Let’s envision a world where children are at home in their bodies, in their relationships, and on Earth.
Living Earth
We are earthly beings.
Our wellbeing is intertwined with the wellbeing of rivers, salmon, lichen, insects, animals and mountains.
We are of the Living Earth.
Sex Ed
Sexuality education is a collection of stories we tell one another about how we take care of our bodies, each other, and the Living Earth.
These stories give us the language and skills we need to uphold our responsibilities as earthly creatures.
Living Earth Sex Ed helps kids
Be Embodied Creatures. Kids need to learn how to take care of their bodies, others’ bodies, and the body of the Earth itself.
Be Social Creatures. Kids need opportunities to practice social communication skills, reading nonverbal cues and building cooperative bonds with one another.
Build Emotional Resilience. Being alive is emotional. Kids need to learn how to cope with unexpected challenges, become tolerant of frustration, repair relationships, and regulate emotions so they can flourish.
Share A Moral Framework. In the past, kids found meaning and their place in the world by listening to stories, through religion, and in relationships with their elders. Today, kids still need adults to help them in their moral formation as they learn what is good or bad, right or wrong.
Claire next to a flowering yucca plant.
Meet Claire
I teach sex education because kids deserve support as they learn how to relate to themselves, others, the internet, and Earth.
In 2011, a friend invited me to join a training for her job at a teen clinic. During that training, I felt an immense sense of relief being able to openly discuss sexual health with others.
I began working for that clinic and then joined a Planned Parenthood teen theater troupe. After our performances in schools, students shared they felt validated in their experiences growing up, including concerns about puberty, body size, and sexual orientation. I felt angry witnessing the consequences of under-resourced sex ed programs. I often thought: “why can’t adults get their act together and provide comprehensive programs like in other parts of the world?”
A 2013 article where Claire was interviewed about changes to a local teen pregnancy prevention program.
Years later I completed my undergraduate degree at Oberlin College and spent the next five years teaching a diverse range of subjects to immigrant, refugee, disabled, and neurodiverse students only to return to sexuality education in 2021. I completed my certificate in Sexuality Education at the Antioch University of Seattle and the Our Whole Lives elementary training in 2022. In the spring of 2023 I started Living Earth Sex Ed. In 2024 I became an Anti-Incest Liberation Agent and a member of the organization Incest Aware. You can learn more about my work experience here.
Claire teaching 4-5th graders about reproductive anatomy in 2024.
I believe keeping youth unaware of their bodies and telling them that their bodies are separate from the land is a core principle of white supremacy. I named my business “Living Earth Sex Ed” to highlight how the relational skills we learn in sex education extend beyond our connections with ourselves and others to include our interdependence with the land. Indigenous writers, artists, the Native Youth Sexual Health Network and others enrich my understanding of how sexuality, bodies, and the land are deeply interconnected.
I seek to create opportunities for my students to explore how the land influences bodies, relationships, and sexuality. These concepts are often new for my students and challenging to fully explore within our limited time together.
Claire visiting təqʷuʔmaʔ (Mount Rainier) in 2023.
My family and ancestors are from Belgium, Italy, Scotland, and England. Outside of sexuality education spaces, I find joy and meaning in dancing, making music, and building a spiritual practice.
Living Earth Sex Ed is brought to life with the help of many entities. You can find a long and loving list of their names here.