Breaking the Stigma: Teaching Children About HSV Without Shame
Why is it easy for so many caregivers and parents to discuss cold sores (aka oral HSV) with their children without blame, shame, or fear, but when it comes to genital HSV, or just HSV, they struggle?
If you’ve followed me for awhile, you likely know this is the result of stigma, stereotypes, and shame. If we have not done the work of removing stigma from ourselves or our curriculums, it reappears in well-intentioned educational content.
The more work we do as educators, teachers, caregivers, and parents to not only teach students/children about body parts’ appropriate terms, but also share the names of infections, the better prepared they will be to approach their bodies and the realities of partnered pleasure in their futures.