. You can do this on an overhead, flip chart or chalk board. At the very least, that will allow participants to get a rough idea of the relative locations, etc. of the parts of the anatomy you are describing.
In addition to going over sexual anatomy, you may want to emphasize the following points as you review the video and begin to conclude your presentation:
Try to end your presentation by bringing in the idea of sexual integrity. Point out that it's common to experience increased sexual desires, dreams, fantasies and arousal during puberty. They're healthy and a sign a teen is growing up. Tell participants what they need to do now is learn how to manage those feelings. They need to make responsible decisions about their sexual behavior. That's what sexual integrity is all about and what the SIT program is designed to help them do.
Presentation Option 2
If you decide not to use the video, structure the rest of your presentation around the material presented in the fact sheet.
YOUR SEXUAL ANATOMY
Begin this section by making the point that learning about sexual anatomy will help participants understand sexual development. Mention that many teens think they already know the facts, but, in reality, many don't even know the correct names for the parts of their own bodies. You can then go over the section of fact sheet on sexual anatomy using the strategy outlined under "Presentation Option 1."
PUBERTY
Be sure participants understand that puberty refers to developing the ability to reproduce and emphasize the fact that it includes a variety of physical, psychological and social changes. Give participants a chance to ask questions or comment as you go over the rest of this section. You might want to try to draw them into a discussion by asking if they, or anyone they have known, have ever become anxious or embarrassed about their bodies and worried that they're developing too slow or too fast. After they respond, you'll have a chance to reemphasize the point that it's normal for everyone to be different when it comes to growing up.
FEMALE SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
This section is straightforward. The best way to present it is to simply describe what occurs during each of the four "stages." (Make a transparency out of the Female Sexual Development link.) Be sure to comment on the age range for each stage. That will reinforce the message about the wide variation in the timing of pubertal changes. Be sure to emphasize the last paragraph of this section. It's important for participants to hear that it's normal for females to experience increased sexual desire and what physically happens when a female is sexually excited. If your group is a typical one, some participants probably aren't even aware that females experience orgasms.
MENSTRUATION
Begin this section by making the point that menstruation is one of the most significant events of puberty for young women and that it usually begins between the ages of 10 and 16. After that, simply make a factual presentation on what happens during menstruation. (Use "Figure 2" from the fact sheet to make a transparency of the "internal female reproductive system." As you describe menstruation, use it to show the location of the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterine lining, etc.)
One of the most important points on menstruation to emphasize is the fact that menstruation is both normal and healthy and a sign that a girl is growing up. Give participants a chance to ask questions or make comments after you finish presenting the material. You may want to mention that there are a lot of myths about menstruation and ask participants if they've heard anything they have questions about. Encourage them to share it with the group and correct any misinformation. If you don't know if something is correct or not or if someone asks a question you can't answer, don't be afraid to say you don't know. Do promise to find out, however. If you'll going to meet with the group again, report what you find out the very next meeting. If you aren't going to meet again, ask the participant who asked the question or made the comment how you can get back in touch with him or her. After you find the answer, be sure to carry through. Any teenager willing to ask a serious question about sexuality deserves an answer.
MALE SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
Like the section on female sexual development, this section is straightforward. Simply go over each of the four stages. (Make a transparency out of the Male Sexual Development link). After going over the stages, emphasize the point that males, like females, experience increased sexual desires, dreams, fantasies and arousal during puberty. Be sure to talk about what happens when a male becomes sexually excited. Participants need to hear about erections, orgasms and "wet dreams." Teenage males who are informed experience less confusion and anxiety about their own sexual desires and responses.
ACCEPT YOUR BODY
Introduce this section by making the point that some teenagers react to all the changes going on in their bodies by becoming very anxious and self-conscious. They don't like the way they look or worry that they aren't "normal." Try to involve participants in the discussion at this point. Ask why they think teens feel this way. Get them to discuss the types of things both males and females are most likely to worry about. This should provide an opportunity for you to emphasize the points made in the fact sheet about breast and penis sizes. There is not a magical "normal" size in either case. End the discussion by pointing out that being masculine, feminine, cute, attractive or sexy depends far more on personality than the size and shape of any part your body.
SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRITY
This short concluding section should bring in the idea of sexual integrity. Reiterate the fact that it's normal to experience increased sexual desires, dreams, fantasies and arousal during the teenage years and that such experiences are both healthy and a sign of growing up. Make the point that one of the most important things teens need to do is to learn how to manage those feelings. If they make responsible decisions about their sexual behavior they will be acting with sexual integrity. The SIT program is designed to help them do just that.
AUTHOR: Gary L. Hansen, Ph.D., Extension Specialist in Sociology, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Kentucky; and William W. Mallory, Fayette County Extension Agent for 4-H/Youth Development, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Kentucky.
