04 Talking about Fears

Exercise

Talking about Fears

Synopsis

It is important to acknowledge that participants may have fears and anxieties in relation to discussing sexual matters. This activity provides an opportunity to articulate these in a non-threatening way and for trainers to provide reassurance.

Objective

To acknowledge participants’ concerns about discussing sex and pleasure

Approximate Time

30 Minutes

Materials Needed

Pieces of paper

Pens

Steps

Ask each participant to take a piece of paper and a pen and to complete (in silence) the following sentence:

The thing that scares me most about talking about sex and pleasure here is………………………………………….

When everyone has done this, gather all the pieces of paper and redistribute them among participants ensuring that no one has his or her own paper.

Ask each participant in turn to read out what is written on the piece of paper they are holding. Ask them to do this slowly so that you can note down they key points which emerge.

When this is completed, talk through the concerns offering reassurance as appropriate.

Explain that the group will decide for itself a set of ground rules or working agreements which will help people to feel safe enough to participate to the degree that they feel able.

Tips for trainers

To distribute the pieces of paper, you could use the ‘snowball fight’ technique, i.e. ask participants to crunch their pieces of papers into balls and throw these around at each other like a snowball fight. Once all the papers have gotten distributed around the training space, participants can pick up the ball of paper next to them to read out loud.