Adam & Eve, an adult industry leader since 1970, announced yesterday that it has made a considerable gift to the University of Minnesota Medical School to help fund the new Joycelyn Elders Chair in Sexual Health Education.
This chair, the first of its kind in the nation, will be named in five years by the Program in Human Sexuality. The recipient will focus on life-long sexual education curricula, increasing the number of health care providers and health educators trained in sexual health, and expanding the scientific research in sexuality education.
“Adam & Eve is proud to help establish this esteemed position for the University of Minnesota Medical School,” says Chad Davis, Director of Marketing for Adam & Eve. “Sexual well being is the cornerstone of our company… and we are pleased to be able to contribute to the health and education of young adults, educators and physicians in this way.”
“We are very pleased with the support from Adam and Eve. Through this gift the Program in Human Sexuality will be able to continue its success in educating medical professionals, human sexuality research, providing clinical care, and advocating for science-based public policy. Through the Elders Chair we will build on our strengths to advance sexual health education,” said Eli Coleman, Ph.D., director of the Program in Human Sexuality.
More than 275 donors, including 21 organizations from 24 states, the District of Columbia, and 8 countries came together to raise $2,009,771 to establish the Joycelyn Elders Chair in Sexual Health Education, according to a University of Minnesota press release.
The new chair is named for Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the career pediatrician and public health administrator who served as Surgeon General (the first African-American to hold the position) during the Clinton Administration. Elders caused a stir in 1994 at a United Nations conference on AIDS for daring to suggest that masturbation ought to be promoted in sex education programs as a means of preventing young people from engaging in riskier behavior saying, famously, "I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught." Clinton fired her in December of that year amidst fallout from her comment. Elders, now a professor of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences continues to speak out on issues around AIDS, teen pregnancy, and sexual health education.
Adam & Eve has been celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and is billed as "the largest and oldest retailer of adult sex toys in the United States." The company, also a major producer of adult films, donates over 25 percent of its profits to charitable organizations, with an emphasis on family health, sexual health, HIV/AIDS prevention, birth control, and family planning, particularly in African, Asian, and Latin American countries.
Via AdamEve.com (link points to SFW corporate info page; you'll be in NSFW territory within a click or two once you get there):
Adam & Eve is also heavily committed to public service. Employees have organized a committee promoting public service projects. The company donates a large portion of revenues every year to local charities, schools, community groups, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Relay for Life and the Special Olympics. The Hillsborough-Orange County Chamber of Commerce recently named Adam & Eve's parent company, PHE, Business of the Year – partly for its outstanding corporate citizenship and community outreach programs.
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