April Kepner Sexuality Plan

I chose to make a sexuality plan for April Kepner, a female surgeon on the television show “Grey’s Anatomy.” April is a trauma surgeon, who is an extremely devout Christian, who grew up in an extremely conservative family on a farm in Ohio. She moved to Seattle in her mid-twenties to complete her residency and pursue her career as a surgeon.
Ethics

It is clear that April has lived a very sheltered life when her character is first introduced onto the show, “Grey’s Anatomy”. She is rather naïve to any evil in the world, consistently sees the good in everyone, and is extremely religious. From the beginning, it is apparent that her Christian faith impacts on all areas of her life, and she lives by the teachings of the faith. She is highly conservative,

is never apart of any crass jokes that are said and/or done around the hospital, and is one of the few people on the show who is not constantly having intercourse with her coworkers at the hospital. Her family and her religion have had a significant impact on her and how she views sex. April believes that sex solely meant for two who have been vowed together in marriage.
Health

In terms of physical health, April has never contracted an STI or had any other sexual complications. This can be credited to the fact that she is a virgin. This revolves around her belief that sex is sacred and should only be experienced within a marriage. April is single, making her sex life nonexistent, as it has been that way for the entirety of her life. It is also clear that April has rather low self-esteem. She refers to herself as a nerd, and does not view herself as physically attractive. Further into the show, however, April meets a fellow surgical resident by the name of Jackson, who she quickly becomes infatuated with. It is not until she meets Jackson and begins to have such strong feelings for him that she experiencing her “first time”. Although April’s religious, and rather moral, instincts have always driven her to wait until marriage for sex, April loses her virginity without being married.
Life Circumstances

April’s past consisted of being raised in an extremely conservative, Christian family, on a farm. These beliefs and childhood upbringing make her sexual and relational history nonexistent. Her current situation, however, causes a significant change to this area to her life. Meeting Jackson has changed everything for her – she has now lost her virginity, which has also forced her to view sex in a different way than she has in the past. She attempts to justify this in regards to her feelings, which are that she truly loves Jackson, making it okay for her to show her love for him in a physical way, regardless of if they are married or not. Since both Jackson and April are surgical residents, making not only their work life very similar, but even their personal lives as well due to their amount of free time and whatnot outside of the hospital, they are able to relate to each other on many different levels, which in turn assists in making their relationship blossom at a fast pace. April has many of plans for her future. Besides her biggest goal, to become an established surgeon someday, it has always been one of April’s dreams to get married and have children. Since meeting Jackson, she now is beginning to plan and see this future family with him.
Social Behaviors

April pursues her blossoming relationship with Jackson even though she struggles at being skeptical of him due to the fact that he has the reputation of being a “player” around the hospital.

April moves forward with Jackson, despite her skepticism, and they get married. The beginning of their relationship is sweet, happy, and for lack of better words, easy. The smoothness of the relationship continues until April comes pregnant and loses the child. They attend and complete couple’s therapy, which initially helps them both to be able to move past their miscarriage. If the two would have not attended therapy their relationship would not have survived, due to how hard it was on them both. Therapy was the only way April was able to open up to Jackson and express her feelings after the loss of their unborn child.
Sexual Behaviors

At the beginning, Jackson and April’s use protection (condoms) during intercourse. Jackson had sexual relations with other women before being with April, so he was patient, gentle, and encouraging with her during their first sexual encounters. It was not until after becoming married that they began to have sex without the use of protection. This was in hopes and attempts to start a family. It is made clear that the sexual encounters between the to were have always been because they truly love one another.
Factors Affecting

Reproduction

As stated above, it has always been one of Aprils biggest dream to have a family she can call her own. Her professional situation of being a surgical resident would include some setbacks, roadblocks, and hardships with having a family. April is aware of these circumstances, which is why her and Jackson chose to wait to have children until after they both completed their residencies, making sure they were at a stable point in their career. Once they felt they were at this point, they had a conversation about starting a family, ensuring both of them were on the same page in that they wanted to start trying. Even though April’s first pregnancy failed, she eventually becomes pregnant again, resulting in a healthy little girl. This improved Jackson and April’s marriage for the best.