Sex educator, public speaker, and co-author of award-winning children’s book “What Makes a Baby,” Cory Silverberg took the stage last Friday as the inaugural All-School Meeting (ASM) speaker of the 2023-2024 school year. Silverberg delved into the role of sex in people’s lives, a topic Silverberg argues is never spoken about to the extent that people deserve.
In their talk, Silverberg described body autonomy as a form of power that mirrors one’s values, interests, and curiosities. They acknowledged that everyone has the power and the freedom to determine ways to use bodily autonomy, even encouraging audience members to utilize bodily autonomy while listening to the talk.
“Body autonomy is not something someone gives us and [then] we all have body autonomy. Sometimes it’s restrictive, and sometimes people prevent us from accessing a lot of it, but something that we can all experience is that we have choices. Power is something we have and use it in each of our unique ways. What we do with our power matches our values, our interests, and our curiosities. The important thing here is that the way to define power is by making choices,” said Silverberg.
Silverberg continued, “Right now for example, if you don’t want to look at me — if you really don’t want to — you can choose not to. If you don’t feel comfortable, if you are having a bad day, and you don’t want to hear someone standing up here, you can totally disengage. It’s a power you have and is your legitimate choice.”
Silverberg also explored the nuanced dynamics of power within various societal facets like race, class, gender, sexuality, and even education systems and classroom interactions. In particular, Silverberg highlighted the importance of exercising power and autonomy thoughtfully, ethically, and with respect for the boundaries of others.
“Power shows up in race and in class. Those are the big ones, and also in gender and in sexuality. Sex education is [about] having those conversations. A lot of sex education has nothing to do with sex. So it really is about starting to think of power as a lens through which we can see things. How are those who are getting up to the stage using their power to support others? In that case, it’s not really them using their power over people. It’s also not about pushing people, ever. Someone that doesn’t want to come up to the front [of the class] may [not want to] because of their power imbalance, but if they don’t want to come up to the front, they shouldn’t have to,” said Silverberg.
Silverberg addressed Andover students on Friday, speaking about intimate and sexual relationships.
