Sexy Fill-in-the-blanks




Objective(s) & Context

  1. Promote, practise, and navigate safer sex thinking.

  2. Encourage creative thinking around possible sexual scenarios/sexual encounters.

  3. Practise using and vocalizing ”real” and everyday sexual language.

  4. Normalize diverse sexual identities and consensual sex.

  5. Encourage talking through sexual scenarios, this is important for communication skills in healthy relationships.

 

This is a fun way to think about healthy sexuality using storytelling and humour to break through stigma, break the ice, and generate discussion.

 

Duration

40 minutes minimum

* 20 minutes per game

* 20 minutes for Part 2

 

Group Size

Maximum of 12 participants or divide into two groups of 10–12 participants, if there are enough facilitators

 

Age group

12 +

 

Skills

Comprehension, creative thinking

 

Format(s) & Technique(s)

Game

 

Materials

Large sheets of paper

Drawing materials (pens, markers, crayons, etc.)

An empty “Fill in the Blank Scenario: Reference Sheet”

Word List: Reference Sheet

Safer sex resources (pamphlets, fact sheets, condoms, etc.)

 

Facilitation Tips

  • This activity is best when played after a discussion or activity about safer sex practices. This activity is a “practical” application of that knowledge.

  • As the facilitator, you must be ready to respond, and adapt to a multiplicity of scenarios, feelings, and actions. The bottom line is to have participants think through safer sex practices.

  • Feel free to create your own scenarios. We suggest creating blank spaces which are usually taken for granted, for example: the people involved in the relationship, emotions, time, place, sexual acts, methods of protection, STI status, activities leading to sexual encounters, etc.

  • Because this workshop deals with sex, some of the activities contain explicit language.

  • Let groups get silly about talking about sex if they need to.

  • Mirroring the language that the participants use to describe sex acts is the most non-judgmental and empowering way to proceed in a given activity. For example, if they say blowjob, you say blowjob; if they say pussy, you say pussy.

  • Using only clinical terms (cunnilingus, intercourse, names of anatomy) tends to distance the facilitator from the group. It also makes sex and talking about sex seem either shameful or medical.

 

 

Leading the Activity: Steps to Take

Preparation:

Create a flip chart version of the Word List: Reference Sheet and a flip chart version of the Fill in the Blank Scenario: Reference Sheet on separate sheets. These need to be big enough so participants can read them at a distance.

 

Workshop:

1. Begin by asking participants to complete the Word List: Reference Sheet.

Example: For a noun, the girls will shout out nouns like cat, floor, bed, table…

2. Do this for the entire list of words.

3. Put up the scenario (Fill in the Blank Scenario: Reference Sheet).

4. Ask a volunteer or facilitator to fill in the blanks with the word bank the group came up with in the first steps.

5. Once all the blanks are filled, have the girls take turns reading the phrases aloud.

Depending on the words given by the participants, each scenario will be different.

6. Using the suggested questions listed below, facilitate a discussion to deepen the

analysis by asking:

  • What is making this situation safer? For example: The people are talking about what's going to happen, there is consent, they are using barriers like condoms and dams, etc.

  • What is making the situation not as safe? For example: Assumptions about sexual acts, not feeling comfortable in the situation, not using barriers like condoms or dam, etc.

  • How can the scenario be safer and what advice would you give to the people in the scenario?

 

Debrief

  • Check in with the girls how they felt about this activity.

  • What is something they learned from this activity?

  • Can they imagine opportunities for making situations safer or themselves, their friends, dates, etc.?

  • Do they have any other thoughts or questions to share?

  • Remind girls that they can also ask questions on one with the facilitators or with someone else they trust.

  • This is a good opportunity to provide sexual health resources to girls. For example, where they can access safer sex/sexuality information, clinics, and information on sexual violence.

 

Success Indicators

Participants are:

    • Seeing the common issues they share

    • Not feeling alone in what is affecting them in their lives

    • Beginning to feel they can act together to change this picture

 

 

Source: Sarah Butler and Carina Foran