Contested Sexualities and Shared Concerns

This chapter analyses how contested understandings of sexuality and sex education for young people are put into practice in the transnational social field of development. It does so by focusing on the Educaids network, a transnational network of Dutch and East African faith-based organisations (FBOs) focused on the prevention of AIDS through education. This case study shows that the contestations over sexuality, and the strategies employed to overcome these contestations, are based on conflicting power claims as well as shared concerns. It is argued that a narrow focus on the colliding liberal and conservative views on sexuality in the field of development fails to contribute to a better understanding of the complex nature of transnational linkages between FBOs, in particular when it concerns sexuality and the prevention of AIDS.