AASECT
American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists
Our History
- A Tribute to AASECT's Founder, Patricia Schiller, JD, MA
Patricia Schiller, lawyer, teacher, sexuality educator, sex therapist, and founder and first ED of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, passed away June 29, 2018, in Palm Beach. She was 104. As you will see in the Washington Post’s obituary, Patricia Schiller was an inspired and collaborative leader who has left the world a better place. Working as a Legal Aid Society attorney who saw how sexual stigma and ignorance accounted for far too many divorces, she switched careers to try to remedy what she saw as a needless gap in people’s educations and understandings. She became a sexuality educator at a high school and then at a medical school. To increase her impact, in 1967 she created an organization that would train and certify thousands of sexuality educators and clinicians for years to come - AASECT.
Patricia Schiller saw sexuality as a human capacity that enriches, even transforms, human lives; that need not be taken too seriously, but requires adequate education to understand and practice with complete respect for partners and self. Her empathy, especially for young women with limited knowledge of how to control their fertility, led to her founding the organization now known for its rigorous standards leading to certification of sexuality educators, counselors, and therapists. AASECT today has over 2500 members. More than 1100 of these have earned certificates of proficiency in sexuality education, counseling, and therapy. Ms. Schiller initiated AASECT’s certification program in 1972, with the help of top sexual health professionals, including Albert Ellis, William Masters, and Virginia Johnson.
As we grieve her passing, we know that sex-positive, humanistic people everywhere will feel enriched by Patricia Schiller’s creative work and fearless protection of human rights to sexual knowledge and pleasure. Hopefully, many will also feel inspired to follow her example in ways most relevant to today’s exigencies.
Thank you, Patricia Schiller. May people hold you gratefully in their hearts forever!
Susan E. Stiritz, PhD, MSW, MBA, CSE, CSES, AASECT President
Patricia Schiller's Writings and Resources:
- Creative Approach to Sex Education and Counseling (1973)
- The Sex Profession: What Sex Therapy Can Do (1981)
- Sex Questions Kids Ask and How To Answer (2009)
- Sowing the Seeds for AASECT and Certification of Sex Educators (Contemporary Sexuality, 1985)
Patricia Schiller Obituaries - Washington Post, New York Times, West Palm Beach Pos
CONTACT US
35 E Wacker Drive, Suite 850, Chicago, IL 60601
- Tel (202) 449-1099
- Fax (202) 216-9646
- info@aasect.org
- press@aasect.org
External links
Chat rooms • What links here • Copyright info • Contact information • Category:Root