Kaila White

The Republic | azcentral.com

A pair of assemblies at Payson High School on sex and relationships earned mixed reactions from students and adults for including a segment in which girls were required to miss class to attend a girls-only portion, but boys were given the choice whether to attend an after-school option.

The presenter, Brad Henning, has also drawn attention for the segregated sessions, in which he talked to girls about respecting themselves and how they should dress and act, while only giving boys advice on how to get a date.

His presentations on Sept. 27 and 28 were about building positive relationships through abstinence, self-respect and learning to recognize real love.

Conversation about the assembly took off after a Payson Roundup reporter attended the assembly and posted an article titled "PHS Assembly Warns Girls Not To Provoke 'Uncontrollable' Boys."

The article stated that "PHS principal Brian Mabb said Henning requested the separation of the girls and boys because ... Henning had discovered boys often refuse to listen if participation wasn’t voluntary. Henning told Mabb girls tend to listen even if they had to miss school."

Many parents and community members said the assemblies were sexist and perpetuated rape culture.

Some students said it was old-fashioned but defended the experience as helpful and non-controversial.

The incident has gotten enough pushback that a Payson High School in Utah posted on its website that the assembly did not happen there.

'Don't Take Love Lying Down'

Henning has worked with students for 30 years and left his job at Christian ministry Young Life in 1994 to start the non-profit Life Resources for his presentations.

"Life Resources exists to help kids build healthy relationships by teaching them the emotional differences between men and women, and by showing them the value of sexual abstinence before marriage," according to bradhenning.com.

He has given this same presentation, "Don't Take Love Lying Down," for more than 15 years.

Henning's website has a long list of what he says are gender differences, such as "about 60% of what comes out of a little boy's mouth is noise" but "almost 100% of what comes out of a little girl's mouth is communication."

Students said his presentation did not mention sexism and its possible effects on any gender differences. They also said he did not mention religion, although his website regularly mentions God.

For example, in the “For Girls Only” section of his website he wrote that God gave men strong sex drives in order to assure the continuation of the human species but made women less sexual because otherwise “we'd never get anything done."

Because women only will have sex with men who are committed and responsible, men are "forced to grow up," he wrote, so "the girls who give sex to their boyfriends outside of marriage are undermining the maturing process guys need so badly."

Student: 'He should've talked about respecting girls with the boys'

PHS senior-class president Nerissa Smith, 17, said that she "thought he was very honest about the differences between boys and girls" such as "boys think short term, girls think long term. Girls assume guys think like them while guys don't think half as much. Guys are more visual while girls are more thoughtful."

"I agree with some of the criticisms, absolutely," she told The Republic Tuesday about Henning's presentation. She only attended the coed assembly.

"If girls are required to miss school, then boys should, too," she said. "And the topics for girls should've aligned with the topic for boys. He talked about respecting yourself with girls, and getting a date with boys? He should've talked about respecting girls with the boys."

Olivia Long, a 17-year-old senior, attended both assemblies and found Henning's points in line with her Christian values but said she could understand why people are upset.

"I know a lot of people felt it was outdated and too traditional of a message to be related to modern teenagers," she said.

But Henning did not blame or shame girls or put the responsibility on them; he just offered advice, she said. She also clarified that it is not the only sex education students receive.

"It wasn’t, ‘If you wear tank tops, you’re asking for it.’ It was, 'If you are expecting respect, you should probably practice it as well,’" Long said.

"It was a very conservative presentation and it was, from what I picked up, it was only directed towards straight couples and male and female genders," she said, opposed to transgender or gender non-binary people, or anything outside of monogamous, heterosexual relationships.

District: 'The presentation was not one-sided'

School and school district administrators, when asked to comment, provided a statement.

"The decision to hold these assemblies was the result of the overwhelmingly positive response by students two years ago for the same assembly," Payson Unified School District said in a statement.

"The high school’s administration worked with the school’s site council, comprised of parents and staff, the Gila County Health Department, and a couple of local entities to secure funding for the assembly."

The school notified parents the day before the assembly and gave them the option to excuse their children and to see the presentation themselves after the fact, but only five parents showed up.

"The presentation was not one-sided but aimed at members of both sexes. The message of the presentation was never intended to be about sexual violence, date rape, or dating violence. As a result this information was never presented in any of the assemblies," the statement said.

"The message of building healthy positive relationships when dating is an important message for our students to hear, and that was the intent and focus of the presentations."

UA makes Trojan's top 10 list for sexually healthy colleges