NASHVILLE, Tenn. – “Sexuality, Spirituality and Religion: What’s the Connection?” is the topic of the Rev. Debra W. Haffner’s talk presented as Vanderbilt University’s Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center‘s annual lecture on Tuesday, March 28, at 7 p.m.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Wilson Hall, Room 103, on the Vanderbilt University campus.
An ordained minister and sexologist for the past 30 years, Haffner’s lecture will address questions such as – “What does the Bible really say about sex?” “Why are so many religious institutions concerned about your sex life?” and “What’s the new movement for sexual justice in faith communities?”
Haffner is the director of the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing located in Norwalk, Conn. She is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister and is an endorsed community minister with the Unitarian Church in Westport, Conn.
Previously she served as chief executive officer of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), where she created the National Coalition to Support Sexuality Education, the Commission on Adolescent Sexual Health and the Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Kindergarten – Grade Twelve.
Her experience also includes work as the director of education for the Center for Population Options, director of community services for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington and as a special assistant in the U.S. Public Health Service.
She is the author of From Diapers to Dating: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Sexually Healthy Children, Beyond the Big Talk: Every Parent’s Guide to Raising Sexually Healthy Teens and What I’ve Learned About Sex.
Haffner’s work has been honored by the Yale School of Epidemiology and Public Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, the Association for the Advancement of Health Education and the Society for Adolescent Medicine. She has been quoted in The New York Times and The Washington Post and has appeared on Nightline, Primetime, 20/20, Dateline, Crossfire, Good Morning America, Oprah and the Today Show.
For more information about the lecture, please call the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center at 615-322-4843.
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Media Contact: Princine Lewis, 615-322-NEWS
princine.l.lewis@vanderbilt.edu