Sexuality in education is often considered taboo, following a social attitude that perceives sexuality as dirty and ugly in the teacher-student relationship, not only if it implicates sexual relationships but erotic feelings or subtle sexual connotations, too. Studies tend to judge the issue more reflexively along with moral and pedagogical…

The complexity of young people's strategic negotiation of sexual agency constitutes a challenge for professionals working in the area of sexuality education. This paper explores how comprehensive sexuality education can support young people to develop sexual agency in all its forms: embodied, bonded, narrative and moral. A first step is to base…

Sex and relationships education has been a controversial area of the curriculum in England for many years. Despite changes to the content and the approach to this material, many teachers and parents remained unhappy about issues such as: the right of schools to teach material that some think should be done in a family situation only; the problem…

In this article the author uses the term "conservative dancers" to describe dancers who live in communities or families that are socially, culturally, or religiously conservative with ideological consistency, adhering to traditional values that they deem to be moral (e.g., modest dress, clear gender roles and separation, purity, family…

This paper examines key debates and perspectives on sex education in "Health Education Journal" ("HEJ"), from the date of the journal's first publication in March 1943 to the present day. Matters relating to sexuality and sexual health are revealed to be integral to "HEJ'"s history. First published as Health…

This thinkpiece arises from personal reflection on researching "sexualisation", on the individuals and issues encountered and on elements that were unspoken or more rarely voiced. It suggests that the discourse on sexualisation tends to construct an "other" from which speakers distance themselves, variously defined as "bad" mothers, sexualized…

How should common schools in a liberal pluralist society approach sex education in the face of deep disagreement about sexual morality? Should they eschew sex education altogether? Should they narrow its focus to facts about biology, reproduction, and disease prevention? Should they, in addition to providing a broad palette of information about…

Since the moral panic discourse is shutting down discussions about how children are making meaning of gender and sexuality, this paper argues that a new logic is needed for understanding childhood sexuality. A postdevelopmental logic is created by working with Deleuze and Guattari's ["Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizoprhenia."…

In Ethiopia, as in many other countries, moral discourses about female sexuality in general, and pre- and extramarital sexual experience in particular, create an environment that discourages women from engaging in open dialogue about their sexuality and their past or future sexual experience. In the study of induced abortion among unmarried women…

This viewpoint begins by exploring whether the global phenomenon of the 2011 "SlutWalks" constitutes a feminist politics of re-signification. We then look at some qualitative, focus group data with teen girls who participated in a UK SlutWalk. We suggest girls are not only negotiating a schizoid double pull towards performing knowing…

In this article, the author links the force of Eros to the teacher's world to suggest that, if the teacher is the keeper of the student's heart and mind, then a teacher's open-mindedness made from a willingness to be affected by the lives of others is the best pedagogical resource, and the most difficult to sustain. The author's thoughts on Eros…

There are many assumptions made about the beliefs behind abstinence-only until marriage (AOUM) sex education, yet comparatively little research examining the views of abstinence education providers. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 21 abstinence grantees throughout New York State, I examine how individuals working in abstinence organizations…

The power of compulsory heterosexuality regulates the sexuality of adolescent lesbians as strongly as it does their heterosexual peers. Marked with a sexual(ized)identity, young Southern lesbians in this life history study made claim to moral high ground by consistently identifying with the hegemonic "good girl" construct and by…

Which moral principles should guide us in evaluating sexual contacts of adolescents? This paper tries to answer this question by taking two steps. First, the implications of a liberal sexual ethics for adolescence are spelled out, assessed and refuted. The core principle of the liberal ethical view, the principle of valid consent, takes competence…

Homosexuality is now accepted as a normal variant of human sexuality, but homophobia among healthcare professionals is well documented. Establishment of trustful doctor-patient relationships is impossible in the presence of homophobia. We were interested to examine the extent of homophobia among medical students, the future doctors. This article…