Hold the sex, please: the discursive politics between national and local abstinence education providers

Abstract

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 conceive of AOUM education and understand their work in the broader spectrum of sex education efforts. I contrast these understandings with the national-level abstinence discourse, using data collected from two national, government-sponsored conferences for federal abstinence grantees. The comparative focus reveals a disjuncture between the national agenda and the varied understandings that local abstinence organizations bring to abstinence education. While the national movement frames abstinence using a discourse of scientific morality, local providers resist this framing. Local providers express ambivalence around AOUM education and manage contradictory feelings by discursively repurposing abstinence education in ways that better reflect the needs of their communities. This local level variation underscores the importance of contextualizing research on sex education.