A Role Model
"Knowledge is Empowering"
Nicole McNichols' Sex Education at University of Washington
interviewed & edited by Aiheng (Ashley)
Nicole McNichols, professor at Department of Psychology at University of Washington, teaches the most popular class at the university.
In her class, Diversity of Human Sexuality, she uses a sex-positive approach on topics including anatomy, sex and gender, sexual behavior, sexual relationships, and so on. She values anonymous interaction during classes, and she wrote her own textbook because she found existing textbooks biased. The inclusion in terms of gender, culture, and sexual orientation is one thing by which I am particularly impressed.
What kind of educational background have you been through?
My undergraduate degree was actually a government major, not psychology, but I think that actually prepared me well, because I took a lot of political philosophy courses, and philosophy is certainly tied with psychology. It also taught me to write, which really helped me develop critical thinking skills. After working for a couple of years after school, I realized I had a passion to go back to graduate school to study psychology. I got my master’s at NYU and just fell in love with the field. I applied for PhD in social psychology, and got in University of Washington, which is my first choice.
A lot of topics I dive into in class, including gender, sexual orientation, and especially relationships, are really informed by a psychological approach. I feel like there are a lot of theories from social psychology that are very easily applied to these concepts.
How did you start teaching sex education?
During my PhD in social psychology, I have been a teaching assistant for my professor Lois McDermott. She taught the class for 40 years prior to which I have taught it. But that year two weeks before the quarter was supposed to start, she broke her leg, so the department asked me to take over. I literally was getting two or three hours of coaching from Lois before each lecture about what I will be teaching that day. It was a thrown into the deep end, but I really loved teaching it. About two years after that, she retired and recommended to the department that I take over the class. I did, and I have been developing it ever since.
Why do you use an open and conversational approach in class?
The approach, such as allowing students to ask a lot of questions, leads to student-led discussions, and further allows me to dive deeper on topics that they are interested in, which drives higher levels of student engagement.
Also, because human sexuality can be something personal that makes people nervous and uncomfortable, I try to present a very relaxed atmosphere and a more casual tone, so that students can relax themselves and engage.
When I received sex education in middle school and high school, there was nothing about gender, orientation or relationships at all. I learned bits and pieces through the media, some theories from social psychology, and a lot just from being in this course. Because so many of these ideas have advanced so rapidly, I self-taught in many ways, and I still feel like I’m learning.
Teaching is not something where you learn it all and then it’s done. You’re always trying to learn new things.
What kind of sex education do you think teenagers under 18 should receive?
I think it should be comprehensive, which means we should be talking about it. Right now, it mostly covers all the negative aspects of sex, about anatomy, sexually transmitted infections and rape — sometimes not even that — but I think you should talk about the benefits of sex, too. I think it should teach students about sexual relationships and different types of sexual behavior.
If you don’t explain it to them, they’re going to be learning it from their friends, the internet and internet porn, and that’s just going to give them a sort of negative view of what sex is.
If we look at countries where there is more comprehensive sex education, such as in the Netherlands, they have fewer STI rates and fewer teen pregnancies. When you interview women about their first sexual experience, they’re more likely to say that it was a positive experience.
And this is because knowledge is empowering to people, right? The more information you give them, the more power they have over themselves, the better able they are to be prepared when they encounter sexual experiences. And I think the better off people are.
Since you just started this class, have you encountered any criticism or obstacles from students, parents or conservative groups?
Not parents and not conservative groups. It really helps because it’s Seattle and because of the time that we live in, but I also think it’s because I just try to put students at ease by telling them that they’re always welcome to come talk to me if they feel uncomfortable. If they think that I’m not presenting something accurately or that I’m presenting information that seems biased to them, I want to hear about it. I take students’ ideas and I really do make modifications to the content based on their suggestions. It’s not just something I pay lip service to.
I think because of that willingness to listen and take criticism and suggestions, I’ve been really lucky in not having any major obstacles.
How do you communicate with people with more conservative opinions on sex?
I do have more liberal views on issues such as abortion, but everything I talk about in class is fueled by research. Nothing is just my opinion. If I do run into someone, I would be very willing to hear their points of view and I would probably learn something from the conversation.
I think that’s what we all want, right? Is to be heard.
We’re not all expecting to change somebody else’s opinion 100%, but if we feel like we’re being heard, then we feel like we’re being respected.
Special thanks to Nicole McNichols
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