Sexuality NB (Supports & Barrier to Teaching Sexuality Education in New Brunswick) is a SSHRC (Insight Grant) funded research project that investigates the real and perceived supports and barriers to incorporating comprehensive, queer and trans affirming, and antiracist sex education in New Brunswick (NB) pre-schools and public schools. We seek to create and widely disseminate teacher-produced lesson plans & cellphilms (mobile film productions) to support sex education in relation to 1) gender and sexual diversity; 2) issues relating to consent; 3) notions of pleasure; and 4) sex within the digital realm (including pornography, sexting, and online dating).
Through the creation and sharing of DIY (do it yourself) media productions (including zines, cellphilms (cellphone + film production) stencils, and engaging with research-informed pedagogies, we seek to create a more expansive sexuality education from early childhood to secondary school.
In this work, we acknowledge the ways in which colonization and settler colonialism disrupted existing gender and sexual diversity practiced by Two Spirited peoples in Wabanaki Territories, including Wolastokuk, where our study is located. In understanding the supports and barriers to sexuality education in New Brunswick, we suggest that we must do so through an examination of intersecting issues, including ability, race, and class.
