Introducing New MSP Blogger: Craig VanKempen

Hi all,

My name is Craig VanKempen and I’m happy to be a new blogger for MySexProfessor.com!  I hope to add my perspective to this already fantastic site and continue to provide fun sex-positive information and resources for the MSP readership.

A little bit about me:

I’m a cisgender straight male living in Ann Arbor, MI, currently in my last semester of a dual-degree graduate program.  I will graduate from the University of Michigan in December with a Masters in Social Work AND a Masters in Public Health (my friend inquired if that makes me a Grandmaster…hmmm…).  Afterwards, I hope to continue my work as a sex educator and, eventually, sex therapist around the Ann Arbor area.

I’m interested in many different things about sex and relationships, but here are a few specifics:

• Polyamory, swinging, and open relationships
• College culture around sexuality and relationships, especially how students define sex-related terms and how that translates to their behavior in relationships and social situations.
• Sex education, focusing on holistic sexual health and using methods from theatre and experiential education.
• Issues around gender and sexuality, especially those concerning bisexuality and transgender individuals.
• How online dating and social networking affect the ways people interact sexually and in relationships.
• Religion/spirituality and its intersection with sex and sexuality.

And here’s what I’ve done so far (one of these is a lie – see if you can spot it!):

• I was socialized in a very sex-positive and feminist environment – there is a picture of me at 3 years old with a shirt proudly stating “A man of quality is not threatened by a woman for equality”.
• I started educating about sex as a 16-year-old in a theatre troupe that taught middle school parents how to talk to their kids about sex.
• I participated in the University of Michigan peer education theatre troupe “Sex and the Univer-SIty” where I played an over
  the-top character who encouraged everyone to have sex as I drank most of a 5^th of Jack Daniel’s (don’t worry, it was just iced tea).  Not a role model character!
• In college, I made a sex education video that showed latex barriers being used with actual genitals.  It was called “Who Needs a Banana?: Graphically Showing How to Have Safer Sex.”
• I taught the American cultural view of sexuality and relationships (along with the English language) while living abroad in northeastern Germany.
• I starred in a student-written production where I played a male stripper who appeared on stage in nothing but a lab coat, orange Converse All-Starsâ„¢, and a leopard print g-string.
• I founded Sexperteam, a peer education group, at the University of Michigan.  This student group offers information on sexuality and relationships, with the goal of increasing knowledge, awareness, and the practice of healthy sexuality on campus. Our peer educators present this important material using interactive workshops and activities.
• I presently teach Our Whole Lives, a comprehensive sex education program, to the 8^th graders (and sometimes adults!) at my church.
• I am currently working on a online social media safer sex intervention for the Prevention Research Center and writing a research paper for the Sexuality + Health Lab at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts, ideas, and comments and sharing with you a Midwest male’s perspective!

Learn about MSP posts as they happen by following us on Twitter@mysexprofessor. You can also follow Craig VanKempen, the author of this post, @craigvk.