What the Ontario sex-ed curriculum really said

I love research. Some would say I'm addicted to researchahol. (Seriously, I need a 12-step program.)

Before I begin my interviews and before I can even begin generating a source list, I need my fix.

But I tend to get carried away.

Reading articles, studies, court-documents, text-books, websites and government documents gives depth to a story. But I want to read everything. Everything.

And the sex-ed story was no exception.

I had many questions to answer: why did the Ontario government withdrawl the proposed changes to the sex-ed portion of the health and physical education curriculum? What was so controversial? What were the timelines? What did the curriculum look like prior? What did the proposed chages really say?

STI test at the Hassle Free Clinic

Today I got up early to go to the Hassle Free clinic to get tested for sexually transmitted infections. My partner asked me where I was going, so I told her. It shocked the hell out of me when she asked if she could come. She had never been tested either and thought it was a good idea.
Strangely, I didn't wonder if she NEEDED one. We've only been sleeping together for a few weeks...frankly only dating for a short time more than that.
I wondered if it would be awkward to get tested with a new lover. That seems to be backward thinking to me.
Regardless, we went together. The Hassle Free Clinic is right on the corner of Church and Gerard. I went to Ryerson for four years; I lived not two blocks from that clinic. I had no idea it existed. I had been to the copy place below the Hassle Free to buy boot legged photocopies of text books. Why didn't I know that clinic exited?

Lesbians and Safe Sex

I'm a lesbian, nice to meet you.

It's always awkward to put that out there and I wouldn't if it wasn't a large part of this experiment.

Let me explain from the beginning.

When I was asked if I wanted to help develop a magazine about sex I thought I should because my sexuality, my experience and my contacts would diversify the magazine. I didn't think about how deep I would have to delve into my own sexuality, until I started to do research this story.

I always hear about using condoms. Make sure you use a condom, make sure you don't get pregnant. I'm not going to get pregnant, so why bother with a condom?

I could get diseases, yes, but I won’t.

It was my fellow editor Veronica Blake who asked me why I didn't think I would be afflicted with an STI.

I said what a lot of people say. "I know who I'm sleeping with."

Veronica pushed and asked who my partners had slept with, did I know them? Did I know they were STI free?

I didn't.