Can sex education coexist with your faith? Meet Nikki, a Master\u2019s in Sexology student who is striving to provide those who come from a religious background with real sex education | Reading time: 2 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raised\u00a0in the religious state of Utah as a member of\u00a0the Church\u00a0of Jesus Christ\u00a0of Latter-day Saints, Nikki has always rebelled against the discomfort of discussing sex education. From her teenage years, Nikki noticed\u00a0how the adults in her life dismissed her curiosity for the subject. Culturally, Nikki worried about what her faith community would think if she pursued\u00a0an undergraduate degree in\u00a0the subject. But as an outspoken member of her church, she thought \u201cIf not me, then who?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When she realised how many people around her needed someone to talk to about the topic, Nikki\u00a0became convinced that sex education was her true calling. After\u00a0holding\u00a0many\u00a0‘sex ed nights’ educating attendees on her rapidly growing knowledge of the topic, and\u00a0completing her undergraduate degree through\u00a0exchange programs around the world,\u00a0Nikki\u00a0eventually\u00a0found\u00a0herself\u00a0in Perth to pursue her\u00a0Master\u2019s\u00a0in Sexology.\u00a0Now entering her final semester, she\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0see herself studying anything else.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople\u00a0don’t\u00a0realise how much there is to human sexuality. It’s\u00a0such a huge umbrella of things and is so interesting.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n While the subject matter in her degree\u00a0can be taboo,\u00a0Nikki’s found\u00a0the\u00a0Master\u2019s in\u00a0Sexology\u00a0extremely rewarding.\u00a0Her program\u2019s guest speakers have been a notable highlight, which she feels will well prepare her for her career once she graduates. Hearing firsthand from someone who works with this type of clientele every single day, or with\u00a0someone\u00a0with lived experience, is what will make\u00a0her\u00a0a better professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Nikki, her Master’s doesn’t only have value on a research and career level, but\u00a0simply in everyday life. Human sexuality is something that every single person is a part of – whether\u00a0it’s\u00a0their decision making, the way their body functions or how\u00a0it influences them in their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sexology is an intensely research-heavy degree, so Nikki\u2019s advice is to make use of the TL Robertson Library. The librarians\u2019\u00a0deep understanding of\u00a0databases\u00a0has been so beneficial – especially\u00a0in contrast to AI. \u201cWhat\u00a0AI\u00a0can’t do right now\u00a0is\u00a0really understand the search terms for the database,” <\/em>she says. “It doesn’t think about it as much,\u00a0it’s a little too general.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking ahead, Nikki is excited to pursue a career helping those who grew up like her to no longer fear conversations around sex. She hopes\u00a0to speak to large groups\u00a0of\u00a0those of a similar upbringing to\u00a0herself\u00a0and spread her name in the sexology sphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy niche clientele is high-demand religions that teach abstinence before marriage. As an active member of my faith community, that\u2019s the language I speak. I get it and I want to help those I go to church with.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Despite having already developed a wealth of experience in the sex education space, this is just the beginning of Nikki\u2019s journey in extending her passion for sexuality to many others. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Can sex education coexist with your faith? Nikki, a Master\u2019s in Sexology student, is striving to provide those in her faith community and beyond with real sex education. | Reading time: 2 minutes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4478,"featured_media":30339,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"6377,5223,28672,7184,4916,8026","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_oasis-categories":0,"footnotes":""},"oasis-categories":[250],"class_list":["post-30337","oasis-news","type-oasis-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","oasis-categories-student-profile"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/nikki-Oasis-profile-1-1000x840.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Christina","last_name":"Ryan","display_name":"Christina Ryan"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 12:59:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"oasis-categories","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news\/30337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/oasis-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news\/30337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"oasis-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-categories?post=30337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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