T O P I C R E V I E W
Hype
Member # 35615
posted 02-12-2012 03:01 AM
I'm a freshman in college, and I've known for a while that I'm interested in social issues surrounding gender, sex, and sexuality. I've been thinking recently about how strongly I believe in comprehensive sex education and starting to consider sex education as a possible career. What kinds of work experience/extracurricular activities would help prepare me? I'd also really be interested in working or volunteering at rape/domestic abuse counseling centers (I know several near where I live, but it might be difficult for me to manage the time commitment while I'm a full-time student) or maybe a Planned Parenthood clinic, if possible.
Heather
Member # 3
posted 02-13-2012 11:06 AM
How exciting! We always need more people in these fields. So, how you come into the field and how you prepare for it can really vary quite a lot. There's a pretty big difference, often, between wanting to go into assault/DV counseling and clinical work, and the background for those things tends to be pretty different. Do you feel pretty torn between them? If so, how about feeling them out via classes at school? For instance, for the rape/DV work you might want to take some psych or sociology classes, and for the clinical work, you might see what's available in terms of pre-med classes focusing on OB/GYN.
PeaceLoveCoffee
Member # 95061
posted 02-24-2012 06:56 PM
I'm thinking about going into something very similar. Yay sexuality!
Hype
Member # 35615
posted 02-25-2012 12:48 AM
I'm not exactly sure what area I want to go into. The other day I had a woman who used to work with Planned Parenthood come into one of my classes and teach a very in-depth lesson on various types of contraceptives. Although I knew most of what she said already from stuff I've learned elsewhere (and here in particular--thanks!), it was really important and helpful because she also had samples of everything she talked about. When she told us her own professional history, it sounded a lot like what I want to do, so maybe I'm thinking about focusing more on women's health than the counseling aspect. I'm taking a lot of sociology and gender & women's studies courses already, although I haven't decided on a major yet. I've been thinking about trying to go the pre-med route too recently. It was a pretty sudden realization that it might be a possibility, so I don't have a very clear picture of how to go about doing that yet. To make matters even more complicated, I also have a strong interest in politics, particularly sexual/reproductive/health politics. I feel like I could probably find something I'm passionate about in any of these fields: rape/DV counseling, clinical work/education, or political activism...
Atonement
Member # 42492
posted 02-25-2012 07:26 PM
Just dropping in! I am pre-med, and am leaning towards going the OB/GYN route(though, there are a lot of options available per being a doctor, so I'm keeping an open mind). So, If anyone is curious about the pre-med curriculum, I'd be happy to talk about it.
Karybu
Member # 20094
posted 02-25-2012 07:55 PM
Public health is also something you might want to look into per education (nursing could be another area to investigate). There really are so many options when it comes to working in this field. Atonement probably has some really good insights into pre-med, and I went the social sciences/politics route (I'm in grad school at the moment) so I'm happy to answer any questions you might have regarding that.
Heather
Member # 3
posted 02-28-2012 10:23 AM
Hype: have you done any internships in any of those areas to get a feel for them? If not, I'd say that could be helpful, too. Good way to get job experience and possibly school credit, and also a way to feel out which arena with all of this feels like a best fit for you for now.
Lilerse
Member # 46007
posted 03-28-2012 03:56 PM
Gah, I meant to add this weeks ago and now it's too late, but there's an internship at the Planned Parenthood this summer called Organizing and Electoral Campaigns Intern...the perfect way to combine sexuality and politics! The due date was Monday though (and I applied..wish me luck!). I'm sure there are other similar positions though. I'm in the same boat as you. Love politics and want to be a sex educator. My thesis is on just this. (which will be my next thread!)