Sexual health speaker visits campus

Health educator Judith Steinhart will speak at 7 p.m. tonight in the Indiana Memorial Union Whittenberger Auditorium to discuss the changes and roles of women's sexuality and other sexual health topics.\nSteinhart, a senior health educator at Columbia University's Health Education Program and a certified sexuality educator, will present "From Alfred Kinsey to 'Go Ask Alice!'" commemorating the 50th anniversary of "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female," written by Alfred C. Kinsey, founder of the Kinsey Institute. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Health and Wellness Education of the IU Health Center, the Community Education of the Bloomington Hospital and the Monroe County Community AIDS Action Group. The event is free and open to the public. \n"I hope (the event) will stir up the pot so people will think about the importance of sexual health," Steinhart said. "The part of sexual health that we omit is sexual self-esteem and having the confidence to share who they are with another person, which does not mean necessarily sharing their bodies. People have choices, and sexual knowledge and sexual self-esteem help people make healthy decisions."\nSteinhart is a member of a team creating "Go Ask Alice!," a Columbia University Web site dedicated to providing easy access to and use of health information. Steinhart will primarily discuss sexual health topics concerning females and males, but will also discuss any other topics that come up during the course of the speech. \nKathryn Brown, certified sex educator at the IU Health Center, said learning about sexuality is beneficial for everyone.\n"We can all learn more about sexuality," she said. "It impacts our relationships, whether it is a romantic one or our friendships and with our parents. We can all gain from learning more about our sexuality."\nJennifer Bass, head of information services at the Kinsey Institute, said the event will not only be informative, but interesting in a down-to-earth manner. \n"I think that we're all exposed to dubious sources regarding sexuality, and Judith Steinhart is an incredible educator," she said, "She's been in the field for quite a while and is not afraid to tackle any topic relating to sexual health."\nSteinhart stated how honored she is to help celebrate the anniversary of Kinsey's work. \n"I am privileged to build on his body of knowledge, and to show ways we use his work in educating students and in creating more authentic sexual selves," she said.\nThe Kinsey Institute was founded in 1947. Kinsey's "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female," published in 1953, held controversial ideas about sexuality for that time period and dramatically revolutionized the way people viewed and approached human sexuality, Brown said. \n"This brought issues of female sexuality out into the open," she said. "Topics that people whispered about were now documented through a scientific study."\nWeb sites such as "Go Ask Alice!" demonstrate informational freedom concerning sexual health education and the long way that the public has come in providing these resources, Brown said. \n"The 'Go Ask Alice!' column, and other reputable sexual health Web sites, including the Kinsey Q & A Web site, demonstrate that people are still searching for places to get answers to their most personal questions about sexuality," she said.\n"Go Ask Alice!", started in 1993 by Columbia University's Health Education Program, is among the oldest Internet health question-and-answer services, according to www.goaskalice.columbia.edu. It assists readers in making wise decisions regarding their emotional, physical, spiritual and sexual health in a straight forward and nonjudgmental way. Questions are submitted anonymously and range from serious to funny and from weird to shocking. The Web site receives around 2,000 questions from students and adults each week and has even spawned a book entitled "The 'Go Ask Alice' Book of Answers: A Guide to Good Physical, Sexual, and Emotional Health." Newsweek, "Rolling Stone," The Wall Street Journal, and MTV's "Fight For Your Rights: Protect Yourself" all have recognized the Web site.\nBass said the information in the lecture can be useful in many ways.\n"It's amazing that sexuality affects us in so many ways," Bass said. "It touches on so many parts of our lives."\n-- Contact staff writer Danielle Gingerich at dgingeri@indiana.edu.