Resources

Classroom instructors implementing pedagogical strategies for embodied learning about sexuality and religion need institutional support and assistance from colleagues and mentors to be successful. One means of providing institutional and peer support for classroom instructors is to host and lead a pedagogy workshop. Building on the work of Ott and Stephens on embodied learning and other articles and teaching tactics found throughout this issue of Teaching Theology and Religion, this article presents a sample design for a two-hour workshop with faculty and/or graduate teaching assistants on the topic of teaching sexuality and religion. Non-expert facilitators can lead this workshop and it is intended to start a conversation about pedagogy rather than to provide definitive answers to end the discussion. The goals are to demystify a taboo topic and to provide concrete strategies for teaching that will promote responsible engagement and a better-integrated learning experience for students.

Sexual activity and desire have often been seen as inimical to Christian spirituality and practice, and many people have come to view Christianity as austere and shaming regarding sexuality. However, sexuality, religion, and policy-making have become so intertwined, that to ignore how they intersect and affect particular individuals' lives does a disservice to students. This article presents resources and strategies for incorporating the topic of sexuality into liberal undergraduate and graduate theological classrooms. It provides guidance to instructors lacking research expertise in sexuality and focuses on three main pedagogical categories: perspective transformation; embodiment pedagogy; and sexual violence and trauma. One purpose of this article is to generate conversation: there is a need for further collaboration with colleagues who are experts in various disciplines to continue mining resources to offer diverse strategies and resources.

This article is a response to Elisabeth T. Vasko's essay “Civic Learning and Teaching as a Resource for Sexual Justice: An Undergraduate Religious Studies Course Module” published in this issue of the journal.

Civic learning and teaching, a form of critical and democratically engaged pedagogy, is utilized in an upper-level undergraduate sexual ethics course to leverage public problem solving around the sexual violence on a mid-size Catholic collegiate campus. Through the course, students, faculty, staff, and community members work together to deepen understanding of the causes and consequences of sexual violence within society and the local community in order to evaluate and design programming for bystander intervention, education, and sexual violence prevention advocacy. After a discussion of the application of civic teaching and learning to sexual violence, the course module describes the learning outcomes and assignments used to assess them. See as well Donna Freitas's response to this essay, “The Risk and Reward of Teaching about Sexual Assault for the Theologian on a Catholic Campus,” published in this issue of the journal.

This article proposes strategies for teaching about sexuality in Islam through student-centered learning activities, such as self-reflection, multimedia presentations, and small group discussions. We focus on a diversity of perspectives related to veiling in Islam. The approaches we describe help students deconstruct and reevaluate common U.S. cultural assumptions that equate veiling in Islam with the oppression of Muslim women. Through the use of Likert scale questionnaires and written reflection papers, we have found that students are able to acknowledge and distinguish a multiplicity of perspectives regarding veiling and sexuality in Islam after they have been introduced to academic scholarship on the history of veiling, and after they have had multiple opportunities to engage in small and large group discussions on the topic.

One page Teaching Tactic: How to start classroom discussions about sensitive issues such as human sexuality

One page Teaching Tactic: helping students to develop tools for countering violence, in a course taught in a women's prison

One page Teaching Tactic: begins discussion of human sexuality and the Bible from students' social context rather than “what does the Bible say?” -- derails the rush to judgment and demonstrates the multiplicity of sexuality “issues” in the room.

One page Teaching Tactic: scaffolded short, "in character" writing assignments in an online course, to foster critical reflection on different sides of an argument.

One page Teaching Tactic: students write an anonymous autobiography at the beginning of the semester, and return at the end of the semester to place their original reflections in conversation with the course readings.