By Natalie Miller Moore, Co-Facilitator of Adult OWL
You would really be surprised how often the topic of sexuality comes up. Okay, I’ll admit that I’m often the one to bring it up, since I went to Our Whole Lives training last August. One of the unique things about our faith is that we are interested in the whole person, and view sexuality as part of our lifelong quest to understand ourselves better. I think as a society, people think that we are oversexualized, or that we talk quite frequently about controversial sexuality and identity topics, say, gender equality or pornography on the internet or surveys on sexual behavior. Sexuality as we define it through OWL encompasses so much more than reproduction or sexualization. The circles of sexuality include intimacy, sensuality, identity and sexual health.
What I’ve found from the seven weeks spent facilitating an adult OWL class is that we are constantly shedding our old ideas and identities, learning new things, considering novel ideas, and that our society is reluctant to have the hard conversations – important conversations about feelings about sexuality and shame, the ebb and flow of relationships, the challenges of aging or disabled bodies. Our faith’s commitment to self-discovery helps us face these things and I’m delighted to be part of the conversation. Our session this winter covered relationship transitions, our definitions of sexual health, a timeline of sexual firsts…plus some new vocabulary and a lot of laughter. Rather than feeling that these topics were heavy or hard to tackle, sharing our thoughts and insights made the experience much lighter.
I am pleased to have the congregation’s support – and we look forward to more participation in our upcoming classes.