Current Issues in Sexual Health

The goal of this course is for students to explore and gain a more in-depth understanding of current issues related to sexual and reproductive health. The course will examine how current trends in public health and public policy—and the historic policies, processes, and narratives from which those trends emerge—shape health access and outcomes and drive inequities among certain populations, particularly youth, LGBTQ communities, immigrant communities and communities of color. The course will use a systems approach, pushing students to identify and analyze the relationship between issues such as welfare policy, economic inequality, maternal mortality and toxic stress and sexual and reproductive health. The class will better equip students to understand, analyze and intervene in systems of oppression and inequality in order to advance equity for all people. Some sessions will feature guest speakers from the fields of policy, public health and advocacy who will share their own experiences and perspectives on current critical issues in sexual and reproductive health. This is a required course for all students in the Sexuality, Sexual and Reproductive Health (SSRH). The course is also open to non-Mailman students interested in exploring sexual and reproductive health issues (instructor permission required).