Alicia Gauvin ’12 was enthralled when she attended a workshop led by Megan Andelloux, a Rhode Island-based sex educator. Today, Gauvin is the executive director of SHIP (Sexual Health Includes Pleasure), which provides adults with sexuality education, therapy, and professional training that is culturally inclusive and medically accurate. It’s the same organization that Andelloux founded in 2010 and inspired Gauvin that day on campus.

Gauvin discusses why she believes sex education should be a valued public health program, the value of partnering with therapists specially trained in the diverse dimensions of human sexuality and sexual trauma, and how inclusive education could impact the current political climate.

“The main reason SHIP exists is to bridge the sexual health literacy gap as a result of the absence of comprehensive sex education nationwide,” says Gauvin, who majored in psychology. “Sex education humanizes the spectrum of sexuality and prevents people from using sexuality as a form of oppression. We are seeing a snapback from the years of marriage equality and greater visibility for queer folks.”

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.