2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

337613
How to Lose Your Virginity


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 10:30 a.m. - 10:47 a.m.

Theresa Shechter, Filmmaker, Women Make Movies, New York, NY
Female virginity. The US government has spent 1.5 billion dollars promoting it. It has fetched $750,000 at auction. There is no official medical definition for it. And 50 years after the sexual revolution, it continues to define young women’s morality and self-worth.

This hilarious, eye-opening, occasionally alarming documentary uses the filmmaker’s own path out of virginity to explore its continuing value in our otherwise hypersexualized society. Layering vérité interviews and vintage sex-ed films with candid self-reflection and wry narration, Shechter reveals myths, dogmas and misconceptions behind this "precious gift." Sex educators, porn producers, abstinence advocates, and outspoken teens share their own stories of having - or not having - sex.

In a culture where "Be sexy, but don’t have sex" is the overwhelming message to young women, the film goes through the looking glass to understand a milestone almost everyone thinks about but no one actually understands.

Learning Areas:

Chronic disease management and prevention
Communication and informatics
Diversity and culture
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control
Public health or related education
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Analyze why female virginity is still so valued in our hyper-sexualized society.

Keyword(s): Advocacy for health and health education, Social and behavioral sciences

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Women Make Movies is the educational distributor of the film, How to Lose Your Virginity. We are submitting this film on behalf of the filmmaker, Therese Schechter.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4108.1: APHA GPH Film Festival - Let's talk about Sex. Shame. Power. Violence