Sex Education In Schools Research Articles

Legal and human rights dilemma relating to sexuality education in Africa

This article examines the benefits of sexuality education in schools in Africa and then considers the legal and human rights issues relating to the objection to its introduction. In doing this, the article discusses some cases that have shed light on the conflict between the exercise of the right to religion and other rights, particularly the right of young people to sexuality education. It concludes by noting that while parents do have the duty and responsibility to provide direction to their wards and children, including instruction on exercise of religion, such powers must be consistent with human rights norms and standards. More importantly, the exercise of the right to religion must be tempered with other rights, especially where harm will result to the public in strict adherence to this right.

Sexual Content in Young Adult Literature: Reading Between the Sheets by Bryan Gillis and Joanna Simpson

Reviewed by: Sexual Content in Young Adult Literature: Reading Between the Sheets by Bryan Gillis and Joanna Simpson Christine N. Stamper (bio) Sexual Content in Young Adult Literature: Reading Between the Sheets. By Bryan Gillis and Joanna Simpson. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Bryan Gillis and Joanna Simpson’s survey of young adult novels with sexual content serves as a comprehensive overview of how and why sexuality and sex acts are used within books for adolescent readers. The authors state their hope that the book “provide[s] parents, teachers, and librarians with a better understanding of the role that sex in young adult fiction plays in the socioemotional and academic development of adolescents” (ix). In looking at specific novels, genres, and time periods, Gillis and Simpson’s analysis is often punctuated with quotations from authors about how and why they include scenes that contain explicit sex or emotionally charged intimate situations. While this approach certainly gives insight into the scenes that Gillis and Simpson analyze in their study, it also serves to illustrate (perhaps to concerned parent readers) that the sexual content in adolescent literature is not included without intention and character/plot development. Rather, sex is often used in these novels as a space for character growth and maturation, providing fictional models for teens to explore safely. The book opens with two chapters that contextualize why the use of sexual content in novels matters for real-world teenagers, looking at identity formation within adolescents and, briefly, at the history of public school sex education in the United States. These chapters are brief but informative, summarizing how identities (including normative gender roles) are socially constructed, and how the US came to have the abstinence-only sex ed currently provided in many schools. Gillis and Simpson then turn their attention to literature, looking at sexual content within the Western canon that is often taught in high schools. This chapter highlights the sex present in works by authors that many expect high schools to be teaching to teenagers, such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, Hawthorne, and Homer. Looking at pedagogy, the authors argue that teachers are often able to avoid discussing sex when using these works, which are linguistically difficult for their students; however, removing the sexual content from these novels does them a disservice: “If we are requiring students to read adult content, then we should treat them as adults or choose alternative texts” (34). The authors then shift to young adult literature from the 1950s through the 1980s. Here they illustrate how sex was often punished with awful consequences, such as pregnancy, unfulfilling marriages, or being forced to leave school. However, they then look at prolific authors at the time—such as Judy Blume and Norma Klein—who redefined gender roles and included female characters who showed sexual agency and desire, [End Page 465] which had previously been virtually absent in literature for teens. In the next three chapters, Gillis and Simpson examine contemporary young adult literature by genre, dividing the field into dystopian novels, romance novels, and contemporary realistic fiction and giving a brief history of each of them, both within and outside of adolescent literature, along with short analyses of representative novels. Within the dystopia chapter, they investigate several of their own subcategories, including government-controlled sex, disease-induced sexual abstinence, and sex and romance in dystopian series. These categories all serve the same purpose of examining how sex, romance, and love are governed within these repressive societies. The authors posit that “Dystopian YAL is popular because these stories create worlds that challenge the protagonists to question the status quo,” and expressing their sexuality is one way in which characters can rebel against authoritarianism (98). Similarly, the romance chapter is divided into paranormal romance and realistic romance, discussing how in this category sexual content must be emotionally linked to character and plot development. Whether the romance takes place in supernatural worlds or in familiar settings, it is the “honesty [of sexual relationships] that draws readers in and keeps them reading. A lack of honesty, particularly emotional honesty, is what has led to the failure of school sex education programs across the country” (121). It is also this honesty that allows...

Becoming the intelligible other: speaking intersex bodies against the grain

ABSTRACTAlthough genitalia only make up a tiny portion of the human body's surface area, their shape and appearance have great consequence for life trajectories and the ways in which bodies and people are understood. Intersex people, born with bodies that are not classifiable under a binary male/female construct, are increasingly embracing intersex identities, but intelligibility in society can be difficult to realize because cultural models and language serve to render their bodies unintelligible. This study explores a case study from New Zealand, deploying discourse analysis to examine two sources of data: recordings in a secondary school sexuality education classroom and published government documents. Cultural models of binary male–female hold sway in both data sources, but by looking past this apparent dissonance during the analysis it becomes clear that the classroom participants stop orienting to the binary. In this way, they speak intersex genitals and bodies into existence despite the lack of specific lexical items for the task.

Assessing the Rural-Urban Divide in a Red State

This paper explores the rural-urban divide, as it exists within Nebraska, which is a state that is largely homogenous, primarily red, with a historically sizable rural population that is in decline in most counties. 1 Using survey data of attitudes towards political and economic issues, and self-identified political ideology, two key questions are considered. Has there been change in the rural-urban divide in Nebraska as rural areas lose population? Second, does the rural-urban divide persist when controlling for party identification, age, and income in multivariate analyses? Bivariate results show that the rural-urban divide continues to be an important factor on several issues. The multivariate analyses reveal that the ruralurban divide remains significant when the issues are prayer and sex education in public schools, gun control, assisting the poor when times are bad, and choosing to reduce services rather than to raise taxes. The discussion considers the current and potential future effects of the rural-urban divide in Nebraska.

The Role of Parents in Shaping and Improving the Sexual Health of Children – Lines of Developing Parental Sexuality Education Programmes

Sexuality education for children and adolescents plays a crucial part in their sexual and reproductive health and general well-being. School and family usually share the responsibility of providing sexuality education but the outcomes are often unsatisfactory. This study reviews the evidence regarding the effectiveness of both parent-centered and school sexuality education programmes and factors characterizing families and family members associated in literature with sexual competencies, sexual risk behaviours and sexual health in children and adolescents. Of particular interest to this review is the exploration of new factors, associations and approaches relevant for parenting programmes and children's sexual education and health.

‘So, What Do Men and Women Want? Is It any Different from What Animals Want?’ Sex Education in an Upper Secondary School

The aim of the study is to discuss and problematise notions of femininity and masculinity constructed in teaching situations among 16-year-old upper-secondary students studying science. The empiric ...

School-based sexuality education in Portugal: strengths and weaknesses

Portugal, like many other countries, faces obstacles regarding school-based sexuality education. This paper explores Portuguese schools’ approaches to implementing sexuality education at a local level, and provides a critical analysis of potential strengths and weaknesses. Documents related to sexuality education in a convenience sample of 89 schools were analysed and findings confirm both the results of the few existing Portuguese studies on the subject and commonalities in sexuality education between Portugal and other European countries. These include strengths, such as the existence of teams in charge of sexuality education in schools and the provision of resources, but also weaknesses, such as too heavy a focus on health-related issues, difficulties in cross-curricular teaching, low levels of community participation and poor-quality evaluation. Findings point to the need for a greater sharing of information and good practice between countries, and the need for clearer guidelines. Suggestions are made for improving the quality of sexuality education in Portuguese schools.

Understanding the low uptake of long-acting reversible contraception by young women in Australia: a qualitative study.

BackgroundAustralia has high rates of teenage pregnancy compared with many Western countries. Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) offers an effective method to help decrease unintended pregnancies; however, current uptake remains low. The aim of this study was to investigate barriers to LARC use by young women in Australia.MethodsHealthcare professionals were recruited through publicly available sources and snowball sampling to complete an interview about young women’s access to and use of LARC. The sample consisted of general practitioners, nurses, medical directors of reproductive and sexual health organisations, a sexual health educator, and health advocates. In addition, four focus groups about LARC were conducted with young women (aged 17–25 years) recruited via health organisations and a university. The data were analysed thematically.ResultsFifteen healthcare professionals were interviewed and four focus groups were conducted with 27 young women. Shared barriers identified included norms, misconceptions, bodily consequences, and LARC access issues. An additional barrier identified by young women was a perceived lack of control over hormones entering the body from LARC devices. Healthcare professionals also raised as a barrier limited confidence and support in LARC insertions. Strategies identified to increase contraceptive knowledge and access included increasing nurses’ role in contraceptive provision and education, improving sex education in schools, and educating parents.ConclusionsChallenges remain for young women to be able to make informed choices about contraception and easily access services. More research is needed around innovative approaches to increase LARC knowledge and access, including examining the role of nurses in enhancing young women’s reproductive health.

‘I felt like I was watching porn’: the reality of preparing pre-service teachers to teach about sexual pleasure

Overwhelmingly, school-based sexuality education programmes focus on the prevention of infection, pregnancy and abuse, with little if any attention given to positive views of sexuality and rarely the inclusion of sex positive issues such as pleasure, intimacy and desire. This paper explores the experience of teaching about pleasure to pre-service health and physical education teachers as part of compulsory studies in a unit on sexuality education designed to prepare them to teach sexuality education in secondary schools. Drawing on the aims, theoretical framework, content and pedagogical structure of the unit, and data collected from 42, third-year pre-service teachers (PST) in Australia via surveys and student assessment, the paper provides some practical examples of what teaching about pleasure might look like in practice. It argues that with adequate preparation, a framework to celebrate sex and sexuality, a gender lens to examine normative discourses, and the opportunity for reflection, PST can develop the confidence, skill and willingness to include pedagogies of pleasure in their school-based work.

S02.1 Sex and relationships education in schools: a key component of sexual health promotion

Despite scientific evidence of effectiveness, there continues to exist controversy about sex and relationships education (SRE). Much of this relates to misunderstandings about the form that good quality SRE takes and what it aims to achieve. The evidence reveals that well designed and effectively implemented programs of comprehensive sexuality education have the potential to bring about beneficial outcomes for young people. But such programs often work best when they are implemented through partnership between education and health. Building on the framework offered by WHO in its guidance on Developing Sexual Health Programmes, this presentation highlights some of the ways in which this can be achieved: through the provision of in-school clinics and other health services; through effective signposting and fast-track routes to relevant services; and through health professionals’ involvement in the life of the school. It signals the importance of understanding differences in culture and tradition between the education and health sectors, stressing how teachers, educational administrators and health professionals often understand ‘intervention’ and ‘education’ quite differently. Finally, it will stress the importance of respect for difference, and respect for the ‘other’ in work in schools.

AB133. The Directors of Japanese Society for Sexual Medicine have a positive attitude for sexuality education in Japanese medical schools

ObjectiveThe purpose of the present study was to investigate the current state of sexuality education in Japanese medical schools and the association of the position title of Japanese Society for Sexual Medicine (JSSM).MethodsWe surveyed the four factors, the number of lecture components, the time of curriculum hours, the degree of sufficiency level of the components, and the degree of sufficiency level of the curriculum hours in medical schools in Japan. Also, we have investigated the four factors difference among three groups, Directors, Council, and Non-member of JSSM.ResultsOf the 80 medical schools, the faculties of the Urological department of 69 medical schools (86%) responded. The mean number of lecture components was 7.8. The number of lecture components of Directors (10.2) had significantly higher than Council (4.7) and Non-member (7.3). There is no significant difference the number of lecture components between Council and Non-member. The mean curriculum hour was 113 minutes. The curriculum hour of Directors (152.6) was significantly longer than Non-member (95.9). There is no significant difference the curriculum hour between Council (106.7) and Non-member. The satisfactory degree of the components was very satisfied (1.5%), satisfied (26.5%), not satisfied (55.9%), and dissatisfied (16.5%) for the faculties. The satisfactory degree of the curriculum hours was very long (0%), long (0%), moderate (50%), short (45.6%), and very short (4.4%) for the faculties. There is no significant difference the satisfactory degree of the components and the curriculum hours among three groups.ConclusionsThe Directors of JSSM have a positive attitude for sexuality education in Japanese medical schools. While curriculum hour is insufficient for the faculties in half of medical schools, over 70% medical schools answered that the lecture components are insufficient, too. Now we should make every effort to achieve sufficient components for sexuality education. We need the standardized syllabus and materials for sexual medicine in medical schools. These syllabus and materials should to be mainly made by Directors. This is the first Japanese study on sexuality education in medical schools.

Sexual Activity and Condom Use among Israeli Adolescents.

In Israel, as in other industrialized countries, the age of sexual debut among adolescents has declined, and the rate of sexually transmitted infections (STI) has risen, but the motivations and attitudes of Israeli adolescents toward carrying condoms have yet to be studied. The aims of this study were to establish the associations (if any) between demographic characteristics and the knowledge held by Jewish Israeli adolescents about HIV transmission, their attitudes toward condom use and sexual experience, and to explore their recommendations to increase condom use. The method used was an analysis of sexual experience and practices, attitudes toward condom carrying and condom use among a national representative sample of Jewish adolescents aged 15-18. Two dichotomized measures were assessed: (i) sexual experience (defined as having had previous consensual oral/vaginal/anal sex); and (ii) the practice of carrying a condom on a regular basis. Of all 410 participants, 14.6% carried condoms, 18.3% had sexual experience, and 70.7% of those used condoms. Those who thought condoms to be protective against HIV, and those who thought they are difficult to wear, were more likely to have sexual experience. The perception of condom use as important, and the perception that condoms are difficult to wear, were predictors of condom carrying. The participants' knowledge of the risk of HIV in vaginal intercourse was deficient. Participants did not consider school sex education to be effective in promoting condom use, and recommended the use of graphic, deterrent personal accounts told by youths to encourage wider use of condoms. Health educators should consider the barriers cited by adolescents and the deterrent techniques they recommend when planning interventions to encourage condom use.

‘A lot more to learn than where babies come from’: controversy, language and agenda setting in the framing of school-based sexuality education curricula in Australia

Sexuality education in Australian schools continues to struggle in its ability and willingness to address many of the broader social issues associated with sexuality, such as the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) students. Studies involving teachers have demonstrated that a reticence on their part to teach GLBTIQ-inclusive sexuality education is driven by a lack of training in handling ‘sensitive’ issues, a fear of backlash and confusion over their obligations under relevant departmental policies. This reticence may, in part at least, stem from a commonly held inference that the inclusion of queer sexualities is inherently ‘controversial’. There appears to be a tendency for curricula and government directives to ‘juggle’ principles of social justice for marginalised sexualities with ‘risk management’ policies, which seek to screen course content for potential ‘controversy’. Much of this controversy has its roots in the language and rhetoric used to describe and discuss issues dealt with in sexuality education curricula. The paper demonstrates, through the process of ‘languaging’, how the language and rhetoric of controversy and sexuality can be exposed so that they may be better addressed through policy and government directives.

Need of sex education in school & undergraduate courses

Sex education is instruction on issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual activity, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, sexual abstinence, and birth control. Sex is basic need of the life as food, water and sleep. Sex keeps the body healthy and happy. But at present the word meaning of sex has been taken into different consideration. People do sex but don’t want to talk on that and stigma still persists in the society to speak the sexual things behind the walls and doors. Nowhere in the undergraduate courses has the education of the sexuality been entertained. ...

Meeting the sexual health needs of looked after children

This paper looks at knowledge and use of contraception in looked after children (LAC) and how they access sexual health services. Despite LAC being classed as high risk for teenage pregnancy, few studies have been dedicated to identifying what LAC know about contraception and sexual health services. This project collects data from 28 14–17-year-old LAC in one county in the East of England using semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that sex education was poor and knowledge of local sexual health services limited. Sixty four percent were sexually active but only 39% of those consistently used contraception. There was also some confusion about contraception use generally. The implication is that this group of young people's needs are not being met by sex education in schools or by the traditional mode of sexual health service delivery. A change is needed in how this group of young people's sexual health needs are met.

P190 We don’t need no sex education: do young people value the knowledge they gain from school and sexual health services?

Introduction There remains ongoing debate regarding the value of sex education in schools and if today’s young people subsequently rely on alternative resources to learn about sex and relationships. Aims As a provider of sexual health services for young people aged under 25 we wanted to establish if there was an expectation amongst service users for us to provide sex education. Methods Questionnaires were distributed to all service users between April and September 2014. Questions were designed to assess how sexual knowledge had been acquired, and which method of knowledge acquisition was most valued. Results 179 service users completed questionnaires. 160 were female, 149 were heterosexual. Median age was 18.6 years. 177 (98.9%) reported receiving sex education at school which predominantly covered reproduction and contraception. Comparing methods of knowledge acquisition advice from friends was the most valued (84, 46.9%), followed by sexual partners (57, 31.8%) and family (56, 31.3%). Formal sex education was only valued by 34 (19.0%), with sexual health clinic advice valued by 32 (17.9%). The desire for more sex education at school was mixed with 74 (41.3%) wanting more and 106 (59.2%) requesting no change or were unsure. 46 (25.7%) requested an increase in education from our clinic. Conclusion Service users valued knowledge gained from peers and family over current methods of formal sex education with no significant desire to increase current educational provision. Sexual health services should engage young people in discussions regarding this peer-based learning to reinforce good sexual health and dispel inevitable myths.

Sex Education and Teenage Pregnancy in the Niger Delta: Implications for Secondary School Biology Curriculum in Nigeria

Previous studies show that when Nigerian adolescent girls, especially those in the Niger Delta, become pregnant theydrop out of school and may never go back again but become low level labourers or miscreants to the society. Thisstudy investigated the extent of teenagers involvement in sex, pre-disposition of females to pregnancy in the NigerDelta of Nigeria, the level of readiness of parents to help their teenage daughters if they become pregnant, the levelof sex education in secondary schools, the content and context of sex education in the Biology curriculum and how itis reflected in the National policy on education and also examined the need to review the policy vis-a-vis sexeducation. The study adopted a survey design using Likert-response questionnaires to elicit responses from students,parents, secondary school teenagers and Biology teachers. The results of the analysis using frequency counts,percentages, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that teenage pregnancy is on the increase in the NigerDelta, sex education is not given a place of priority in the Education National Policy, teachers shy away fromteaching it in schools, parents do not support sex education in schools but there is an urgent need to incorporate itinto the Biology curriculum.

Awareness of cervical cancer prevention among mothers of adolescent daughters in Korea: qualitative research

ObjectivesKorean adolescent girls are unprepared for cervical cancer prevention due to the lack of a mandatory policy regarding human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination and school health education regarding cervical cancer....

Differences in Sexual Knowledge and Behavior Between Teens Who Completed High School Sexual Education Course and Those Who Did Not Complete the Posttest [241

Differences in Sexual Knowledge and Behavior Between Teens Who Completed High School Sexual Education Course and Those Who Did Not Complete the Posttest [241

Tackling the problem of teenage pregnancy in looked‐after children: a peer mentoring approach

AbstractTeenage pregnancy is associated with adverse health and social outcomes, even after adjusting for prior disadvantage, and is recognized as a major public health issue. Rates of teenage pregnancy in the UK are among the highest in Europe. Interventions introduced in the past decade to address the problem, such as improved sex and relationships education in schools, have been accompanied by a fall in teenage pregnancy rates in the UK. However, this decline has not been mirrored among looked‐after children. In this paper, we discuss why this may be the case. We suggest that a system of peer mentoring, involving a young person, whose experience of life post‐care has been positive, may be an effective approach to tackling the problem of pregnancy in this group. Peer mentoring has the potential to assist young people in developing self‐esteem, confidence and in making choices regarding their education, personal development and relationships.