Want some great sex ed for not-yet or just-barely teens?

Hey fellow sex⁠ (sex: Different things people choose to do to actively express or enact sexuality and sexual feelings; often this involves genitals, but not always. ) educators, parents, big sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles and anyone else who’s got younger people between the ages of 10 and 14 in your life! There’s a new, fantastic sex education resource that’s been added to the sex ed video lexicon we think you’ll be awfully glad to discover. We’re sure proud to be a supporting partner⁠ (partner: In a sexual context, a person with whom someone is having some kind of sex. The term “partner” can be used for all kinds of relationships, not just serious ones. “Partner” can also mean the person someone is with in a romantic or familial partnership.) .

AMAZE is a series of videosexternal link, opens in a new tab expressly designed to provide accurate, fun and engaging sex, sexuality and bodies education for pre-teens and very young teens. They’ve been created by an excellent and diverse team of both experienced sexuality educators and young adult animators, and the styles vary widely, so if any one video isn’t a hit with a viewer, another probably will be.

AMAZE has rolled out⁠ (out: Short for ‘out of the closet’. When someone’s LGBTQ+ identity is known to other people.) videos on feelings, friendship, puberty⁠ (puberty: The process of physical and sexual changes from childhood to adulthood, initiated by hormone signals from the brain to the gonads. ) , body image⁠ (body image: Our sense, awareness and perception of our body in appearance and function as it relates to our sense of self.) , sexual orientation⁠ (sexual orientation: A term – like homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, queer, straight, lesbian, gay, asexual – used to describe a person’s usual or current pattern of emotional, romantic and/or sexual attraction to other people as it relates to or is about gender.) and gender identity⁠ (gender identity: A person’s own sense of whether and in what sense they feel they might be a man, a woman, neither, a mixture of genders, or another gender entirely.) , web safety, feelings, sexual⁠ (sexual: About or relating in some way to sex or sexuality.) decision-making and STIs, all designed expressly for this often underserved age group. They’ve got more content coming, too, on consent⁠ (consent: To freely and actively agree to do a specific thing with someone else with all the information about what that thing is, and the right to change your mind.) , pornography⁠ (pornography: Written, visual or other kinds of media either expressly designed to elicit feelings of sexual desire and/or which people use to elicit those feelings.) , menstruation⁠ (menstruation: The shedding of the uterine lining as part of the menstrual cycle.) and more.

How can you use these?

• You can share them with your younger sibling, niece or nephew. If you think or know they’re someone who would feel more weird rather than less if you talked to them about it right away, you can just send a link with a note that if they want to talk about it, you’re around, and let them take it from there.
• You can use them to support your family sex, sexuality and bodies conversations with extra facts or different approaches so that you’ve got more to talk about.
• They can be added to existing sex education, health or life skills classes or workshops. If you teach parenting workshops, you can use these as a segment on helping parents of young people this age to give them ideas and support for parenting well with these topics.
• If you parent or work with older teens or emerging adults⁠ (adults: People whose age in years exceeds the legal age of majority, people considered to be adults by law, or people who a culture or individual considers to have reached an adult stage of life.) with developmental disabilities, you may find them a better fit than other sex education materials aimed at these age groups.
• For more ideas and supporting resources, take a look at the sections on the AMAZE site for educatorsexternal link, opens in a new tab and for parentsexternal link, opens in a new tab. To see all the currently available videos from AMAZE, check out their YouTube channel hereexternal link, opens in a new tab.

Want to read more about AMAZE?

• Is sex ed in schools obsolete? by Lux Alptraum
• When Animation and Sex Education Meet: A Q&A With Nicole Cushmanexternal link, opens in a new tab by Martha Kempner
• AMAZE-ing and Smart Sex Ed external link, opens in a new tabby Veronica Arreola

Want a few other resources we love that are available for this age group or those caring for them? Take a look at:

• Sex is a Funny Wordexternal link, opens in a new tab by Cory Silverberg
• Talk to Me First: Everything You Need to Know to Become Your Kids’ “Go-To” Person about Sexexternal link, opens in a new tab by Deborah Roffman
• Breaking the Hush Factor: Ten Rules for Talking with Teenagers about Sexexternal link, opens in a new tab by Dr. Karen Rayne
• The Lumberjaneexternal link, opens in a new tabs series by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Brooke A Allen and Shannon Watters
• Don’t forget about Judy Blume!external link, opens in a new tab Blume’s books remain timeless and engaging favorites for this age group.

P.S. We would like props for not making any amaze puns in this post.