| Testimonies are about things which
are important to people…healthy sexuality is important to me. I
think we are sexual beings from birth to death and only our
practice and beliefs change. My own ardent interest in sexuality
is something I intend to continue.
At five, I played doctor with the boy next door
in the small space between our houses. I vividly remember his
mother leaning out the upstairs window to shake her dust-mop and
spotting us below. She screamed at us to stop. I don’t know what
she was afraid was happening, but I knew we’d done
something horribly wrong and feared the consequences.
Later, I feared my teen sex would be discovered.
I lived in dread of possible pregnancy, too frightened to seek
birth control. My boyfriend and I were in a trusting loving
relationship yet my behaviour violated everything I’d learned.
At the time, I attended a liberal United Church
where I’d taught Sunday school, participated in young peoples’
group, took sex education, questioned most doctrine, and
contemplated becoming a minister. But sexuality and spirituality
seemed mutually exclusive and nothing there allowed for me as a
sexual being. And I’m straight - just imagine how much more
isolating if I weren’t… I stopped going to church.
Luckily, it was the ‘60’s – I discovered
feminism and what the media called "The New Morality". I
discarded old beliefs, found a new way to be, and carried on with
life as a single sexual female, albeit with varying degrees of
success, my share of scars, and still without religion.
In the ‘90’s, I began volunteering with
Planned Parenthood. Sexual and reproductive health and rights and
valuing sexuality and its diversity of expression have taken root
as commitments in my life.
Just over a year ago, I came to First Unitarian
seeking shared values and spiritual reflection. I became a member
when I realized how much the services fed my head and heart and I
knew I wanted to participate more fully in the work and programs
of this welcoming community. When I discovered that the concept of
a lifespan community included sexuality education named Our Whole
Lives, called OWL, I knew I’d found one way to contribute. I
became the contraceptive supplier to OWL, and am now on the OWL
implementation team.
This spring the Adult OWL program will be
offered for the first time. My ceaseless sexual curiosity is
aroused. A sexuality course, not about biology or technique, but
an opportunity for reflection on one’s lifetime relationship
with self, others, and spirituality. I wish it had existed 35
years ago. This is my opportunity to bridge the gap. I’ll be
there.
I’m excited that this congregation is in a
dialogue about sexuality; maybe you’ll be part of it too.
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