Sexuality Education and Desire: Still Missing after All These Years

2006 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHELLE FINE ◽  
SARA McCLELLAND
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Young People ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Sexuality Education ◽  
Adolescent Females ◽  
Youth Of Color ◽  
National Policies ◽  
Transgender Youth ◽  
Research Guidelines ◽  
Abstinence Only

Nearly twenty years after the publication of Michelle Fine's essay "Sexuality, Schooling, and Adolescent Females: The Missing Discourse of Desire," the question of how sexuality education influences the development and health of adolescents remains just as relevant as it was in 1988. In this article, Michelle Fine and Sara McClelland examine the federal promotion of curricula advocating abstinence only until marriage in public schools and, in particular, how these policies constrict the development of "thick desire" in young women. Their findings highlight the fact that national policies have an uneven impact on young people and disproportionately place the burden on girls, youth of color, teens with disabilities, and lesbian/gay/bisexual/ transgender youth. With these findings in mind, the authors provide a set of research guidelines to encourage researchers, policymakers, and advocates as they collect data on, develop curricula for, and change the contexts in which young people are educated about sexuality and health.

Parents’ attitudes toward comprehensive and inclusive sexuality education

2015 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina R. Peter ◽  
Timothy B. Tasker ◽  
Stacey S. Horn
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Sexual Health ◽  
Physical Health ◽  
Sexuality Education ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sexual Health Information ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Abstinence Only ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

Purpose – Parents are sometimes perceived as barriers to providing comprehensive and inclusive sexuality education to young people. However, little is known about parents’ actual attitudes towards providing such broad information to young people. The purpose of this paper is to examine two different approaches to measuring parents’ attitudes towards sexuality information, a programme title approach and a topic-centred approach. Design/methodology/approach – Illinois parents of adolescents (n=301) indicated their knowledge about and attitudes towards sexuality education programmes and 18 sexual health topics via online survey. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine whether parents’ attitudes were more consistent with a programme-centred (i.e. abstinence-only, comprehensive) or a topic-centred (i.e. physical health, sexual and gender identity, pleasure, and relationships) approach. Findings – Parents were uncertain about what form of sexuality education was offered but most were equally comfortable with both abstinence-only and comprehensive programmes. Parents’ ratings of topics grouped significantly better by the topic-centred than the programme-centred approach. Parents rated all four subjects as important, with the highest mean ratings given to physical health topics. Further, parents’ ratings of importance by subject matter were largely independent of their reported programming preference. Together these findings provide evidence that parents believe it is important for their children to have access to a broad range of sexual health education information. Originality/value – This study is one of the first to document parents’ support for information for young people that goes beyond being comprehensive to include topics such as identities and pleasure. In addition, parents’ lack of knowledge about sexuality education programming may obscure their support for sexual health information. Measuring support by specific topics, however, can help to overcome issues due to parents’ lack of knowledge about programming.

Sexuality, Schooling, and Adolescent Females: The Missing Discourse of Desire

1988 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Fine
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Sex Education ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Teenage Pregnancy ◽  
Sexuality Education ◽  
Adolescent Females ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Health Clinics ◽  
School Based ◽  
Sexual Responsibility

Michelle Fine argues that the anti-sex rhetoric surrounding sex education and school-based health clinics does little to enhance the development of sexual responsibility and subjectivity in adolescents. Despite substantial evidence on the success of both school-based health clinics and access to sexuality information, the majority of public schools do not sanction or provide such information. As a result, female students, particularly low-income ones, suffer most from the inadequacies of present sex education policies. Current practices and language lead to increased experiences of victimization, teenage pregnancy, and increased dropout rates,and consequently, ". . . combine to exacerbate the vulnerability of young women whom schools, and the critics of sex education and school-based health clinics, claim to protect."The author combines a thorough review of the literature with her research in public schools to make a compelling argument for "sexuality education" that fosters not only the full development of a sexual self but education in its broadest sense.

Gender aspects of aggressive behaviour in adolescence

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-49
Author(s):  
Dmitriy Ivashinenko ◽  
Elena Burdelova ◽  
Lyubov Ivashinenko
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Physical Aggression ◽  
Aggressive Behaviour ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Target Audience ◽  
Preventive Work ◽  
Gender Aspects ◽  
High Level

This article presents the results of a study the purpose of which was research of the factors and patterns of aggression in adolescence. Its results are required to find personas, who need preventive work, and features of the system of preventive measures, depending on the structure of the target audience. In 2016 there were 721 respondents who took part in the study, and 1437 in 2019. The method used in this study is the Buss-Durkee test modified by G. V. Rezapkina (BDHI). Results of the study clearly demonstrate that amongst young people there is a high-level spread of severe irritation, especially among young women. Also, the predominance of such components of aggression as negativity and irritation was noted. According to the results, young women more often get irritated than young men, and on the scale of “negativism”, there is no significant differences. Physical aggression was discovered to be more characteristic for young men.

scholarly journals Delaying sexual onset: outcome of a comprehensive sexuality education initiative for adolescents in public schools

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolores Ramírez-Villalobos ◽  
Eric Alejandro Monterubio-Flores ◽  
Tonatiuh Tomás Gonzalez-Vazquez ◽  
Juan Francisco Molina-Rodríguez ◽  
Ma. Guadalupe Ruelas-González ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Sexuality Education ◽  
Sexual Debut ◽  
Unplanned Pregnancy ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Unprotected Sex ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Sexually Transmitted ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Innovative Techniques

Abstract Background A common risk behavior in adolescence is the early initiation of unprotected sex that exposes adolescents to an unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections. Schools are an ideal place to strengthen adolescents’ sexual knowledge and modify their behavior, guiding them to exercise responsible sexuality. The purpose of this article was to evaluate the knowledge of public secondary school teachers who received training in comprehensive education in sexuality (CES) and estimate the counseling’s effect on students’ sexual behavior. Methods Seventy-five public school teachers were trained in participatory and innovative techniques for CES. The change in teacher knowledge (n = 75) was assessed before and after the training using t-tests, Wilcoxon ranks tests and a Generalized Estimate Equation model. The students’ sexual and reproductive behavior was evaluated in intervention (n = 650) and comparison schools (n = 555). We fit a logistic regression model using the students’ sexual debut as a dependent variable. Results Teachers increased their knowledge of sexuality after training from 5.3 to 6.1 (p < 0.01). 83.3% of students in the intervention school reported using a contraceptive method in their last sexual relation, while 58.3% did so in the comparison schools. The students in comparison schools were 4.7 (p < 0.01) times more likely to start sexual initiation than students in the intervention schools. Conclusion Training in CES improved teachers’ knowledge about sexual and reproductive health. Students who received counseling from teachers who were trained in participatory and innovative techniques for CES used more contraceptive protection and delayed sexual debut.

scholarly journals Lives Interrupted: Navigating Hardship During COVID-19 Provides Lessons in Solidarity and Visibility for Mobile Young People in South Africa and Uganda

2021 ◽  
pp. 146499342199820
Author(s):  
Thembelihle Zuma ◽  
Rachel King ◽  
Nothando Ngwenya ◽  
Francis Xavier Kasujja ◽  
Natsayi Chimbindi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Young Female ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Need Support

We examine data from young women and men in South Africa and young female sex workers in Uganda to explore the inequalities and hardships experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and investigate the opportunities and ability presented to navigate in a virtual world to build an inclusive supportive future for young people on the move. We argue that against the backdrop of a fragile past, young people who see their today disturbed, tomorrow reshaped and their futures interrupted, need support to interact with their social environment and adjust their lives and expectations amidst the changing influences of social forces.

Citizenship outside the Classroom

2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Penny Harwood ◽  
Caroline Davey
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Research Methodologies ◽  
Good Citizenship ◽  
The One

In the context of an increasingly pluralist and in some ways troubled society, work was undertaken to investigate the role of formal education and non-educational organisations in building good citizenship in girls and young women (9-19 years old). Different stages in the developmental process are identified, and the paper describes a number of ways in which experiential and attitudinal information was obtained from the range of respondents: these included a Citizen's Forum and quantitative omnibus research. Methodologies to involve the young people in focused and relevant debate during the one-day Forum were developed and are discussed.

From learning to labour to custody for the precariat

Ethnography ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ove Sernhede
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Young People ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
Compulsory School ◽  
High Rise ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Large Groups

The globally reported riots in the poor high-rise suburbs of Sweden’s metropolitan districts in 2013 were stark manifestations of the increased social and economic inequality of the past 30 years. Large groups of young adults acted out their unarticulated claims for social justice. In the light of the riots, it is relevant to ask whether any trace of resistance or protest can be found in the compulsory school where the young people from these neighbourhoods spend their days. The ethnography sampled for the article comes from two public schools in two poor, multi-ethnic, high-rise neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Gothenburg. The article argues that the theoretical and methodological concepts and perspectives developed by Willis still is of crucial importance to any investigation aimed at understanding the presence or absence of resistance in contemporary Swedish schools.

Identity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zanib Rasool
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
National Narrative ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Writing Group ◽  
Sociocultural Practices ◽  
Parallel Lives ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Minority Ethnic

This chapter focuses on the identities of British Muslim young women from a writing group, and shares some of the themes that emerged during these writing sessions. Three specific themes related to identity came out of the girls' writing group: place and globalisation; religion; and language. In the UK, there is an increased focus on social cohesion and integration. Young people from minority ethnic communities experience a great deal of pressure in order to fit in with the national narrative of ‘Britishness’, and often feel that they should conform outwardly in their dress and physical appearance, and adopt British sociocultural practices. Those individuals who maintain their faith, language, and cultural identity are seen as segregating themselves and living parallel lives.

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