An Ohio University graduate student assisted a local effort to advance the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's mission to promote an understanding of human sexuality.
Jason Martin, a graduate multimedia studies major, joined a local Planned Parenthood volunteer, Susan Quinn, to produce a video in which three generations gathered in a focus group to discuss a broad range of issues about sexuality.
Quinn said she got the idea from her own experiences as a parent.
The video was centered more around how parents approach children on sexuality
Quinn said. I have a great relationship with my kids but I thought it was either funny or awkward when reflecting on the experience of talking to my kids about sexuality.
Quinn eventually realized many parents shared the same feeling. She and Martin arranged for two focus group meetings, Dec. 6 and 7, where they discussed the experience of broaching sexuality with their kids what (they) thought was a necessary part of healthy relationships and how human sexuality evolves
Quinn said.
On Dec. 6, three students, three parents and two grandparents -with a 40-year age range -took part in the focus group. The following night of taping, Quinn and Martin interviewed and taped four parents and one grandparent. The project was funded with about $500 from local donors.
Jaimie Weiss, a junior broadcast journalism major, participated in the first night of taping and said the experience opened her eyes to the parental side of discussing sexuality.
I was there with two people my age; I heard their stories
and I related to them
Weiss said. But I got to hear the other side -of a parent talking to their kid -and when they decided to (have the talk)... It wasn't so much the differences (between the age groups) that got me
but feeling the other side.
Don Flournoy, a telecommunications professor, and his wife, Mary Anne, also participated in the first night of taping. As a member of the oldest generation in the project, he said he was surprised at how experiences across the generations were similar.
In terms of those younger than me
the same pattern (of a lack of sexual education) that occurred in my life has occurred in theirs
Flournoy said. What I saw was that it reaches across three generations. I was hoping we'd made progress
but our educational system has failed us
our churches have failed us and our community organizations have failed us.
Quinn said she hopes efforts such as the video, which will be used in Planned Parenthood presentations in an eight-county region, will change the trend.
We are hoping what we could do is a kind of open
