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 t age fifteen, Shelby Knox looked around and noticed that abstinence-only programs weren't cutting it in Lubbock, Texas. Teen gonorrhea rates were twice the national average, and one out of fourteen girls became pregnant each year. Horrified by what was happening to her classmates, the virginal, even-keeled Knox shocked her town by crusading for comprehensive sex ed in schools. Her three-year struggle was documented in the new film, The Education of Shelby Knox. The "education" of the title refers to Knox's political deflowering. To lobby for change, Knox joined her hometown's youth commission and found herself facing off against a fellow commission member and Rev. Ed Ainsworth, who conducted local virginity-pledge ceremonies and insinuated that STDs could be transmitted by handshakes. When the sex-ed fight hit a wall, Knox took up another cause, partnering with members of a local gay-straight alliance that was campaigning for recognition from the school board. The Education of Shelby Knox was screened at a number of festivals, including Sundance, SXSW, Human Rights Watch. It will air this month on PBS. Now a college sophomore, Shelby Knox took some time out of her summer vacation to talk with Nerve. Lily Oei The filmmakers followed you for three years. How hard is it to watch your teenage self? I don't think there are many teenagers who would really enjoy seeing their teenage awkwardness projected on the screen, but I'm really proud of how the film turned out, and I'm grateful to be a part of it. I just sneak out of the theater when I can't deal with it. In the film, a lot of people say it isn't the school's responsibility to teach sex ed. Do parents in Lubbock discuss sex with their kids? I think in Lubbock, a lot of parents believe it's not their kids having sex; it's the bad kids, not their kids. My parents talked about adolescence, puberty, and growing up, but we never had a discussion about sexually transmitted infections or anything. I had actually learned about that myself, beforehand. And I got to give my brother the talk. Was that something that fell to you because of the film? No, it was more an older-sibling role. It was more comfortable for him to talk to me than to our parents. But in school, math is a life skill, science is a life skill. So are the things you learn in a sex-education course. It's the school's responsibility to give accurate information in all those subjects. You come across as terrifically feisty but also naïve. How did you survive the ordeal both the fight and the process of filming? There were a lot of things that were very difficult: my relationship with a political rival who was older than me; the opposition in my church and school; realizing that adults that had supported me in my life such as church officials no longer did. Things like that were difficult. It was very easy to be filmed. The film crew served as another support system. They were always there. The women making the film were very sweet. I think sometimes being filmed gives you more strength, because if you don't win, the fight can still get out there. Would things have turned out differently if you hadn't had cameras following you? It wouldn't have changed what happened. What happened with the school board and the path that the youth commission took, would not have been different. I might have been different, because being in front of a camera for three years taught me to be articulate. I think I might have been different, and not have grown up as quickly as I did. Before this film, did you realize how supportive your parents could be? I always knew they would support me, but I had never challenged their political views before. Until I joined the youth commission and started fighting for sex education, I didn't realize I was going to turn out a Democrat. At times, I wasn't sure they could support my political beliefs — in the film, I ask them if they would ever vote for me. But they want me to be my own person. No matter what I did, they were going to be right there, just watching and cringing at my liberal ideas. Even despite the support of your parents, how does one go from aspiring opera singer to activist? I think everyone comes to a point in life when they realize they're bad at what they really want to do. So I had to do something else. I realized I could use my voice in a different way, and political activism came naturally to me. I think more women need to be involved in that field. How much interaction do you have with Pastor Ed now? I'm afraid he won't have any interaction with me. Did you ever think you would battle someone you respected as a child? I was brought up to respect the pastors and whatever they said. But when I listened to him, I realized what he was saying was crazy, it wasn't right. It wasn't my view of Christianity, which was taught to me by my parents, that God is loving, accepting and forgiving. I guess I didn't respect him as much by the time we finished. He didn't bring acceptance and forgiveness to his own Christianity. At one point when you tangle with him, he says, "If you don't like the policy, go to a private school," as if change could never be an option. Lubbock is perfect for what he wants. He doesn't think about changing anything. How aware were you of the gay students in Lubbock before becoming involved in the alliance? They didn't go to my high school, so I wasn't aware of them until I heard about it on the news. I met them at a youth commission meeting they came to, to try and get our help. So I started getting involved with them. I realized that, like me, they were in a very public fight for something that was personally important to them. I thought it made perfect sense to join together and try to help each other. Were there others in the youth commission with your passion? The whole youth commission cared about the issue of sex education. I was the spokesperson, so that's why you see so much of me. A lot of kids either graduated or fell by the wayside because they got disillusioned. A lot of the youth commission realized maybe even before I did that change was never going to happen that way. And you quit the commission. I didn't want to quit. But I felt the commission had no life on that issue or anything else. The last thing I heard about them, they were adopting a highway. Is there anything similar that exists today? There's no outlet for youth activism in Lubbock right now. I wish there was. But the youth commission was a trial effort and it failed publicly, so I think a lot of people are afraid to start anything else. You're traveling across the country with the film what reaction are you getting? Mostly positive. A lot of people, especially teens, come up to me and say it inspired them to get involved with sex education or some other issue. That's exciting, because that's what I wanted this film to do. A lot of adults are taking a look at their own kids' sex education programs now and asking, "What are they learning?" and "What do I need to do?" which is very good, because it's a national problem. Have you noticed a difference between reactions in red and blue states? Not really. I think we're a purple nation. There are Democrats in very conservative areas and conservatives in liberal areas. I've gotten positive and negative reactions in both red and blue states. Mostly it's been positive. I've been surprised how nice people have been about such a controversial issue. Although with the national broadcast I'm not sure it'll be that way. What changes will be made for broadcast? I think they'll blur out the dildo. I think they'll bleep me and my mother saying the F-word. They're worried about obscenity charges. PBS is increasingly under attack for anything they do, which is very sad. It's a great outlet for independent media. You're in college now. Do people at school know who you are? Not in Austin. There are 50,000 students at the U. of T. and most of them don't. In fact, our school paper doesn't care. After SXSW, people started to say, "Hey, you're the girl in that film." I try not to tell too many people. My closest friends know. I have to know a person pretty well to tell them. I want people to know more about me than "she's in a movie." How active are you in college? I belong to the University Democrats, and a group called Voices for Choice, which works on women's issues. I've gone to a sex education rally, where I've handed out condoms, and I testified at the capital about pharmacists refusing to provide birth control in the state of Texas. All birth control? There's a law being written that contains a morality clause: a pharmacist who doesn't feel morally right about giving birth control doesn't have to fill the prescription. Any sort of birth of control: regular pills, emergency contraception. And there was a law passed recently that requires minors to have written consent of both parents no matter who has legal custody before getting an abortion. That was just signed into law by our governor in a church. Are you still interested in politics now, knowing what you do? I love politics. I still want to make it a career. I know it's challenging, but I also know you can only enact a degree of change from the outside. More women need to be inside in the formal political arena. I think I'm up to that challenge, and I want to make it my life's work. Are you still wearing your virginity-pledge ring? The ring got stolen in tenth grade. But I'm still a virgin. Not because of the pledge, simply because I haven't found someone I want to share myself with. I think abstinence pledges are scare tactics if they're done outside a good, comprehensive sex-education program. Eighty-eight percent of those who make the pledge break it, and when they do, they're less likely to use contraception. It's a very dangerous scare tactic that's hurting kids, so no, I don't pledge allegiance to that anymore. What's Lubbock's take on the film? They haven't seen it yet. I'm so scared. I will be there for both screenings. I'm really quite frightened about the reaction. What's the school policy now on sex education and the Gay-Straight Alliance? It's completely the same. Ed Ainsworth is still the only sex education. The Gay-Straight Alliance was not allowed because of the abstinence-only sex-education policy. Members meet off campus, but the judge ruled they can't meet in school. The ending must have been a dream come true for the filmmakers: to find out that the head of the school board, who rebuffed your proposals, was having an extramarital affair during the entire process. They show some of his emails in the film, like, "I'll give you $500 to come here and get naked with me." He wrote that on the day I gave my presentation to the school board! All along, he was telling us sex is bad, sex isn't happening, and it turns out that he's having an illicit affair. What goes around comes around. n° The Education of Shelby Knox airs on June 21 on PBS. 
©2005 Lily Oei and Nerve.com. |
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