Laypeople’s Perceptions of Sexuality Education with Young Children Insights from a Convenient Sample of the Greek Orthodox Community

Abstract

The current study examined laypeople’s perceptions of sexuality education with young children in Greece. This exploratory qualitative web research used data from a convenience and snowball sample where respondents answered the question, “What do you think about sexuality education in early childhood (children aged 2–5)?” This study’s approach is grounded on a feminist poststructuralist framework permitting the exploration and understanding of power relations through analyzing participants’ written discourses. Reflexive thematic analysis was used in the current study. This study’s sample comprised 64 participants aged 19–64 (M = 36.22, SD = 11.02). Based on this study’s results, we identified three fundamental social discourses that influenced the issue of sexuality education in the early years in Greece: the concept of childhood sexual innocence, age-appropriate arguments that oppose sexuality education with young children, and parental influence. The current study questions the role of dominant social discourses acknowledging that they operate as social rules that exert power by creating structural silence on sexuality issues.