Sexuality Education and Desire: Still Missing after All These Years

Abstract

Nearly twenty years after the publication of Michelle Fine's essay "Sexuality, Schooling, and Adolescent Females: The Missing Discourse of Desire," the question of how sexuality education influences the development and health of adolescents remains just as relevant as it was in 1988. In this article, Michelle Fine and Sara McClelland examine the federal promotion of curricula advocating abstinence only until marriage in public schools and, in particular, how these policies constrict the development of "thick desire" in young women. Their findings highlight the fact that national policies have an uneven impact on young people and disproportionately place the burden on girls, youth of color, teens with disabilities, and lesbian/gay/bisexual/ transgender youth. With these findings in mind, the authors provide a set of research guidelines to encourage researchers, policymakers, and advocates as they collect data on, develop curricula for, and change the contexts in which young people are educated about sexuality and health.

Assessment of Communication on Sexual and Reproductive Health Issues among Mizan Secondary and Preparatory School Students with Parents, Mizan Town, Ethiopia, 2016

“…Since family can exert a strong influence on adolescents' and sexual behavior, it is important to understand the role of family influence on sexual behavior. Thus, parent-adolescent communication regarding sexuality often is viewed as desirable and perceived by many to be effective means of encouraging adolescents to adopt responsible sexual behaviors [12].…”

‘They're just not mature right now’: teachers' complicated perceptions of gender and anti-queer bullying

“…These teachers' assumptions about their students and the meanings behind their students' words and actions fall in line with discourses about adolescent sexuality that contribute to particularly damaging ideologies for adolescents (Fine and McClelland 2006). 7 28 M.J. Preston…”

‘It's got to be about enjoying yourself’: young people, sexual pleasure, and sex and relationships education

“…Early sexual debut corresponded with more regret and less SRE. The inclusion of pleasure in SRE in relation to issues of coercion and regret has been considered by many -for example, Gavey (1992), Tolman (1994), Ingham (2005), Fine and McClelland (2006), Allen (2011) and others, such as, Carmody (2005) and Beasley (2008) in relation to sexual violence prevention. If pleasure is asserted as a right and continually reinforced through SRE and issues of safeguarding, young people are more likely to feel vindicated in declining pressure to take part in sexual acts or related activities they are not comfortable with might not enjoy, regret or evoke anxiety.…”

“…Given that pleasure was highlighted as an omission in discourses of female sexuality more than twenty years ago (Fine 1988) its ongoing exclusion from much sexuality and relationships education in schools is difficult to justify (Fine and McClelland 2006) for numerous reasons (which this paper will outline) but most importantly for reasons of gender equality and potential to achieve safer outcomes. Though recent reports in the UK note pockets of excellent practice (e.g.…”