Who I Am
Hi! I’m Jenna Emerson (she/her), your favorite singing sex educator! I am an AASECT-Certified sexuality educator with a Master of Education in human sexuality studies from Widener University. I have over 10 years of experience as a full-time sexuality educator and nearly 20 years of experience in improv comedy. I worked in K-12 education for 5 years and at a university for 8 years. I currently live in Burlington, Vermont where you can find me teaching human sexuality workshops, swimming in Lake Champlain, or performing musical comedy. Sometimes, all at once, like in this parody of The Little Mermaid where Sebastian educates us about the importance of lube.
Originally from San Jose, CA, I started both my academic and comedy careers in Seattle, WA where I received my Bachelor’s in sociology from Seattle University and wrote a thesis about the social construction of virginity. I personally know the transformative impact that a positive sex ed course can have on a young person’s life, because it changed mine. Providing age-appropriate, inclusive, pleasure-centered, anti-oppressive, and FUN comprehensive sexuality education is my life’s purpose. I am committed to being the health teacher I wish I had (and desperately needed). I’d love to tell you my story of how I got into this work, what motivates me, and where I’m going. Since sex educators love Q&As so much (it’s me, I love them), I’m going to share my story through an interview format. Ready? Let’s go.
Let’s start with the big question. How did you get into sex ed?
I got into sex ed because the Jonas Brothers wore purity rings in 2008. I’ll explain. I am a millennial who went to middle school during the mid-2000s government-funded virginity movement. I received abstinence-only-until-heterosexual-marriage health education in a public school in San Jose, CA. I received the classic fear-based and inaccurate lessons, such as comparing sex and love to tape sticking (or not) to you and your classmates’ arms. This type of education is found to be up to 80% false and misleading, shaming, and stigmatizing, leading to higher STI rates, unwanted pregnancies, and sexual violence. What I needed was to be told that jealous, controlling behaviors were unhealthy in relationships, not how to best keep an egg baby from cracking.
I wish more young people learned about healthy relationships in sex ed, not just get shown pictures of herpes!
Same. I was also shown those pictures, which was the entirety of my sex education in high school.
That’s not enough! Okay, I’m still so curious… go back to the Jonas Brothers.
Fast forward to 2008. I’m a college student taking my first sociology of gender and sexuality course and the Jonas Brothers are wearing purity rings. I was confused. Why would these young men celebrities need to wear jewelry to tell people they’ve never had sex before? Also, they could wear the rings and have had sex before, and no one would know. Why are so many celebrities and Christian teens flagging their purity so much? Where did this come from? It also brought back a memory from that 7th grade “health” class where we learned about born-again virgins. That is, hearing from a high school girl who had sex, regretted it, and claimed to be a virgin again. I was confused. What even is virginity?!
So, what you’re saying is that anyone can claim virginity, regardless of behaviors, because it means something socially and not just physically?
Exactly. And as a Gemini rising, I needed to figure out why. This led to a year-long original research paper examining the social construction of virginity and its implications for youth with marginalized identities today. Turns out, it’s thousands of years in the making and closely tied to white Christian supremacy culture. My research led me to talking to various sex educators about the messages that young people receive about purity and sex and found these messages to be inequal. After every interview I would say, “this person has the coolest job.” I believe that all young people should learn that they are worthy of love and care, and all young people should learn medically accurate, shame-free sexual health information. We should not teach different messages because of race, class, disability, citizenship status, gender, orientation, etc. My hope and dream is that shaming, fear-based abstinence-only programs would stay in the 2000s graveyard right next to its low-rise jeans and lace camis.
What did you do with the research? Did you send it over to the Jonas Brothers?
They were too busy filming Camp Rock. Instead, I decided that I wanted to work with young people instead of just study them. So, I joined AmeriCorps as a high school math tutor. I knew I wanted to be a teacher but thought it would be in math. However, when I was teaching math, I realized all the young people wanted to talk about was sex, gender, and relationships. With a mission for helping as many young people graduate high school as possible, I thought, “If they had a safe space to talk about their emotional lives, they could focus more on math!” I still think I’m right.
Could you imagine how much more evolved we would be as social, emotional people if we took as many health classes as math classes!?
I think about that all the time. I am always imagining a future where every young person receives medically accurate, destigmatized, and shame-free sexuality, relationship, and health education.
So now you’re in graduate school to study sexuality? Was it as awesome as that sentence sounds?
Yes, it was amazing and radicalized me. The people in the program, teachers, and coursework gave me a fast track to becoming the sexuality educator I always wish I had in school. I was even able to work at a private Quaker school in Philadelphia where I wrote my graduate thesis, which was a 7-lesson consent education curriculum called Practicing Consent Like a Quaker.
Quaker, like the oats?
Sure. Like the abolitionist oats.
How did you end up in Vermont, of all places??
I got a job! Turns out, I will move for health insurance. I worked at the University of Vermont for 8 years. I was a full-time positive sexuality outreach educator and programmer in their Center for Health and Wellbeing, and then a part-time faculty member in human sexuality and relationships. In that time I created over 600 sexual health programs, started the inagurral Body Liberation Week and Sexual Health Fair, SEXPO. I provided individual office hours and led a peer-led positive sexuality discussion group called The Good Stuff. Even though I am no longer in these positions, I have found a welcoming queer community here and love the quaint, hygge lifestyle.
What is there to do in Vermont other than drink maple syrup and hang out with Ben & Jerry?
It’s a lot of that. I also love biking, swimming, skating, and exploring cool events around the state. I love performing improv and musical comedy, hosting and attending drag/burlesque shows, curate pagan gatherings, provide tarot readings, and spend time with my friends.
Oh, right, improv! Tell me more about that.
I’ve been performing improv for nearly 20 years, which was not influenced by the Jonas Brothers, but rather by the women of SNL (also 2008). I’m on a short-form team called Boom City and a musical improv team called Raccoon Chorus. I also produced and hosted my very own sex ed comedy show called Sex With Jenna from 2018-2020. This is where I developed my comedy persona JennaTalia and wrote sex ed parody songs that I continue to perform all over the state. I even co-wrote and starred in a comedy called Abortion: The Musical in 2019.
I wish I could have seen that musical!
I wish you could have, too. We performed it once in December, 2019… and then you know what happened…
What about those tarot readings? What’s up with that?
I’ve been a tarot reader for 5 years and have been expanding my spiritual practices. I use my intuition to help people connect better to their higher self. I have a passion for helping people in their intimate lives through education, spirituality, and comedy.
What’s next for you?
For comedy, I want to record my sex ed parody comedy album in full. And thanks to parody law, I want to finish my full-length sex ed musical parody of The Little Mermaid, imagining if Ariel wanted to become a sex educator. I also want to bring back my sex ed comedy show, so stay tuned for that!
For sex ed, I am currently open to new opportunities, contracts, and freelance work. If any part of my story resonated with you, or if you share a passion for positive sex ed and believe a better world is possible, I’d love to work with you!