In order to be certified by the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) as a sexuality educator, one of the many requirements that I must meet is to participate in a Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR). The SAR originated in the early 1970s as a tool for understanding how a person’s attitudes and values affect him/her professionally and personally.
“In order to function competently, the health professional needs to be keenly aware of his or her own attitudes, feelings, and judgments about all areas of sexuality, and should have a basic body of knowledge and the skills to address the sexual concerns of the patient, client, or student.” (William Stayton, 1998)
The SAR can take many forms, depending on the instructor(s) and the facility. The SAR that I chose to attend was a one-day, 10-hour intensive led by Joan Sughrue. Joan, a nurse, and her late husband John, an OB/GYN, were trained by sexology pioneers William Masters and Virginia E. Johnson (Masters & Johnson) and began doing sex therapy in the Southeast in the early 1970s. I chose to take my SAR with Joan because I value her combination of medical and counseling expertise.
We began the day with an ice-breaker that definitely cut the tension and got us talking about sex right away. There were about fifteen men and women in attendance, including a doctor, a midwife, a minister, several counselors, and a handful of graduate students. The day consisted of large group exercises, small group discussions, and viewing short sexually-explicit films including:
The Internal Clitoris, by Betty Dodson
Betty Dodson: Her Life and Art, a film by Mark Schoen
20/20 Special on Transgender Children
and a number of clips and films found on Sex Smart Films
The true benefit of the SAR is not found in the media, which is obviously readily available online. The real value (and the real point) is the opportunity to reflect on how your own views of sexuality have been formed and discuss them with others, who may or may not share your opinions. I didn’t necessarily change my personal views on sexuality, but in hearing other people’s stories, I have a deeper appreciation for diverse perspectives.
I appreciated meeting other sexual health professionals and learning from their varied experiences. This particular SAR’s participants were aged 25 to 65. One counselor had extensive knowledge in working with transgender clients, another worked with girls who had experienced sexual trauma, and another specialized in working with minority LGBT clients and inter-racial couples.
If you are interested in attending a SAR, you can find a number of opportunities listed on the AASECT website. The DIY approach would be to gather some friends, watch some sexual-themed clips or a thought-provoking documentary, and then discuss your sexual beliefs and attitudes and how you arrived at them. I would love to organize an informal SAR, so if anyone’s interested, please let me know. I think we can learn so much from each other!
*If you want a funny, fictional account of the SAR experience, there is a book called Sex Camp based on the Annual Workshop on Sexuality, the nationally renowned training that has been held for nearly 30 years at an Episcopal Church-owned retreat facility in upstate New York. Note: I have not read the book, so this is not a personal recommendation.
Becky Knight is a sexuality educator and e-coach based in Charlotte, North Carolina. If you have sexual health concerns, take the free
Sensovi Life Test or
contact me.
