Forum, workshop on 'S~x in Society' Information on human sexuality and family life will be presented by Mary Lee Neil Tatum in a Popcorn Forum and all-day seminar next week al North Idaho College. Tatum - a proressional educawr. lecturer and consultant - will discuss ''Sex in Society : Contrasts in Human Behavior·· 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11, in the Bonner Room of the student union building. At the rree Popcorn Forum, open to the public, Tatum will define many perceptions and needs of people with sexua·lity and the place of sexuali ty in human life and loving. The 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday INov. 12) workshop in the Bonner Room will be on "Sexual Learning in Adolescence: Skills for Understanding and lnterven-
tion.·• Geared toward assisting parents, teachers, counselors and pulic health officials, the workshop fee is $5. For information phone 007-7422, Ext. 213. Tatum has taught family life and sex education classes the past 14 years in high schools and colleges, including the University of Virginia . George Washington University and Syracuse University. She has been a guest on several TV shows, including "Sixty Minutes." ''Good Morning America" and "The Today Show." She has degrees from the University of Washington and George Washington University and has published nine major articles on this subject.
,. The Coeur d'Alene Press Wed., Nov. 9, 1913
.American sex: a 'layer of dirt?' 81 BRIEN LAUTMAN
Pree, Staff Writer
American sexuality wears a layer of dirt, thanks to off-color jokes, skin magazines a nd phony media portrayals of romance, said a nationally known sex educator today at North Idaho College (NIC). Mary Lee Neil Tatum, a lecturer and consultant on human sexuality, spoke to a large gathering of NIC students and faculty during the college's Popcorn Forum. "We (Americans) refuse to take sex seriously," Tatum said. "We tend to treat it as a joke." Tatum, a teacher of family life and hufnan sexuality for the past 14 years at George Mason High School in Falls Church, Va., said Americans and their sexual attitudes are products of the Old and New Testaments, and the Victorian Age. In particular, she said, the Victorian Age "undid us," by dumping sex Into the category of unsavory activity. America is now in a " Neo-Victorian" era, Tatum said, where people have thrown away much of the prior prudish behavior and replaced it with filthy jokes and pornographic magazines.
Mary Lee Ne il Tat um
Tatum said she is not an active crusader against erotic material, "but if our children are learning loving through those things, we're in trouble." Sexuality is something to rejoice in, Tatum said, not to fear or heap into the gutter. She said people must learn to appreciate themselves "as sexual beings. When we're healthy, loving people, we can then give that to
people around us." Educating children about sex ls also a responsibility for society, Tatum said, but stressed that "most of sex education is human relations. Let's face it, how long can you talk about fallopian tubes?" The educator, who has appeared on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" and several network talk shows, urged the NIC group to educate their children about sexuality throughout their lives. She said sexuality is a lifelong companion, never leaving during the infant, grade-school, adolescent and adult years. " In the U.S., we believe we are successful in educating our children about sex if we get the kids out of high school and out of the house without them getting someone pregnant or getting pregnant. We have this wonderful thing, that when someone is in their ~ s - ZAP they know everything. " Tatum added that infatuation - a dirty word for many - Is a normal, healthy sexual response as long as inappropriate behavior is kept in check. " Behavior is a very different thing," she explained. " We can celebrate infatuation and still ~ in charge of ourselves."