S02.5 The politics of pleasure in sexuality education: young people's perspectives

Abstract

The inclusion of pleasure and desire have been important in the vision for sexuality education for the past 20 years. This paper continues this conversation by exploring young people’s interest and ideas about incorporating pleasure within sexuality education at school. Drawing on data from focus group and survey methods young people highlight some of the challenges facing this topic as a curricula component. Participants felt sexual pleasure was relevant to their lives and displayed a significant interest in receiving this information provided it was delivered in a particular format. Responses provide insights into some of the politics which surround the inclusion of pleasure in sexuality education. Taking into account young people’s perspectives this paper encourages an acknowledgement and interrogation of these politics and their implications for what gets ‘taught’ as pleasure in sexuality programmes.