This week, I created a survey to help determine the direction of the game. Using my own data as well as resources from sites such as Planned Parenthood, I moved forward with designing a curriculum.

Survey data

Over 150 wonderful people responded to my anonymous survey. Thanks to all of you, whoever you are! This survey helped me to contextualize my research and think about where the game should fit into people’s lives.

160 people responded to the survey. Here are some interesting bits of data.

Gender

48.8% of survey respondents were female. 44.4% were male, 5.6% had a custom gender identity, and 1.3% preferred not to say.

Religiosity

53.1% of survey respondents identified as not at all religious. 24.4% indentified as not much, 16.3% identified as somewhat religious, and 6.3% were very religious.

Most respondents (76.9%) either have never visited a house of worship or haven’t gone in a long time. 13.1% went less than once every month. 10% went once per month or more.

I did not ask which religion respondents were a part of, though some people mentioned their religion later in the survey.

Body knowledge

60% of respondents knew a lot about their body. 36.3% knew some, 3.1% didn’t know much, and 0.6% knew nothing.

Masturbation

Most respondents (47.5%) masturbated at least once per week, and many others (30.6%) did so at least once per day. 18.1% of respondents rarely masturbated and/or hadn’t done so in a long time. 3.8% of respondents never masturbated.

Sex

39.4% of respondents had sex at least once per week. Surprisingly (to me, at least), only 1.9% of people had sex once or more per day. 18.8% of respondents had sex at least once per month, 11.3% did so at least once per year, and 15% hadn’t done so in a long time. 13.8% never had sex.

Summary

According to initial data from the survey, I think the goal of this project should be to help people be more comfortable with their bodies, sexuality, and sensuality. Many people are nervous about sex and their bodies due to lack of education, societal pressure, or religious rules. Additionally, I would like to discuss different types of sex as well as sexual and emotional intimacy.

I will be clustering long-form responses from the survey in the near future – expect that in another post!

Curriculum

Sex-positive documents and websites such as the following help me create a general idea of what works from an educational perspective.

SIECUS’ Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education - Kindergarten through 12th Grade

Some of the values listed in the guidelines that I want to communicate through SenseU:

• Every person has dignity and self worth.
• Sexuality is a natural and healthy part of living. All persons are sexual.
• Sexuality includes physical, ethical, social, spiritual, psychological, and emotional dimensions.
• Individuals can express their sexuality in varied ways.
• Sexual relationships should be reciprocal, based on respect, and should never be coercive or exploitative.
• Young people explore their sexuality as a natural process in achieving sexual maturity.

FLASH Curriculum

Some of the topics from FLASH that I’d like to cover in SenseU:

• Self-Esteem
• Gender Identification
• Non-Verbal Communication
• Asking for What You Want
• Anatomy
• Sexual Health & Hygiene
• Sexual Decision-Making

Useful key concepts and values from FLASH:

• People’s bodies can look very different from each other, but still be normal and healthy.
• Everyone deserves to be treated with respect.
• Birth control is very safe.
• There are 3 main kinds of sex: oral, anal and vaginal.
• Everyone has the right to say who touches their body and how.
• You can’t make someone gay or make them straight.
• There is lots of diversity in people’s bodies.
• There are important ways to show respect to people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender.

Rutgers Sex, Etc.

Game topics & timeline

Based on the survey data, quidelines, and other research, here is a gameplay timeline that I think would work:

I’m still waffling regarding the game mechanics. I definitely want the game to have relatable characters, but I think it would be interesting to mix mechanics from different types of games rather than just stick to visual novel mechanics.

Below is how I think the game should be laid out.

Next, I will be prototyping the project. Expect a link soon!