Embodied Learning: Teaching Sexuality and Religion to a Changing Student Body

Sexuality, more so than other subject areas, magnifies the embodied nature of teaching and learning as well as conspicuously silences open dialogue given its taboo status in many religious and theological contexts. Yet, student learning about sexuality that incorporates knowledge of and about religion, in particular, may greatly improve the public discourse about sexuality through our students as responsible citizens and as leaders in their chosen professions. To bridge this gap, through a year-long collaboration, a group of professors and instructors with expertise and experience teaching sexuality and religion in a variety of disciplines and diverse institutional and religious contexts developed, tested, and refined classroom teaching strategies to shift from a content-based “subject matter” to an embodied learning experience, resulting in perspective transformation as a primary student-learning outcome. Findings in the form of “guiding questions,” encourage instructors to attend to contextual, experiential, and performative aspects of the classroom environment.