Learning about sex and relationships among migrant and refugee young people in Sydney,Australia: ‘I never got the talk about the birds and the bees’

In a multicultural nation such as Australia, it is important for young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to have access to quality relationships and sexuality education, as they are known to be less well engaged with mainstream services. A study was undertaken to explore the complexities and opportunities for engaging this group with sexual and reproductive health information and care in Sydney, Australia. Interviews were undertaken with 27 migrant and refugee young people (aged 16–24 years), and 34 expert informants. Relationships and sexuality education was a dominant theme throughout both data sets. Nearly all young people reported that they were unable to discuss sexuality or sexual health with their parents, and most identified secondary school as the place where they first learned about these issues. Other sources of information were identified as the Internet, friends, health professionals and pornography. Participants appeared to have limited awareness of the different services available to them. Schools, as well as other education settings such as universities, private colleges and intensive English centres, are well placed to deliver relationships and sexuality education, and for migrant and refugee young people these may be valuable settings in which to access information rarely discussed in family or community environments.     

Closing Sex Education's Knowledge/Practice Gap: The reconceptualisation of young people's sexual knowledge

In rethinking what is theoretically conceived as a 'gap' between what young people learn in sexuality education and what they do in practice, this article argues for the need to comprehend young people's sexual knowledge from their own conceptualisation of this. Drawing on empirical findings from research with New Zealanders aged 17-19, young people's own understandings of their sexual knowledge are explored. These findings indicate how young people in the study conceptualised sexual knowledge in two ways: as information derived from secondary sources such as sexuality education, and knowledge gleaned from personal sexual experience. Hierarchies were evident within and between such types of sexual knowledge, in terms of the status young people afforded, and the interest they displayed in them. The type of sexual knowledge young people were most interested in, and which they identified as lacking in sexuality education, centred on a 'discourse of erotics'. It is argued that the inclusion of this discourse within sexuality education programmes might offer one way of closing the knowledge/practice gap, by raising the status of sexuality education's messages for young people and drawing this information closer to their lived sexual experiences.     

Sexuality education in South Africa: Three essential questions

Sex education is the cornerstone on which most HIV/AIDS prevention programmes rest and since the adoption of Outcomes-Based Education (OBE), has become a compulsory part of the South African school curriculum through the Life Orientation learning area. However, while much focus has been on providing young people with accurate and frank information about safe sex, this paper questions whether school-based programmes sufficiently support the needs of young people. This paper is based on a desk-review of the literature on sex and sexuality education and examines it in relation to the South African educational context and policies. It poses three questions: (a) what do youth need from sexuality education? (b) Is school an appropriate environment for sex education? (c) If so, what can be said about the content of sex education as well as pedagogy surrounding it? Through reviewing the literature this paper critically engages with education on sex and sexuality in South Africa and will argue that in order to effectively meet the needs of youth, the content of sexual health programmes needs to span the whole spectrum of discourses, from disease to desire. Within this spectrum, youth should be constructed as “knowers” as opposed to innocent in relation to sex. How youth are taught as well as how their own knowledge and experience is positioned in the classroom is as important as content in ensuring that youth avoid negative sexual health outcomes.     

Transgender young people’s narratives of intimacy and sexual health: implications for sexuality education

Abstract

Sexuality education as pedagogy is often fraught by the perceived requirement to balance the informational needs of young people with an investment in notions of childhood ‘innocence’. Nowhere is this perhaps more evident than in sexuality education that seeks to be inclusive of transgender young people, often resulting in the failure of such education to address the needs of such students. In an attempt at addressing the relative dearth of information about what transgender young people would like to see covered in sexuality education, in this paper we explore transgender young people’s accounts of intimacy and sexual health and consider what this means for school-based sexuality education. To do this, we analyse discussions of intimacy from the perspectives of transgender young people as narrated in a sample of YouTube videos. We conclude by advocating for an approach to sexuality education that largely eschews the gendering of body parts and gametes, and which instead focuses on function, so as to not only address the needs of transgender young people (who may find normative discussions of genitals distressing), but to also provide cisgender young people with a more inclusive understanding of their own and other people’s bodies and desires.     

‘It was as useful as a chocolate kettle’: sex education in the lives of same‐sex‐attracted young people in Australia

Sex education is a contested site in the school curriculum as communities grapple with who should teach young people about sex and how it should be taught. In this paper we ask whether same‐sex‐attracted young people are being exposed to appropriate and relevant sex education at school, and if they are not whether it is necessary that sex education be inclusive of sexual difference. In the second Australian survey of 1749 same‐sex‐attracted youth of 14–21 years old, we ask young people about sex education classes at school, how useful they were for them, their sources of information regarding gay and lesbian relationships and safe sex, sexual behaviours and incidence of sexually transmissible infections and pregnancy. We find from the data that most of these young people found sex education to be useless because it was not inclusive. In comparison with normative studies, these young people were, on average, sexually active earlier, had higher rates of diagnosed sexually transmissible infections and at least as high an incidence of pregnancy. We conclude from the data that there is a need for sex education in schools to be inclusive of the sexuality of all students, not just those who are attracted to the opposite sex.     

Sex and relationships education and gender equality: recent experiences from Andalusia (Spain)

Despite recent advances in sex and relationships education (SRE), the Spanish education system still lacks coherent policies in this field. This paper provides an overview of the current situation, focusing specifically on Andalusia, and discusses the importance of providing SRE for young people. It first describes current Spanish education policy on gender equality and shows how this leaves little space for SRE. It then presents data on young people's sexuality and relationships collected in the course of an action research project utilising different qualitative techniques. Data deriving from 27 in-depth interviews focusing on values, norms and practices relating to young people's sexuality and relationships, conducted in two secondary schools in Granada, Andalusia, are then analysed in order to identify the degree of gender equality present within them. The results suggest that in sexual relations young people tend uncritically to accept and reproduce many of the patriarchal dimensions of gender and sexuality. Findings highlight the importance of linking more closely SRE to gender equality education policies in Spain.     

Young Cypriots on sex education: sources and adequacy of information received on sexuality issues

Introduction: In the absence of standardised sex education and because schools usually limit their teaching to the ‘health’ aspects of sexuality, young people in Cyprus rely on their peers and the media for information on sexuality. This study examines the sources and adequacy of the information received by young people from various sources on matters related to sexuality and sexual health.

Method: Twelve in‐depth interviews were conducted in Cyprus in 2005 with purposively chosen boys and girls aged 15–18 years using a semi‐structured discussion guide. The interviews focused on participants' knowledge of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, safer sex, contraception and abortion. They also explored attitudes and beliefs concerning relationships, homosexuality and mutual consent.

Results: Information about sexual health is primarily received from school in classes that interviewees considered dull or irrelevant. Television, and to a lesser degree magazines, were the main sources of information on sexual relationships, the sexual act, homosexuality and abortion. Sexually transmitted infection knowledge was limited and often erroneous, while attitudes towards contraception use, abortion and homosexuality suggest that negative stereotypes are widespread.

Conclusions: Because the information young people receive on sexuality appears to be inadequate, there is an urgent need to implement comprehensive, evidence‐based sex education in the public schools. It should also address the nature and content of the sexual and reproductive health messages received from peers and the media.     

The lived ethics of abstinence: Christian young men’s experiences of romantic relationships

Relationships and sex education (RSE), as set out in the recent Bill making RSE compulsory for all English schools, should be appropriate to the religious background of pupils. This paper suggests that this appropriateness is best found by gaining the best understanding about religious young people’s lived experiences of relationships and sexuality. Our in-depth qualitative research with three Christian young men aged 17–18 from a large charismatic evangelical church in the Midlands region of England investigated experiences of romantic relationships, focusing on the ‘ethical moments’ in which Christian ethical principles of sexual abstinence are negotiated. By attending closely to both the theological and the non-religious discursive resources that these negotiations draw upon, we demonstrate the different ways in which abstinence becomes meaningful in study participants' lifeworlds. We conclude that a sex education based on ethics in practice might engage best with religious young people.     

Navigating a bumpy road. Developing sexuality education that supports young people’s sexual agency

The complexity of young people’s strategic negotiation of sexual agency constitutes a challenge for professionals working in the area of sexuality education. This paper explores how comprehensive sexuality education can support young people to develop sexual agency in all its forms: embodied, bonded, narrative and moral. A first step is to base sexuality education on the recognition of the connectedness of young people to different people and to different sexual cultures. This implies that comprehensive sexuality education should provide the tools that can help young people in the process of taking up a position, forming an identity and embodying a sexual self within their own social and cultural context. Moreover, comprehensive sexuality education should not only be aimed at empowering individuals, but should also address different sexual cultures, gender norms and other social norms, to stimulate critical consciousness and collective agency, and thereby create an environment that enables and supports young people’s agency and diminishes inequality and restrictive norms.     

Who am I? 52 Tuesdays,intimacy and the search for an authentic life

Recent research shows that young people list media entertainment as one of the sources where they find information about what they really want to know about sex and what is not taught through the school curriculum – namely, relationships and eroticism. This paper addresses the potential role that may be played by small independent alternative feature films such as 52 Tuesdays in the sexual education of young people. While 52 Tuesdays’ purpose was never explicitly pedagogic, the subject matter – family relationships, sexual experimentation, sexual identity and agency, and transgender experience – situates it firmly within the concerns of contemporary young people.     

Young people's concerns about sex: unsolicited questions to a teenage radio talkback programme over three years

This paper describes a novel qualitative study that identified the concerns of young people about sex through a talk‐back segment from 2002 to 2004 on an Australian national radio popular music programme targeting 15–24 year olds. Two hundred and thirty‐one unsolicited callers (150 female and 81 male) went to air over the study period, and 212 (92%) of these asked questions relating to sexuality and sexual health. Content analysis was used to categorise the verbatim data. Four categories were identified: sexual development; sexual and reproductive health, sexual relationship issues and sexual practices. The findings suggest that young people have a wide range of concerns, many of which are very explicit. An important finding was the high proportion of questions related to concerns over relationships. The overall implication for health educators and professionals is that a broader approach to sex education is warranted.     

“Why Can't We Just Have Sex?”: An Analysis of Anonymous Questions About Sex Asked by Ninth Graders

During the high school years, most young people in the United States receive school-based sexuality education, but there is little research on what they want to know about sex and sexuality but may be afraid to ask. This study is a content analysis of anonymous questions about sex (N = 645) asked by ninth-grade students from the greater Los Angeles area. A sample of predominantly lower-income and Latino/a students submitted anonymous questions before participating in sexuality education. Results show that young people are eager to understand how to use birth control and prevent pregnancy, have misinformation about sex and sexuality, and are misinformed on many topics. Results are discussed in light of what educators and others can do to help young people develop a safe, healthy sex life.     

Young people’s views of the constraints on sex education in Bangkok,Thailand

This article explores how Thai culture, gender and age influence sex education in Thailand, and how online sources and social media have emerged as an alternative source of sex education among young people. Qualitative data was gathered by means of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions from 99 young people aged 15–24 years of various genders and sexualities living in Bangkok. Age and gender/sexuality have a powerful influence on how students perceive sex education in Thailand. Younger people of all genders/sexualities were interested in the changes occurring in puberty and defining their gender/sexual identity, while older informants were more interested in sexual health issues including prevention and self-assessment. With respect to sexual relationships, different genders/sexualities showed varying interests, some were interested in the emotional aspects, while others were more interested in the physical dimensions of sex. Overall, Thai culture constrains the success of sex education by limiting learning opportunities and discussion, and by the provision of inauthentic knowledge to students. Online sources and the social media offer possible solutions to these inadequacies in sex education.     

Notions of sex,sexuality and relationships among adolescent boys in rural southeastern Nigeria

Although young people in Nigeria become sexually active at a very early age, little is known about how they view sex, sexuality, and relationships with the opposite sex. Yet knowledge of their notions and expectations regarding these issues has the potential to improve care and inform the development of sexuality education programmes. This paper reports the findings of a study which relied on in‐depth individual interviews and focus group discussions to investigate notions of sex, sexuality, and relationships among 120 boys aged 10–21 in rural southeastern Nigeria. Emerging data suggest that the popular images of sex, sexuality, and relationship among the boys support the notion of the cult of the male, which consists in a heady mixture of paternalism, systematic subordination of girls, and the glorification and idolization of male sexuality and sexual prowess. Boys generally held a penis‐centred view of sex and tended to liken sexual intercourse and relationships with girls to encounters during which girls were conquered, subdued, and demystified. The ideology of a double standard, in which males feel morally and physically edified by multiple sex encounters and viewed females as morally demeaned by the same, was observed among the boys. The findings show the need for approaches to sexuality education to be sensitive to the cultural contexts within which these notions are formed and sustained among boys in local communities.     

Understanding parental views of adolescent sexuality and sex education in Ecuador: a qualitative study

Parents' contribution to sex education is increasingly receiving research attention. This growing interest stems from recognition of the influence that parental attitudes may have both on young people's sexual attitudes and behaviour, and on school-based sex education. Studies regarding parental attitudes towards sexuality are, however, still rare. The two main objectives of this study were to explore parental views about sexuality and to understand parental attitudes towards sex education. Four focus group discussions were conducted with parents from high schools in Cuenca, Ecuador. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study revealed that parents held a restricted view about sex education, grounded in traditional religious ideas about sexuality, which led parents to understand it as a morally and physically dangerous activity. Although parents expressed a willingness to make good quality sex education available to their children, they reported having insufficient personal resources to fulfil that objective. The results of this study provide important information about the need to develop and adapt sex education to each specific cultural context, thereby confirming the importance of knowing about the cultural traditions and religious beliefs that may form obstacles to effective sex education for young people in Ecuador.     

Trauma-informed sexuality education: recognising the rights and resilience of youth

Experiences of maltreatment during childhood and the emergence of sexuality during adolescence are both critical developmental issues that intersect in meaningful ways, yet the two are often isolated from each other in practice. Despite the prevalence of childhood maltreatment, sexuality education does not accommodate young people with trauma histories. This results in curricula and content that ignore the particular needs and experiences of a proportion of students in sexuality education classrooms. Trauma interventions commit a similar oversight by neglecting the prospects for positive, growth-promoting sexual experiences and relationships among young people who have been abused. The failure to account for young people's resilience in the sexual domain results in treatment approaches that emphasise sexual risks (e.g. revictimisation) and problem behaviours to the exclusion of guidance in cultivating positive sexualities. Consequently, many forms of sexuality education and maltreatment interventions may be of limited effectiveness and relevance in promoting the future sexual well-being of young people with histories of trauma. To redress this gap, we advocate for trauma-informed sexuality education, an approach that acknowledges past experiences of abuse, the promise of resilience, and young people's right to positive sexualities.     

How they got it and how they wanted it: marginalised young people's perspective on their experiences of sexual health education

Young people in Australia are at greatest risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, and priority actions are necessary for this population group. This study of marginalised and at-risk young people in out-of-school environments was conducted in Western Australia with the aim of obtaining young people's perceptions about their experience of sexual health education and preferred means of gaining sexual health knowledge and skills. A participatory research methodology was implemented through a series of workshops with 88 young people recruited through community youth agencies. The results of the study support what is already known about sexual health promotion for young people and the importance of a holistic approach to promoting positive relationships and sexual health. However, the findings emphasise that this should include the need for demonstrated trust, confidence and safe environments, and the complementary role of community youth agencies and peer-based programmes which may play an important role in reaching young people who may disengage with, or not be reached by school-based sexual health education.     

Evaluating the need for sex education in developing countries: sexual behaviour,knowledge of preventing sexually transmitted infections/HIV and unplanned pregnancy

Young people's need for sex education is evidenced by their typically early initiation of sexual activity, the often involuntary context within which they have sexual intercourse, high‐risk sexual behaviours and the inadequate levels of knowledge of means of protecting their sexual health. The earliness of initiation of sexual intercourse has implications for the age by which sexuality education should be provided. The extent and context of sexual behaviour is a firm indicator of the need for sex education as well as for counselling, information and services related to sexual and reproductive health. Apart from behaviours, information on the extent of knowledge and accuracy of knowledge about risks to sexual health and about means of preventing unhealthy or undesired outcomes are important indicators of young people's need for information to help them make choices and to engage in safe and healthy behaviours. Such measures of behaviour and knowledge can also be relevant and valid indicators of the effectiveness of sex education interventions. The context with which young people live and key characteristics such as school attendance and literacy are important considerations in providing information and in evaluating interventions.