Diversity Film Series: Sex Ed in a Texas Town

The Appreciating Diversity Committee kicks off its 2012-13 films series Wednesday with The Education of Shelby Knox, a documentary that views controversy over sex education in a conservative community through the eyes of a teenage girl.

The free program at the Ellen Driscoll Theater, 325 Highland Ave., begins with a reception at 6:30 p.m., followed by the film at 7 and discussion at 8:15.

The committee describes the documentary by Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt as "the story of Shelby, a feisty 15-year-old in Lubbock, Texas, and a devout Southern Baptist from a conservative Republican family. The only sex education taught at Shelby's high school is abstinence, after then-Governor George W Bush passed a law outlawing any other type of sex education in the State.

"However, Lubbock has some of the highest rates of pregnancy and STDs in the nation. Shelby joins a student group that wants to bring comprehensive sex education to Lubbock high schools, and from this experience becomes an activist. Interwoven with Shelby's evolution is her changing relationship with her parents, who support her despite her movement away from their beliefs. This is a film told on many levels, from the personal to the political."

For more information, call Julie at (510) 835-9227 or visit www.diversityfilmseries.com.

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