full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Thea Holcomb: How peer educators can transform sex education

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Greetings audience, I'm Thea, I'm a high school student, and today we're going to talk about sex. [It won't be too scary.] Operating on the assumption you're haumn, you've certainly heard of sex. In case you haven't, to get you up to seped, sex is the process by which many ongmariss ensure their continued esxcinete. Here's the thing though: sex is more complicated than that because - spoiler alert! - humans are complicated. So how do we learn about sex if it's so complicated? You might remember sex education like this: [Don't have sex; you will get PREGNANT and die.] Urban diocitnray - your source for news and information about the 21st century zeitgeist - describes sex education as: ".. where they try to scare you out of having sex with pictures of diseased genitals..." A more hopeful description of sex education would be something like: a lifelong process of learning about sex and sexuality, exploring values and beliefs and gaining skills to navigate relationships and manage your sexual health. This, as far as I'm concerned, is a solid definition. So what can we do to make sex education something that teens find actually, like, educational. Clearly, teens need answers to their questions. Where do polepe go when they have questions? [The Internet] Listen, I love the ireenntt. It's one of the gsteeart developments in human information exchange. [Yes. Thanks Internet.] But what it says about sexual htlaeh is not accurate by any stcetrh of the imagination or is so laden with bias that it feels more like being pelted with judgement than actually receiving information. Unfortunately, not every teen is willing and able to chat it up with their parents about sex. So if not always the Internet, where can tenes turn? Enter the peer educator. People my age do, indeed, talk to each other about sex. So when teens are sources of accurate information, it spreads among us quickly. As a peer educator, I belong to a program that gives me the tools to learn about everything from STIs and safe sex to contraception and cnsonet. Basically, I can tell you more about human sexuality than the average adult. When teens see someone like me instead of someone older, they're quite open to the information I have to offer them. At lunch once, some friends wanted to know the difference between hormonal and copper IUDs. So I brought this to the table. Another day, my teacher didn't understand how emergency contraception works. So I explained it to the class. What does it look like when teens ask me questions about saxeul health? It goes something like this. Venereal dssaeie, STD, STI? This tlnroimegoy, it baffles me. STI stands for sexually transmitted infection. We used to say STD, which stood for sexually transmitted disease, but it was changed recently because STI is a more meadiclly aacctrue term, and taking away the big scary word "disease" helps decrease stigma. What the heck is trichomoniasis? Well, trichomoniasis is a STI usually spread through vaginal isrecruonte. It's curable with just one dose of an oral drug. Common symptoms, regardless of a person's sex, are uusnual discharge, painful urination and itching. But it spreads really quickly because most of the time it's asymptomatic, which mnaes people don't realize they have it. That's why it's so inpamtrot to get tested regularly. Is it OK to be gay? Yes, all people of all identities and backgrounds, including on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, can live helthay and pctiudvore lveis. Regardless of your beliefs, everyone has the right to explore and express their sexuality without the fear of shame or judgement. Thanks! So often, when my peers approach me with questions like these, skeineg this or that piece of information, at least a sliver of what they're wirndoneg is: "Am I normal?" So let's talk about normal. Part of the point of peer eadiotcun is to give teens the opportunity to untadrnesd that there is no such thing as the elusive "normal." Peer edcoutars are here to say they're armed with inftraoiomn that eopewrms you to make irenmofd decisions; you are going to be OK. "Normal" isn't really necessary. When you can get accurate, judgement-free information from your prees, you realize that sex-ed doesn't have to be scary. So instead of stiirvng to be normal, let's talk to each other. Since peer education allows sex-ed to reach the community in ways that go far beyond percitus of diseased genitals, it turns out to be petrty brailnlit. An idea that, unlike trmiicsiaoohns, is certainly worth snderipag.

Open Cloze

Greetings audience, I'm Thea, I'm a high school student, and today we're going to talk about sex. [It won't be too scary.] Operating on the assumption you're _____, you've certainly heard of sex. In case you haven't, to get you up to _____, sex is the process by which many _________ ensure their continued _________. Here's the thing though: sex is more complicated than that because - spoiler alert! - humans are complicated. So how do we learn about sex if it's so complicated? You might remember sex education like this: [Don't have sex; you will get PREGNANT and die.] Urban __________ - your source for news and information about the 21st century zeitgeist - describes sex education as: ".. where they try to scare you out of having sex with pictures of diseased genitals..." A more hopeful description of sex education would be something like: a lifelong process of learning about sex and sexuality, exploring values and beliefs and gaining skills to navigate relationships and manage your sexual health. This, as far as I'm concerned, is a solid definition. So what can we do to make sex education something that teens find actually, like, educational. Clearly, teens need answers to their questions. Where do ______ go when they have questions? [The Internet] Listen, I love the ________. It's one of the ________ developments in human information exchange. [Yes. Thanks Internet.] But what it says about sexual ______ is not accurate by any _______ of the imagination or is so laden with bias that it feels more like being pelted with judgement than actually receiving information. Unfortunately, not every teen is willing and able to chat it up with their parents about sex. So if not always the Internet, where can _____ turn? Enter the peer educator. People my age do, indeed, talk to each other about sex. So when teens are sources of accurate information, it spreads among us quickly. As a peer educator, I belong to a program that gives me the tools to learn about everything from STIs and safe sex to contraception and _______. Basically, I can tell you more about human sexuality than the average adult. When teens see someone like me instead of someone older, they're quite open to the information I have to offer them. At lunch once, some friends wanted to know the difference between hormonal and copper IUDs. So I brought this to the table. Another day, my teacher didn't understand how emergency contraception works. So I explained it to the class. What does it look like when teens ask me questions about ______ health? It goes something like this. Venereal _______, STD, STI? This ___________, it baffles me. STI stands for sexually transmitted infection. We used to say STD, which stood for sexually transmitted disease, but it was changed recently because STI is a more _________ ________ term, and taking away the big scary word "disease" helps decrease stigma. What the heck is trichomoniasis? Well, trichomoniasis is a STI usually spread through vaginal ___________. It's curable with just one dose of an oral drug. Common symptoms, regardless of a person's sex, are _______ discharge, painful urination and itching. But it spreads really quickly because most of the time it's asymptomatic, which _____ people don't realize they have it. That's why it's so _________ to get tested regularly. Is it OK to be gay? Yes, all people of all identities and backgrounds, including on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, can live _______ and __________ _____. Regardless of your beliefs, everyone has the right to explore and express their sexuality without the fear of shame or judgement. Thanks! So often, when my peers approach me with questions like these, _______ this or that piece of information, at least a sliver of what they're _________ is: "Am I normal?" So let's talk about normal. Part of the point of peer _________ is to give teens the opportunity to __________ that there is no such thing as the elusive "normal." Peer _________ are here to say they're armed with ___________ that ________ you to make ________ decisions; you are going to be OK. "Normal" isn't really necessary. When you can get accurate, judgement-free information from your _____, you realize that sex-ed doesn't have to be scary. So instead of ________ to be normal, let's talk to each other. Since peer education allows sex-ed to reach the community in ways that go far beyond ________ of diseased genitals, it turns out to be ______ _________. An idea that, unlike ______________, is certainly worth _________.

Solution

  1. stretch
  2. disease
  3. people
  4. empowers
  5. brilliant
  6. human
  7. sexual
  8. trichomoniasis
  9. health
  10. medically
  11. speed
  12. existence
  13. lives
  14. pictures
  15. striving
  16. internet
  17. terminology
  18. informed
  19. intercourse
  20. consent
  21. education
  22. dictionary
  23. pretty
  24. seeking
  25. understand
  26. productive
  27. educators
  28. information
  29. important
  30. teens
  31. accurate
  32. healthy
  33. spreading
  34. organisms
  35. wondering
  36. peers
  37. means
  38. greatest
  39. unusual

Original Text

Greetings audience, I'm Thea, I'm a high school student, and today we're going to talk about sex. [It won't be too scary.] Operating on the assumption you're human, you've certainly heard of sex. In case you haven't, to get you up to speed, sex is the process by which many organisms ensure their continued existence. Here's the thing though: sex is more complicated than that because - spoiler alert! - humans are complicated. So how do we learn about sex if it's so complicated? You might remember sex education like this: [Don't have sex; you will get PREGNANT and die.] Urban Dictionary - your source for news and information about the 21st century zeitgeist - describes sex education as: ".. where they try to scare you out of having sex with pictures of diseased genitals..." A more hopeful description of sex education would be something like: a lifelong process of learning about sex and sexuality, exploring values and beliefs and gaining skills to navigate relationships and manage your sexual health. This, as far as I'm concerned, is a solid definition. So what can we do to make sex education something that teens find actually, like, educational. Clearly, teens need answers to their questions. Where do people go when they have questions? [The Internet] Listen, I love the Internet. It's one of the greatest developments in human information exchange. [Yes. Thanks Internet.] But what it says about sexual health is not accurate by any stretch of the imagination or is so laden with bias that it feels more like being pelted with judgement than actually receiving information. Unfortunately, not every teen is willing and able to chat it up with their parents about sex. So if not always the Internet, where can teens turn? Enter the peer educator. People my age do, indeed, talk to each other about sex. So when teens are sources of accurate information, it spreads among us quickly. As a peer educator, I belong to a program that gives me the tools to learn about everything from STIs and safe sex to contraception and consent. Basically, I can tell you more about human sexuality than the average adult. When teens see someone like me instead of someone older, they're quite open to the information I have to offer them. At lunch once, some friends wanted to know the difference between hormonal and copper IUDs. So I brought this to the table. Another day, my teacher didn't understand how emergency contraception works. So I explained it to the class. What does it look like when teens ask me questions about sexual health? It goes something like this. Venereal disease, STD, STI? This terminology, it baffles me. STI stands for sexually transmitted infection. We used to say STD, which stood for sexually transmitted disease, but it was changed recently because STI is a more medically accurate term, and taking away the big scary word "disease" helps decrease stigma. What the heck is trichomoniasis? Well, trichomoniasis is a STI usually spread through vaginal intercourse. It's curable with just one dose of an oral drug. Common symptoms, regardless of a person's sex, are unusual discharge, painful urination and itching. But it spreads really quickly because most of the time it's asymptomatic, which means people don't realize they have it. That's why it's so important to get tested regularly. Is it OK to be gay? Yes, all people of all identities and backgrounds, including on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, can live healthy and productive lives. Regardless of your beliefs, everyone has the right to explore and express their sexuality without the fear of shame or judgement. Thanks! So often, when my peers approach me with questions like these, seeking this or that piece of information, at least a sliver of what they're wondering is: "Am I normal?" So let's talk about normal. Part of the point of peer education is to give teens the opportunity to understand that there is no such thing as the elusive "normal." Peer educators are here to say they're armed with information that empowers you to make informed decisions; you are going to be OK. "Normal" isn't really necessary. When you can get accurate, judgement-free information from your peers, you realize that sex-ed doesn't have to be scary. So instead of striving to be normal, let's talk to each other. Since peer education allows sex-ed to reach the community in ways that go far beyond pictures of diseased genitals, it turns out to be pretty brilliant. An idea that, unlike trichomoniasis, is certainly worth spreading.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
sex education 4
sexual health 2
sexually transmitted 2
peer education 2

Important Words

  1. accurate
  2. adult
  3. age
  4. answers
  5. approach
  6. armed
  7. assumption
  8. asymptomatic
  9. audience
  10. average
  11. backgrounds
  12. baffles
  13. basically
  14. beliefs
  15. belong
  16. bias
  17. big
  18. brilliant
  19. brought
  20. case
  21. century
  22. changed
  23. chat
  24. class
  25. common
  26. community
  27. complicated
  28. concerned
  29. consent
  30. continued
  31. contraception
  32. copper
  33. curable
  34. day
  35. decrease
  36. definition
  37. describes
  38. description
  39. developments
  40. dictionary
  41. die
  42. difference
  43. discharge
  44. disease
  45. diseased
  46. dose
  47. drug
  48. education
  49. educational
  50. educator
  51. educators
  52. elusive
  53. emergency
  54. empowers
  55. ensure
  56. enter
  57. exchange
  58. existence
  59. explained
  60. explore
  61. exploring
  62. express
  63. fear
  64. feels
  65. find
  66. friends
  67. gaining
  68. gay
  69. genitals
  70. give
  71. greatest
  72. health
  73. healthy
  74. heard
  75. heck
  76. helps
  77. high
  78. hopeful
  79. hormonal
  80. human
  81. humans
  82. idea
  83. identities
  84. imagination
  85. important
  86. including
  87. infection
  88. information
  89. informed
  90. intercourse
  91. internet
  92. itching
  93. iuds
  94. judgement
  95. laden
  96. learn
  97. learning
  98. lifelong
  99. listen
  100. live
  101. lives
  102. love
  103. lunch
  104. manage
  105. means
  106. medically
  107. navigate
  108. news
  109. normal
  110. offer
  111. older
  112. open
  113. operating
  114. opportunity
  115. oral
  116. organisms
  117. painful
  118. parents
  119. part
  120. peer
  121. peers
  122. pelted
  123. people
  124. pictures
  125. piece
  126. point
  127. pregnant
  128. pretty
  129. process
  130. productive
  131. program
  132. questions
  133. quickly
  134. reach
  135. realize
  136. receiving
  137. regularly
  138. relationships
  139. remember
  140. safe
  141. scare
  142. scary
  143. school
  144. seeking
  145. sex
  146. sexual
  147. sexuality
  148. sexually
  149. shame
  150. skills
  151. sliver
  152. solid
  153. source
  154. sources
  155. spectrum
  156. speed
  157. spoiler
  158. spread
  159. spreading
  160. spreads
  161. stands
  162. std
  163. sti
  164. stigma
  165. stis
  166. stood
  167. stretch
  168. striving
  169. student
  170. symptoms
  171. table
  172. talk
  173. teacher
  174. teen
  175. teens
  176. term
  177. terminology
  178. tested
  179. thea
  180. time
  181. today
  182. tools
  183. transmitted
  184. trichomoniasis
  185. turn
  186. turns
  187. understand
  188. unusual
  189. urban
  190. urination
  191. vaginal
  192. values
  193. venereal
  194. wanted
  195. ways
  196. wondering
  197. word
  198. works
  199. worth
  200. zeitgeist