Riley Fortier, M.Ed. (they/he) is a sexuality educator in the greater Philadelphia area, focusing on holistic wellness and LGBTQ+ diversity in higher education. Previously, Riley earned their Masters of Education in Human Sexuality Studies from Widener University and their undergraduate degrees focusing on biology, psychology, and gender and sexuality studies from Roger Williams University. Riley seeks to provide sexuality and wellness workshops geared towards adults as well as LGBTQ+ trainings to professors and staff in higher education facilities. Riley currently provides community-based lesson plans and workshops for the greater Philadelphia area, as well as content creation and social media management for Fishtown Wellness Center. They are driven to foster inclusive educational environments that provide medically accurate, pleasure-guided, and socially conscious sexuality education workshops with their audience.
I follow mostly a reconstructionist theory of education because the end goal is to create a better society. My curriculum will be rooted in social reform, particularly queer, feminist and anti-racist theories and methods for reform. The audience’s education will be used as a way to help people resist and subvert oppression in any form, with a higher emphasis on structural oppression to create a larger-scale change.
Although I am an educator, it is not my goal to be the authority of knowledge with my audience. Instead, I believe it is my duty to act as a guide for the students to garner their own education for change. I want to provide the basis of knowledge to the audience about sexuality, and I want the audience to be able to be the real forerunners of ways this information can be made into social reform and change.