Humans of the Dub: Education / Sex Therapy / Sexual Assault

Photo by Lisa Baxter, Humans of the Dub

Lisa Baxter, Humans of the Dub - Staff

What are you enjoying about your freshman year?

I guess just being busy again is nice. I obviously don’t like being overloaded with work but I like having something to do and feeling like I have a purpose. I like the satisfaction of getting good grades and stuff. I’m taking a lot of interesting classes I actually care about, which is something we obviously weren’t able to do in high school.

I’m taking Introduction to Creative Writing, which is what I’m majoring in. I’m taking Sexual Psychology which is another thing I’m really interested in. I’m actually thinking about being a sex therapist when I grow up. I’m taking the Criminology class with the District Attorney, Ben David, so it’s really, really interesting.

I like learning. I don’t like school. I like learning. I don’t like memorizing and I feel like learning should be doing what you want to do. I feel like there’s no point – I mean up to a certain point you need to learn how to do basic math and you need to learn how to read and write – but I feel like once you’re out of high school you should be able to explore your interests and take what you want to take. I mean I know that people say, “Oh, maybe you don’t know what you’re interested in, so maybe you’ll take a math class and you’ll fall in love,” but that doesn’t happen. This year I’m literally taking everything I’m actually interested in.

 

You said you wanted to be a sex therapist? What made you want to pursue that or how did you even discover that career path?

My junior year of high school, I was a victim of a sexually related crime. That was really hard for me, and I ended up leaving school for a while. I ended up having a lot of problems with my mental health and I had to stay in a hospital for a long time.

I saw a lot of therapists. I’ve probably seen like five different therapists over that three year period. I always knew that sex therapists existed, and my mom never wanted me to go to one because, since I’ve had this problem, I’ve had a lot of trouble trusting people in that sort of way and… I don’t know.

I feel like it really changed my sexuality and how I express myself and stuff in that regard and it’s always been – since I lost my virginity – it’s always been a big part of my life and obviously, like, who doesn’t like sex? You know, so…Yeah, I kind of just want to be able to help people, not only with trauma in that area but also with just regular problems like relationships and stuff like that. I just think it’s really interesting.

I’m sure there’s a lot of people who’ve gone through the same thing and don’t know that those exist.

Definitely. It’s really rare to find them. My sexual psychology teacher does sex therapy, but she is not certified as a sex therapist. She sees couples that are having problems and is classified as a couples therapist. She said that there is not a single person in Wilmington that is a certified sex therapist, so I feel like it’s something that’s not easy to find. I really find it interesting, so I think that’s a thing I’ll enjoy doing.

I enjoy writing, too. That’s my major right now. I’m thinking about double majoring, but I’m not sure yet. And I feel like I really like writing but I feel like I’m not good enough to actually make a career out of it. I would really, really, really like to, but I feel like I just don’t have that drive to make myself better and be the best. I feel like with writing, you have to be the best. You have to because there’s just so many other really good writers out there, so it doesn’t matter how good you are.

You have to have that drive, you have to put yourself out there, you have to get in touch with publishers, you have to do all of this, and even when you do, it is rare that you’ll make it big time. You know? The last thing I want to do is be a freelance writer and not even make enough money to support myself. I’d have to work at Starbucks. I don’t want to have a mundane job like that.

 

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