User:Monkamyth/sandbox

Sex education

Sex education in the United States

Sex-positive feminism

Sex education curriculum

Sex education in the United States

Jillian Grace Norwick's master thesis examines the responses of female college students to questions about their experiences with abstinence-only education, describing the ways these programs discriminated by gender.^[1]

“Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Policies and Programs: An Updated Position Paper of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.” Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 61, no. 3, 2017, pp. 400–403.^[2]

The scientific community has had concerns with the ethics and effectiveness of AOUM policies for teenagers because while theoretically a valid choice, teenagers who intend to practice abstinence often fail. Scientists have found that these policies neither delay the age of first sexual encounter nor minimize risk behaviors. They willingly mislead students about the effectiveness of contraceptives and STI protection methods rendering the lessons medically invalid and unethical.^[2]

Allen, Louisa. “Denying the Sexual Subject: Schools' Regulation of Student Sexuality.” British Educational Research Journal, vol. 33, no. 2, 2007, pp. 221–234., doi:10.1080/01411920701208282.^[3]

This article argues that within school cultures, teachers and other school faculty create a normalized sexuality and create boundaries for self expression. Technically, this article is written about the British school system by a British researcher. However, I believe this source is still relevant to the subject of gender roles in sexual education within schools regardless of the country, especially since Britain and the United States share many cultural similarities.^[3]

Frieh, Emma C, and Sarah H Smith. “Lines of Flight in Sex Education: Adolescents’ Strategies of Resistance to Adult Stereotypes of Teen Sexuality.” Sexualities, Aug. 2017, p. 1-20.^[4]

This article looks at the way SBSE influences the ways adults feel about sex. It consists of interviews with adults from the same school district discussing how stereotypes are played out in the lessons they were taught about sexuality, particularly the risk-focused and sex-negative ones in this particular sexual education program. This is through a theoretical framework focused on the work of Deleuze and Guattari, and so its main concert is not with the effects of SBSE but with the way students react to and reject their teachings.^[4]

Gabrion, Karlee E. “An Examination of the Effects of Sexual Education on American College Students: Sexual Knowledge, Sexual Behaviors, and Sexual Opinions.” Texas A&M University, May 2016. Accessed Sept. 2017.^[5]

This article concludes that when students receive more sexual education, they become more open-minded and positive about sexual topics (what I would refer to as “sex-positive). However, when students receive limited education, or educators choose to withhold information about sexuality, as is the case in some abstinence-only programs, students are less likely to have positive views on sexual topics.^[5]

Kleinert, Paul Dale. Sex education programs, motivation, and the seeking of educational versus erotic material: A comparison of abstinence only until marriage and comprehensive programs. Published Doctor of Philosophy dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, 2016.^[6]

Laina Y. Bay-Cheng (2003) The Trouble of Teen Sex: The construction of adolescent sexuality through school-based sexuality education, Sex Education, 3:1, 61-74, DOI: 10.1080/1468181032000052162^[7]

This article examines the ways teen sexuality is “normalized” within SBSE. It argues that SBSE fails to discuss teen sexuality that is not white, cis-gendered, heterosexual, and middle-class. The intersections of race, class, sexual orientation, and and gender identity play a role in the manifestations of sexuality and the SBSE systems fail to recognize these intersectionalities. Instead, many of the examined systems enforce conventional gender roles, monogamy, heterosexuality, and limit the definitions of sex to penile-vaginal intercourse. These programs misinform students about the diversity of sexuality. ^[7]

Martin, Karin A., and Katherine Luke. “Gender Differences in the ABC’s of the Birds and the Bees: What Mothers Teach Young Children About Sexuality and Reproduction.” Sex Roles, vol. 62, no. 3-4, Dec. 2010, pp. 278–291., doi:10.1007/s11199-009-9731-4.^[8]

This article looks at how mothers discuss issues of sexuality with their young children. In my contribution to Sexual Education in the United States, I will use this in comparison to what parents feel about SBSE and the types of curricula they support being taught to their children. This article also differentiates between what mothers tell to their daughters and what they tell to their sons, which I can connect to the gender differences in SBSE.^[8]

Norwick, Jillian Grace, ""Don't Have Sex, You'll Get Pregnant and Die!": Female University Students' Experiences with Abstinence-Only Education" (2016). Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences. 35.^[1]

This article focuses on the opinions of women who have been educated by school systems that teach abstinence only sexual education, rather than the effectiveness of these programs. The author of this thesis conducted interviews that explored the experiences of these women. The interviews encourage them to reflect on the various successes and failures of abstinence-only education to prepare them for adulthood and sexuality.^[1]