Sexual health isn’t controversial.

My kids’ high school’s choice to produce an adaptation of “Spring Awakening” was, apparently, a controversial choice. It’s a “coming of age rock musical” about “teenagers discovering the inner and outer tumult of adolescent sexuality,” among other topics like adolescent suicide, parental abuse, and abortion.

I picked up my daughter and her friend after they saw the Sunday matinee. I’m kicking myself now for prioritizing my Sunday afternoon chores over joining them.

(As most of you have experienced, the best learning lab for adults takes place as you drive a carpool of young people. You just sit quietly, look straight ahead, make no sudden movements, don’t touch the radio, and listen. Your colleagues in Alaska and Missouri, by the way, know stuff about talking to young people.) 

My daughter and her friend raved about the production and their friends’ inspiring performances, and we had a great conversation about how the school handled weighty topics. 

“The Principal made them change the masturbation scene so it was less obvious what he was doing,” they told me. In an interview with the local news, the director shared that they “hired an intimacy coordinator to ensure the safety of his students in those scenes.” I’m grateful and impressed that the director took on this production, especially in the current teaching climate. (I heard community members lament that it wasn’t a family-friendly show. Last year’s production was “Grease” – uh, can we unpack that?)

AND, it struck me (again) how odd it is that our culture accepts as fact the “controversial” nature of adolescent sexuality but that a scene featuring a young actor putting a gun in his mouth—an act of violent self-harm—didn’t merit censorship.

School should be a place where young people are encouraged to engage in conversations about healthy sexuality and where they’re given accurate information about what that entails. Recent research by my colleagues at the Healthy Youth Development – Prevention Research Center at the U of M corroborates this: parents see schools as a critical partner in teaching their children about sexuality.

The incredible, organic youth development opportunity that this theater production provided reminds me of the fundamental requirements for healthy youth development posited by Dr. Gisela Konopka in 1973 (on which much of SAHRC’s work is based): youth need the opportunity to participate as responsible members of society, gain experience in decision-making, interact with peers and acquire a sense of belonging, reflect on self in relation to others, discuss conflicting values and formulate one’s own value system, experiment within relationships with one’s own identity, develop a feeling of accountability in the context of a relationship among equals, and cultivate a capacity to enjoy life.

As you spend time with family in the coming weeks, I hope you enjoy opportunities for meaningful conversation with the young people around your table. Your colleagues at SAHRC wish you a peaceful holiday season, however you celebrate.