Sexpression National Conference: ‘A Cultural Affair’
Sexpression is a national network of student-led sex education initiatives dedicated to the development of Sex education in the United Kingdom.
The event allows us the opportunity to come together and share ideas and experiences, in order that we improve the way in which we provide our teaching to young people
This year’s National Sexpression Conference ‘A Cultural Affair’ was held in Leicester over the weekend of the 10-11th October. Leicester is an exciting and diverse city, with many different cultural communities. When planning our teaching in schools, it is important that we understand these differences and tailor our material appropriately. Therefore, the main theme of the conference was multiculturalism, different attitudes towards sexual health, and the implications for us as students teaching sexual health and relationships education to young people. The weekend was a huge success, with many of the topics discussed provoking thought, questions and plentiful discussion.
About Sexpression
The National Sexpression Conference is held annually and is a fantastic opportunity to bring students from across the UK and Europe together to discuss topics of relevance to sexual health education. The event allows us the opportunity to come together and share ideas and experiences, in order that we improve the way in which we provide our teaching to young people.
Over 80 guests attended from 8 Sexpression branches across the UK. We were also joined by 15 students from the Netherlands, 5 from Denmark and 1 from Germany. This diverse representation obviously fitted very well with the theme of the conference!
Highlights from the weekend
The weekend kicked off on Saturday morning with breakfast, goody bags and a chance for everyone to meet and and get to know each other. Lectures and workshops throughout the day covered a variety of topics including different religious attitudes towards sexual health, female genital mutilation, HIV around the world and human trafficking. Lunch was a variety of Indian snacks such as samosas and bhajis, sourced from the large Indian community area of Belgrave road in Leicester.
Following an interesting day, we poured into one of Leicester’s finest curry houses ‘Poppadoms’ to enjoy some traditional Indian food, along with an entertaining speech from Dr Kevin West, consultant pathologist and admissions tutor at Leicester Medical School.
Sunday again included a range of lectures and workshops, the most interesting being on the subject of gender reassignment psychiatry and surgery, something that Leicester is a centre of excellence for. Other topics included domestic violence, culture barriers in teaching sex education, and asylum seekers.
The Future!
The day was brought to a close by a presentation by members of the National Medsin committee. The elections for the new National Sexpression Committee took place, with each UK Sexpression branch having a vote for each available position. Liverpool Sexpression bid to host the National Sexpression Conference 2010.
2010 will see the conference being hosted in Liverpool. We really look forward to the weekend and wish Sexpression Liverpool the best of luck!
Laura Dalton
Sexpression Leicester
If you would like any more information about Sexpression, please contact sexpressionuk@gmail.com.