Our Whole Lives
Program Values and Assumptions
Each of the five Our Whole Lives curricula is based on the following
values:
Self-Worth
- Every person is entitled to dignity and self-worth, and to his or her own
attitudes and beliefs about sexuality.
Sexual Health
- Knowledge about human sexuality is helpful, not harmful. Every individual
has the right to accurate information about sexuality and to have her or his
questions answered.
- Healthy sexual relationships are:
consensual (both people consent)
nonexploitative (equal in terms of power; neither person pressures
or forces the other into activities or behaviors)
mutually pleasurable (both receive pleasure)
safe (no or low risk of unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted
infections, or emotional pain)
developmentally appropriate (appropriate to the age and maturity
of persons involved)
based on mutual expectations and caring
respectful (including the values of honesty and keeping commitments
made to others).
- Sexual intercourse is only one of the many valid ways of expressing sexual
feelings with a partner. It is healthier for young adolescents to postpone
sexual intercourse.
Responsibility
- We are called to enrich our lives by expressing sexuality in ways that
enhance human wholeness and fulfillment and express love, commitment, delight,
and pleasure.
- All persons have the right and obligation to make responsible sexual choices.
Justice and Inclusivity
- We need to avoid double standards. People of different ages, genders, races,
backgrounds, income levels, physical and mental abilities, and sexual orientations
must have equal value and rights.
- Sexual relationships should never be coercive or exploitative.
- Being romantically and sexually attracted to both genders (bisexual), the
same gender (homosexual), or the other gender (heterosexual) is natural in
the range of human sexual experience.
Each of the five Our Whole Lives curricula makes the following assumptions:
- All persons are sexual.
- Sexuality is a good part of the human experience.
- Sexuality includes much more than sexual behavior.
- Human beings are sexual from the time they are born until they die.
- It is natural to express sexual feelings in a variety of ways.
- People engage in sexual behavior for a variety of healthy reasons: to express
caring and love, to experience intimacy and connection with another, to share
pleasure, to bring new life into the world, and to experience fun and relaxation.
- Sexuality in our society is damaged by violence, exploitation, alienation,
dishonesty, abuse of power, and the treatment of persons as objects.
- It is healthier for young adolescents to postpone sexual intercourse.
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Curricula
