Our Values | Yes! - Your Empowered Sexuality!

Justice/Anti-Oppression

We understand sex ed as social justice work – as a tool for liberation.
We strive to promote racial justice, gender justice, disability justice, fat liberation, trans liberation, queer liberation, abolition, youth liberation, reproductive justice, and more in everything we do, including our work culture and our programming.
Conversely, we will not tolerate racism, white supremacy, misogyny, ableism, anti-fatness, transphobia, queerphobia, young people’s oppression, or any other form of oppression.
We use an intersectional lens in all of our work – intersectionality makes space for the ways that people’s identities shape their experiences, and also for the ways different systems of oppression layer onto each other causing unique impacts.
We create inclusive environments, treating every individual that we encounter with dignity and respect.
We act responsibly and respectfully toward the communities in which we work and for the benefit of the communities that we serve.
We have a deep respect for young people.
We also value the wisdom of elders.
We know that sexuality impacts people throughout their lifespan.

Anti-oppressive education is…

Informative about the ways in which systems of power and oppression impact various sexuality issues
Undermining and unlearning the ways that our perceptions of our bodies, each other, and the world have been shaped by those systems of power and oppression
Acknowledging the ways sex ed in the U.S. has historically been used in very oppressive ways, including trying to “Americanize” immigrants, and to control the behavior and fertility of people of color, poor people, and people with uteruses.
Sharing power with learners
Space for feelings and reflection, not just facts

We respect each person’s right to be in charge of their own body.
We expect everyone on our team to have the utmost respect for each other’s bodily autonomy.
We trust our team members to know what’s best for their own bodies.
We encourage taking care of our bodies.
We give choices for how to engage with our work.

Consent-based education is…

Including a respect for bodily autonomy in all we do.
Never telling people what to do with their bodies.
Providing information, skills, and opportunities for reflection that support people in making their own decisions.

We believe everyone deserves pleasure.
We want our workplace to be as pleasurable to be part of as possible – we aim to bring joy into our work.
We believe in rest, self-care, and community-care.

Pleasure-centered education is…

Finding joy in our bodies!
Inviting everyone to define pleasure for themselves.
Focusing on the pleasure of comfortable/safe/joyful/good interactions rather than on the risks/pain/fear/trauma of potentially bad interactions (this doesn’t mean we don’t talk about trauma and pain and fear, it means that we don’t use those emotions as a starting place for engaging with sexuality issues)
Enjoying ourselves and each other while learning – connection, games, laughter, silliness
For all sexuality topics and all age groups

We are committed to providing high-quality, anti-oppressive, consent-based, pleasure-focused education.
We give people the opportunity and support to learn and grow from their mistakes.
We encourage giving and receiving feedback, open dialogue, and addressing biases through respectful corrections.
We believe all learning is multidirectional – we aim to foster a collaborative team environment where members both teach and learn from each other, as well as learning spaces where facilitators and students learn from each other.
We embrace a growth mindset.

It is our priority to keep everyone associated with YES! as safe as possible, both physically and emotionally. We know that 100% safety is not possible but will expect our team to take the precautions that we can.
We expect our team members to do their best to keep each other safe.
We do not tolerate harassment (sexual or otherwise) or abusive speech or behavior.

We are committed to creating an accessible workplace, with accommodations for team members as necessary.
We are committed to making our events and programming accessible (including financially accessible).

We are committed to creating a team that represents the populations we work with and includes a wide variety of identities and lived experiences.
We are committed to creating a culture of belonging where all of our team members feel free to be their full selves.

We believe in the importance of accountability. We commit to taking responsibility for mistakes and harm, both as an organization and as the individuals who make up the organization.
We commit to responding to harm with restorative practices whenever possible.

We create opportunities for collaboration and community building (e.g. ConsentFest).
We value relationships with other organizations doing related work.
We are not always the best people to do everything. We delegate and refer and support other organizations.

We aim to respond to the needs of our community partners.
We commit to asking questions and listening and not making assumptions about what communities need.
We maintain flexibility in our offerings so we can tailor them to specific communities.