Sex education is not just about one's health. For Dr. Sara Vogel, it's also about unlearning harmful messages surrounding bodies and sexuality.
A Native Hawaiian sex educator from the Big Island, Vogel founded Ladybits and Leadership, an organization aimed at changing the landscape of sexual violence prevention.
She is particularly interested in decolonization and Indigenous education.
"Decolonization is understanding that how we view sex today is influenced by colonization that happened a long, long time ago," she explained.
She used māhū people from Hawaiʻi and two-spirit people from Indigenous North American communities as examples of the way "our society, pre-colonization, was not as oppressive and was more celebratory."
Vogel's personal life has influenced her studies today. As a survivor of sexual assault, she felt it was necessary to deconstruct the narrative of shame that many have experienced.
"I want us to have healthy dialogue, to unpack all the toxic messages that we've learned about sex, so that we can start having healthy relationships, that we know what consent looks like," she said.
By normalizing conversations about sex and consent in her own life, Vogel said she opened doors for more learning and personal freedom. Now she wants to help others do the same.
Vogel will soon travel to Vancouver Island as a Fulbright Research Chair for a year, studying the Indigenization of sex education. She hopes to help students critically analyze the way sex has been taught to them in the past.
"From the beginning, our country has been influenced by colonization, and by the harm done to Indigenous people. And it's no different here in Hawaiʻi," she said.
"Ultimately, we're going to have to create something new for ourselves that works for our communities and our history."
This interview aired on The Conversation on July 19, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. This interview was adapted for the web by Emily Tom.
