OWL Turns 25: How the Revolutionary Sex Ed Program Continues to Evolve

This year marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of Our Whole Lives, the groundbreaking sexuality education curriculum developed by the Unitarian Universalist Association in partnership with the United Church of Christ, and OWL continues to grow and evolve to meet the times.  Just 14 percent of middle schools and 38 percent of high schools in the United States teach all nineteen topics that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identify as essential to comprehensive sex ed, according to SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States), a national voice for sex education since 1964. And there was a 127.5 percent increase in anti-sex ed legislation between 2022 and the first half of 2023, SIECUS found. “When we see the increasing number of states eliminating or severely cutting back on sexuality education or banning books and conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation, it’s important to have an outlet like OWL,” says Melanie Davis, OWL program manager at the UUA for the past fourteen years. “Sad to say, but this curriculum is needed now more than ever.” Over the past two-and-a-half decades, OWL has been updated and expanded so that the curriculum represents greater human diversity, is more accessible to people of differing abilities, and addresses more sociocultural issues. And new resources continue to be added, including a monthly free webinar series and a video series for K–1 children designed to support parents/caregivers as the primary sexuality educators of children ages 5 to 7.