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This article focuses on South African teenage girls' engagement with pornography. Using a decolonial approach and drawing upon new feminist materialism, this study focuses on the ways in which bodies, gender and sexuality configure to produce and constrain girls' capacities for sexual expression. The paper makes three claims. First, the article turns away from a one-sided representation of girls as only possible to know through the lens of sexual suffering while challenging childhood sexual innocence. Second, the online pornographic field is situated in a gendered and racialised system of organisation whereby the perfect body is naturalised as an esteemed object of desire. Third, the desire for the perfect, slim, blemish-free, hairless body through self-surveillance constricts capacities in line with normative standards of female beauty. A decolonial porn assemblage is harnessed to illustrate the contradictions produced as girls both desire and object to idealised bodies that are naturalised through heterosexual and racialised hierarchies. The paper concludes by considering the implications of approaching girls' engagement with pornography in relation to the expansion and limitation of their capacities and the body as an intense site of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the retrospective accounts of eight LGBT+ students aged 18–21 attending a university in Northern England. Using interpretivist methodology, qualitative research was conducted to explore how their sex and relationships education impacted upon their needs as a sexual and/or gender minority. An under-researched aspect of experience was also investigated: namely, how LGBT+ people learned about sex and relationships if not in a formal school setting. Two focus groups were used to examine these areas of interest and similar patterns in both groups were apparent. Themes such as the impact of heteronormative value systems, pornography as an educational resource, and the use of online Blogs and search engines as a source of alternative education were highlighted. Findings demonstrate how participants' experiences of sex and relationships education were largely non-inclusive and irrelevant to their needs. The paper concludes with practical suggestions to ensure subsequent generations of LGBT+ pupils receive a more inclusive educational experience, supported by approachable teachers who are comfortable and competent teaching the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers in Lady Agatha's Boarding School (Lady Agatha's) find teaching Sex and Relationships Education (RSE) uncomfortable. This paper investigates one aspect of the discomfort that they feel, namely the impact RSE has on their professional status as teachers. I use focus group data to reflect on the professional and personal location of teachers at Lady Agatha's and to explore their understanding of RSE through the recurring themes of professionalism and professional reputation as symbolic capital; deprofessionalisation and risk as symbolic violence; and the connects and disconnects between the doxa and illusio of the school. Findings suggest that by interrogating the sites of symbolic violence which generate RSE discomfort, we can start to unpick the fabric which creates discomfort about RSE, allowing both for a deeper understanding of RSE discomfort in teachers and an opportunity to address this discomfort as a barrier to RSE delivery at Lady Agatha's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's experience of harm and abuse has a profound impact on their health and well-being. In response, school-based prevention programmes have been developed and delivered by external organisations with the aim of improving children's awareness and understanding of forms of harm and abuse which may affect them, encouraging them to seek help if needed. In September 2020, Relationships Education became statutory within the primary school curriculum in England and this ratification is likely to increase demand for externally delivered classroom-based programmes, which address the broad range of topics to be covered within this field. However, evidence is required to understand the impact and acceptability of such programmes. This paper presents qualitative findings from a larger mixed-methods study. Focus group discussions with 29 children explored their responses to one Healthy Relationships programme delivered to primary school children aged 10 and 11 in England. Analysis focuses specifically on responses to the topics of sexual abuse prevention and help-seeking. Children's widespread support for the programme indicates that topics are relevant and the opportunity to explore these issues is valued. However, for effective programme implementation, schools and parents need to be prepared, and prevention messages should continue to be embedded throughout children's school lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we draw from elements of a study that sought to examine how teenage South African girls, both white and black African, articulate their relationship with online sexually explicit materials (SEM). The study contributes to the literature by resisting the dominant discursive practices underlined by the construction of sexuality as an exclusive realm of danger for teenage girls. Challenging this static version of femininity, we focus on the ways in which teenage girls, aged between 13 and 18 years old in two elite private schools, use online SEM to expand their sexual knowledge and engage in pleasurable forms of sexuality. By drawing on individual interviews, focus group discussions and open-ended visual elicitation research methods, we show how girls embrace online SEM in ways that expand the definition of femininity beyond fearing sexuality whilst demonstrating the entanglement with gender inequalities. Girls' relationship with online SEM, whilst tenuous, disrupts normative assumptions around femininity. However, an ambiguous relationship with online SEM is evident as their challenges to dominant femininity are mediated by concerns about respect and innocence, as well as by persistent evidence of male power within online SEM. Implications for school-based sexuality education concludes the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notions of 'participation' in sexuality education has gained considerable traction in recent years - with participation being regarded as a fundamental right and a critical means to empower young people. However, the notion has increasingly been subject of debate, with critics problematising the manner in which participation is operationalised, and questioning the assumed impact of participation in relation to sexuality education goals. This paper contributes to these debates by examining the under-researched gendered dimensions of participation of young people in sexuality education. It utilises data from a qualitative study conducted in 2015 on young women and men's (10-15 years old) perceptions of their participation in the dance4life programme, an in-school sexuality education programme in Jinja district in eastern Uganda. The paper highlights subtle but important differences between young men and women's participation in the programme, which are arguably reflective of existing gendered hierarchies. We conclude by providing recommendations on how to address gender differences in participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parent-adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) communication plays an important role in reducing sexual risk behaviour and preventing HIV. We sought to enhance limited information about the unique barriers to parent-adolescent SRH communication in the Arab states. This mixed-methods study, using a two-phase sequential explorative design, was conducted in 15 public secondary schools (with grades 5 to 10 students aged 10 to 15 years) in Oman. In phase one, 15 parents participated in two single-sex focus group discussions and two in-depth individual interviews. The qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. In phase two, a convenience sample of 250 parents completed a paper-based self-administered questionnaire. Findings showed that parents rarely communicated with their children about SRH concerns, including HIV. Barriers to more open parent-adolescent SRH communication include the fear that such discussion might encourage early sexual debut; feelings of shyness, discomfort and shame; associated socio-cultural taboos; gender mismatch; and lack of SRH knowledge. Findings suggest the need for parental SRH education and training and school based SRH education programmes to improve adolescent SRH. Experience developing these may be helpful to other countries with similar religious beliefs and socio-cultural traditions seeking to improve parent-adolescent SRH communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and asexual (LGBTQA+) Australians are vulnerable to religion-based attempts to change or suppress their sexuality and/or gender identity, including conversion ideology messaging in school-based sex education. Conversion bans are currently being debated across the country. This paper reports on a critical survivor-driven study which retrospectively explored Australian LGBTQA+ youth exposure to conversion practices both within and outside of education settings. It privileges the perspectives of self-titled 'survivors' of conversion ideology and practices through the use of a reference group and constructivist grounded theory. Qualitative data were collected 20 from Australian LGBTQA+ conversion ideology and/or practice survivors aged 18 years and over, using focus groups and 35 individual interviews between 2016 and 2020. In conversion-promoting religious contexts including education institutions and groups, messages concerning sexuality and gender changed as individuals grew older and were drawn into more/enclosed settings in which core conversion messages of LGBTQA+ 'brokenness' were prevalent. While individuals progressed through the conversion experience in different ways, their experience was characterised by the absence of any form of affirming LGBTQA+ education – enabling conversion itself to become their LGBTQA+ (mis)information source. School policy addressing conversion, alongside enhanced provision of affirmative age-appropriate gender and sexuality education, may mediate this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores students', preservice teachers' and inservice teachers' perceptions of the contributions and challenges of using participatory visual methodologies (PVM) to enhance HIV education in rural schools. Drawing on findings from three research projects conducted in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, four positive contributions are identified: 1) novelty, fun and engagement; 2) amplifying youth voices; 3) the facilitation of teachers' reflexive learning; and 4) the production of local resources in under-resourced schools. Challenges include: 1) limited technology access; 2) teacher discomfort; and 3) resistance to PVM integration. Teachers and young people, especially in under resourced rural settings, can benefit from integrating such methodologies into their responses to HIV and AIDS. However, sustainable integration must rely on choosing the most appropriate participatory visual methodologies given the technological resources available in school. The paper concludes with recommendations to optimise participatory visual methodologies integration into rural school-based HIV responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the views of male and female learners regarding how Life Orientation (LO) sexuality education is taught at their schools. Learners in the study were selected from five former 'Black' schools in the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa. Focus groups were used to identify what learners could recall about their LO sexuality education classes. The strong trend in the data speaks to how LO sexuality education implies a gendered, heteronormative and moralistic approach to youth sexuality which silences and negates same sex relationships and girls' accounts of sexuality. Although LO sexuality curricula are, as crafted on paper, often sophisticated learning programmes, participants point to a disjuncture between the official LO sexuality education curriculum and how LO sexuality education is taught in the studied schools. The paper concludes with some specific recommendations for teachers to promote a non-judgemental approach to sexuality education that challenges heteronormativity and other gendered injustices as part of the teaching of LO sexuality education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using collaborative performance ethnography in community- and school-based settings, sex education has the potential to challenge at-risk narratives for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) youth. This paper problematises the youth-led drama projectEpic Queerto test the ‘queer’ potential of youth-driven initiatives at the school and community level, and to reject the singularity of victimised and ‘at-risk’ narratives so pervasive in sex education internationally about queer youth. By drawing on theIt Gets Better Projectas an example of widespread but narrowing social media texts encouraging normativity, deferred pleasure and a happiness narrative, this paper argues for the potential of performance-based arts engagement for re-expanding queer youth subjectivities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite public outcry, South Africa has decided to roll out comprehensive sexuality education in schools. Currently, however, there are no scripted lesson plans for teachers of learners with visual impairment. Local literature suggests that the current sexuality education curriculum fails to engage with sexuality diversity and is imbued with notions of compulsory heterosexuality and able-bodiedness, perpetuating homophobia, transphobia and ableism in schools and broader communities. The paper sought guidance from disability professionals on how to best address lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other sexualities' (LGBT+) issues as part of comprehensive sexuality education for learners with visual impairment. Bourdieu's work on doxa, orthodoxy and heterodoxy underpinned the study. Three professionals working with learners with visual impairment were interviewed in a focus group, and one school principal working in a school for learners with visual impairment was interviewed individually. Data were thematically analysed. Pre- and in-service teachers are encouraged not to see comprehensive sexuality education offered to learners with visual impairment as different from that provided to their sighted peers. Professionals urged teachers to accept LGBT+ learners with visual impairment in their dress, expression and embodiment. However, teachers need to be aware of learners' cultural and religious differences. Current lesson plans need to be revisited to safeguard against compulsory heterosexuality and able-bodiedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that intimate relationship violence and coercive control are prevalent in young people's relationships. Furthermore, young people often fail to recognise such behaviour as abuse. While such findings indicate the normalisation of controlling and coercive behaviours amongst young people, there is little focus on how these behaviours are normalised. This paper presents findings from a study exploring young people's experiences and expectations of intimate relationships. Focus groups were conducted with young people (aged 13 to 18 years) in schools in the West Midlands, England. Young people talked of navigating precarious and competitive heterosexual relationships. Their expectations and negotiations of these relationships often upheld and reinforced gender double standards around dating practices. Young people's discussion also highlighted how they came to accept and rationalise controlling and coercive behaviours as 'love', 'care' and 'protection', legitimising these practices as reasonable. Heteronormativity remains a dominant discourse shaping young people's experiences and expectations of relationships with coercion and control being defining features of this discourse. Supporting young people to critically examine constructs of heterosexuality and gender norms should be a key component of England's forthcoming statutory Relationship and Sex Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescence is a period of exploration of sexuality and of its integration into personality. Existing research on Latina adolescents, however, has been largely limited to disease and pregnancy prevention, ignoring the integration of sexual well-being with other aspects of health. Accordingly, this paper presents findings from a photovoice project with 11–12 year old Latina students, implemented to investigate topics related to cultural identity, gender and sexual health. The data were generated over a 12-week period in an urban middle school in Central Texas by 17 youth collaborators. Findings provide a platform for discussion of how Latina young people's ideas align with or diverge from current sexual health discourses within a racial/ethnic context. We highlight opportunities and constraints with regard to identifying sexual health needs from young Latina students' own perspectives, in an attempt to contribute to the body of literature on sexual health in middle school students, as well as the lessons learned through our efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Ghanaian young people's perceptions of the determinants of HIV- and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination, and how these perceptions may influence the de-stigmatisation process. Drawing on findings from an in-depth, multi-method qualitative study involving 104 school and street young people aged between 14 and 19 years, the paper presents young people's accounts of HIV and AIDS. The paper provokes discussion on how language and images associated with existing educational programmes on HIV and AIDS place young people in a dilemma. It also argues that fear and secrecy associated with the disease not only consolidate stigmatisation and discrimination, but also create the desire for retribution. It concludes by challenging health educators to pay particular attention to the language and images used in future educational programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper emerges from an ongoing, three-year qualitative study of how adolescents, teachers, and peer sexual health educators interpret the language of abstinence and represent the emotional meanings that enliven sexuality and sexual health. The paper demonstrates how conflicts of thinking and relationality emerge from aesthetic narratives about adolescent sexuality found in a short film. Aesthetic problems of representing sexuality, subjectivity, and emotional significance found in focus group data are brought to a discussion of some methodological dilemmas of conducting research on the emotional contexts of sexual health education. Drawing on psychoanalytic theories of thinking and symbolization, this paper considers how aesthetic encounters with film may enable researchers and educators to explore the hidden investments and evasive maneuvers that structure conversations about sexuality and emotional life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a substantial body of research on young people's wishes about the content and delivery of sex and relationships education (SRE), studies still indicate dissatisfaction with the way lessons are provided. This discussion takes place in a public health context where young people's sexual activity is viewed negatively as a risk to health, and advice focusses on the need to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. This focus on risk clashes with cultural representations of sexuality, and particularly male sexuality, which focus on pleasure and risk taking. In this paper, we present insights from workshops provided by a local charity to boys aged 14–15 in a school in one of the most deprived areas in Edinburgh, Scotland. We held four focus groups with a total of 20 boys and interviewed the workshop providers and the school guidance teacher. The boys valued having men from outside school talking to them about sex and relationships in ways that made them feel respected. They were keen to learn more about relationships, highlighting the need to focus on how SRE is delivered to young working class men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As online pornography has become more readily available and accessible, educators have begun to grapple with how to address young people's engagement with it. Much of this discussion centres the view that pornography is an inherently problematic genre that young people should be inoculated against through comprehensive media literacy education – an approach that often ignores the nuance of young people's engagements with porn and which often isolates pornography as outside of and infringing upon young people's everyday lives. Using thematic narrative analysis, this paper examines excerpts from focus groups with undergraduate students at a Canadian university examining their experiences with and thinking on pornography and sex education. Findings suggest that participants' pornography-related narratives are connected both to their own personal, lived experiences with pornography and to the broader structural and relational aspects of their sexual and social worlds in ways that complicate traditional media literacy interventions. Small-group discussions on pornography therefore emerge through this study as potentially productive pedagogical sites for educators seeking to develop a more expansive and ethically oriented approach to sex and sexuality education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various health promotion strategies have been implemented in South Africa aiming to encourage young people to talk about issues of sexuality and HIV with their parents/caregivers. Although parent/caregiver sexual communication may be an effective method of influencing sexual behaviour and curbing the incidence of HIV, very little is known about how young people with disabilities in South Africa communicate about these traditionally difficult subjects with their parents/caregivers. Based on findings from a participatory study conducted amongst 15–20-year-old Zulu-speaking youth with physical and visual disabilities, this paper explores how they perceive youth–parent/caregiver communication about sexuality and HIV. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, the paper outlines how disabled youth–parent/caregiver sexual communication is governed by cultural customs, sexual secrecy and constructs of innocence. It also argues that the experiences and perceptions of young people with disabilities are critical to the development of future interventions to assist parents/caregivers develop communication strategies that help disabled young people make sense of sexual behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sexual health promotion and Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) are influenced by interrelated social and cultural factors, particularly in a rural setting. This paper reports on findings from interviews with young people when asked about experiences and perspectives accessing RSE and sexual health services in a small rural Australian town. Fifteen young people (16–24 years) participated in semi-structured focus groups and interviews. Data was analysed and coded with four key themes emerging: relevant and credible sexual health education; make it easy; GP accessibility; and discreet condom supply. The findings of this study have practical implications when addressing community level sexual health and RSE needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although romantic and sexual relationships are an important aspect of young people's lives, research on how young people negotiate their love/sex relationships is lacking. New media environments provide a new context within which young people negotiate their love/sex relationships; however, what is negotiated is often not all that different from what was negotiated before the advent of new media technologies. Using an online discussion board and individual in-person interviews, this paper explores how young Australians, aged 18–25 years, engage with dominant gendered discourses to negotiate their love/sex relationships within the context of new media environments. Previous research suggests that young people make use of new media technologies to flirt with one another, to initiate new relationships, to maintain their relationships, and to fight and end their relationships. This paper focuses on young people's practices of mediated flirting, surveillance, and breaking up. It considers the creative and agentic ways young people use new media technologies in the negotiation of their love/sex relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses pre-service teachers' responses to a critical analysis of gender/power relations using examples from a final assessment for an intensive elective unit called Teaching Sexuality in the Middle Years. This unit critically examines gender/ power relations, the production of difference, heteronormativity and pleasure and desire, employing a feminist post-structural framework. Despite the focus on critical thinking, reflection and interrogating structural inequalities in this unit some students were resistant or unable to engage with this approach in their assessments, although appearing to do so in workshops. We consider the broad range of sexuality education discourses mobilised by this unit to try to make sense of what looks like resistance but may be something more complex and difficult to negotiate. The paper ends with a consideration of some of the implications of this approach for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Ethiopia, as in many other countries, moral discourses about female sexuality in general, and pre- and extramarital sexual experience in particular, create an environment that discourages women from engaging in open dialogue about their sexuality and their past or future sexual experience. In the study of induced abortion among unmarried women in Addis Ababa on which this paper rests, women describe a situation in which they are both surrounded by silence about sexual issues and forced to remain silent themselves. This paper investigates the nature of, and conditions for, this silence and the ways in which it is socially brought about and negotiated. In particular, it explores the ways through which young, unmarried women who have undergone abortion seek to reconcile seemingly contradictory, condemning discourses about premarital sex and more general codes addressing social, as well as moral, propriety and integrity. The discussion highlights that, while issues of sexuality are silenced, neither the silence nor the silencing power of dominant, gendered moral discourses is absolute. Moreover, silence may also be jointly produced and negotiated in social discourse fraught with moral objectives and ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on findings derived as part of a two-year project funded by the European Union's Daphne III scheme, involving collaboration between seven partner organisations across six European countries. The project involved an evaluation, using questionnaires and focus groups, of domestic abuse prevention education programmes delivered in schools in the UK, France and Spain. This paper presents the findings from the UK focus group discussions, conducted with young people aged 10–11 years, and 13–14 years to explore their opinions about the intervention delivered in their school. The focus groups revealed the following challenges for service providers in this area: young people can misunderstand issues related to domestic abuse, especially the role of power and control within relationships; there is a tension between educators giving young people free expression to share their opinions and challenging sexism and other prejudices; and boys can become disengaged with gender-based interventions. These issues point towards three key considerations when implementing a domestic abuse prevention education intervention: programme content (the what); the teaching methods used (the how); and whether teachers or external organisations should deliver the programme (the who). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses sexuality and relationship education (SRE) in a Swedish college programme aimed at young people with mobility impairments. Interviews and focus groups were conducted to explore students’ experiences of the structure, content and usefulness of SRE, and college personnel’s SRE practices. Results show that, although many of the issues covered are pertinent for all young people, being disabled raises additional concerns: for example how to handle de-sexualising attitudes, possible sexual practices, and how reliance on assistance impacts upon privacy. Crip theory is used as an analytical framework to identify, challenge and politicise sexual norms and practices. Students’ experiences of living in a disablist, heteronormative society can be used as resources for developing cripistemologies, which challenge the private/public binary that often de-legitimises learners’ experiences and separates them from teachers’ ‘proper’ knowledge production. Crip SRE would likely hold benefits for non-disabled pupils as well, through its use of more inclusive pedagogy and in work to expand sexual possibilities. Crip SRE has the potential to disrupt taken-for-granted dis/ability and sexuality divides as well as to politicise issues that many young people presently experience as ‘personal shortcomings’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New York City (NYC) is considered to be one of the world’s most progressive cities and gender and sexuality diversity (GSD)-inclusive education departmental policies appear to reflect these values. However, even within such a context, NYC educators report challenges in their work to meet the needs of trans/gender-diverse students and the visibility of trans/gender diversity more generally within their pre-K - 12 school communities. This paper reports on interview data from 31 school staff members from nine public and independent schools located in the NYC metro region, with a specific focus on their framing of inclusivity and bullying, and reported support of trans/gender-diverse students. Based on educators’ representations of their schools, the nine schooling environments fell into two broad clusters: (1) those framing trans/gender inclusivity as an anti-bullying initiative and working at the minimum policy requirements, and (2) those working beyond bullying discourses and policy frameworks to conceptualise trans/gender inclusivity as integral to the school’s mission and as offering clear whole-community benefit. Findings support the constraints of bullying discourse on even supportive educators’ curricular ‘translation’ of GSD-inclusive policies, reinforcing the need for relevant policy reframing and targeted of professional development opportunities, particularly for school leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper details findings from an evaluation of a gendertransformative sexual and reproductive health and rights group education programme facilitated with young men aged 15-24 years in South Africa. A total of 475 young men participated in the group education programme. A self-administered pre- and postquestionnaire survey was conducted with a sample of the participants, and focus group discussions were facilitated. A total of 265 young men completed both the pre and post-questionnaires. Findings from the surveys as well as the focus group discussions showed positive changes in gender equitable attitudes, contraception and condom use. Results indicate that the young men who participated in the group education learned to identify harmful gender norms and actively questioned these constructs both within their personal lives and in the broader community. The intervention enabled some participants to envision alternative versions of masculinity and femininity, thus enabling them to adopt a new way of being, with transformed attitudes concerning household and gender roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development of a Dutch online programme called Long Live Love+ focusing on positive, coercion-free relationships, contraception use, and the prevention of STIs, using the Intervention Mapping (IM) approach. All six steps of the approach were followed. Step 1 confirmed the need for a sexual health programme targeting young people aged 15 and over enrolled in higher level secondary education. Step 2 resulted in the production of a series of matrices-of-changes, including detailed programme objectives at the behavioural and the psycho-social level. Step 3 involved the selection of relevant methods and applications. Step 4 consisted of programme development, resulting in a sexual health programme with online and offline components, and including interactive exercises. Step 5 focused on adoption and implementation and included the production of a detailed teacher manual. Step 6 involved detailed planning for the process and effect evaluation and included interviews with teachers and focus group discussions with students to evaluate their experiences of the programme. The inclusion of a linkage group – and especially the inclusion of teachers in the development of the programme – turned out to be essential in terms of developing a programme in line with their context and needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By providing a place in which children can be accessed, the school has long been a site for population-level health initiatives. Recent policy shifts towards health-promoting schools have however re-cast the school from passive host to active collaborator in public health. This paper examines secondary school teachers' views of their roles as partners in Scotland's human papilloma virus vaccination programme. Focus groups were held in seven schools across Scotland. Confusion was evident in relation to this role, with competing understandings of young women's sexuality, concerns about parental perceptions and uncertainty about professional responsibilities. Many teachers sought to distance themselves from the vaccination programme. Evidence was found of a ‘sedimentation of discourses’, as mass models of state-sanctioned health intervention persist alongside contemporary discourses of individual choice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper is to present and discuss some of the obstacles to effective sexuality education in rural Lesotho schools and offer some suggestions that could facilitate positive change in the current status of sexuality education. The call for education as a ‘vaccine’ against new HIV infections places teachers at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, and thus it is imperative to understand how they experience teaching about sexuality. Findings in the present study derive from data generated through a research project that sought to explore women teachers' experiences of teaching sexuality education in rural schools in Lesotho. Twelve women teachers' narratives are used to examine the obstacles to effective sexuality education in rural contexts. The study highlights the role of gender dynamics and culture in the effectiveness of school-based sexuality education. The paper argues for a more concerted effort and collaboration between curriculum developers and education stakeholders such that the Lesotho sexuality education curriculum is more context-specific and relevant to the communities it serves, so that it can achieve the desired goals of, amongst other things, reducing the transmission of HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

At the foundation of most inequalities in expression of sexuality lie social constructions of gender. In this paper, sex education is considered as a possibility to challenge sexism and promote healthy and self-affirmative sex lives. In the past decade, the discourse of sex education in India has become a ‘battle of morality’ where concerned citizens condemn sex education on the grounds it may encourage sexual activity and immoral conduct (e.g. promiscuity or infidelity). The work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is an alternative to the governmental national curriculum plan. This paper discusses NGO potential in terms of sexual empowerment by examining beliefs and understanding, choices of information, strategies and methods, and approaches apparent in sex education programmes and projects. Through qualitative data, findings were analysed by constructing a sexual empowerment model that divides components of sex education into four parts and utilises theories of empowerment. The main findings include that all four components of sex education – foundation, content, strategies and approaches – show great potential to challenge gender inequalities in regard to sexuality. Sexual health programmes and projects are seen to be highly participatory, deliberative and encouraging of critical thinking. Some concerns are highlighted: the strong focus on girls as the main actors of change, and external limitations such as parents and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study addresses the issue of the sexual needs of ethnic minority groups in the UK. Using focus group discussions with health service users and third-sector providers, it explores the perception of sex education by Black African communities living in a culturally diverse area in East London, focusing specifically on participants' understanding of safe sex, personal experiences in receiving health information, and the relevance of health-promotion messages to their health, social and cultural needs. The paper focuses on the views of the older population group, many of whom are parents; all were born and brought up outside the UK. The paper identifies a number of factors influencing the perception of sex education and health-promotion messages by study participants and discusses some complex interrelationships between the traditions and cultural norms surrounding their lives in Africa and the European context within which they find themselves today. We examine potential links between the levels of cultural adaptation and the perception of sex education in schools and clinical settings, and discuss implications of these perceptions for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on focus group and interview data from 45 young men from the north of England to explore the barriers to effective sex and relationships education (SRE). Recent policy debates in relation to establishing statutory SRE in schools provide an opportunity to revisit how it is currently delivered to, and received by, young men. The paper considers the central role played by masculinities and how this role is mediated by social exclusion and poor engagement; it is suggested that addressing masculinities directly should be a priority for future SRE. In conclusion, some tentative approaches to addressing the issues are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the theory and method of free association in psychoanalysis to frame an investigation of the content, structure, and function of the thinking expressed in conversations about sexuality and sexual health. The investigation emerges from an ongoing three-year study of the way adolescents, teachers, and peer sex educators negotiate and interpret the language of abstinence and the emotional terrain of sexuality in everyday speech and interaction. Through close readings of a film and related focus group data, the paper calls for attention to free associative movements of thought in sex education conversations. It argues that fostering free association in sex education will make room for the translation of sexuality into thought about the contours of sexuality in experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous classroom-based interventions have aimed to improve sexual health outcomes for young people, yet few have shown strong, lasting effects. Ecological approaches that address multiple levels of a young person’s environment offer largely untapped potential to positively change sexual behaviour. This paper presents results of a cluster-randomised trial of a multicomponent sexuality education intervention that integrated a classroom curriculum, parent education workshops and materials, peer advocate programme, and sexual health services at 10 urban high schools. An implementation evaluation, employing quantitative and qualitative instruments, was conducted to examine whether the individual components of the intervention were delivered as planned and how they were received by the target populations. Multilevel modelling was used to evaluate the effect of the multicomponent intervention on outcomes at one-year follow-up. Results showed that the intervention components were successfully implemented with and well received by target populations. Students receiving the multicomponent intervention reported greater increases in the use of sexual health services (odds ratio [OR] = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.09–2.75) and the likelihood of carrying a condom (OR = 2.71, 95% CI = 1.44–5.09) relative to those receiving a control condition. No effects were found for other behaviours, possibly due to low prevalence of sexual activity in the sample and the small number of schools randomised. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents findings from a focus group study conducted to evaluateThe Source,an alternate reality game (ARG). ARGs are a relatively new genre of interactive digital games that use a variety of media to engage game players. We developed modules on sexual health, sexual orientation, and homophobia in a game that was delivered to 133 predominantly African-American and Latino US youth. Ten focus groups were conducted with 43 young people aged 13–18 who playedThe Sourceto understand feasibility and acceptability issues and the impact of the game on young people’s attitudes, knowledge, and behaviours. Data were transcribed and analysed for common themes by two independent coders. Four primary themes were identified: (1) the feasibility and acceptability of using an ARG for sexual education; (2) the acceptability ofThe Source’s specific sexual health content; (3) the game’s influence on sexual health-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours; and (4) the impact of the game on young people’s thoughts and responses to sexual orientation and homophobia. Study findings indicate that an ARG is an exciting and interactive way to educate young people on sensitive topics in sexuality education, but that attention to narrative authenticity and effective messaging are important issues to address. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes the development and evaluation of an interactive, narrative-based, multimedia game to promote learning and communication about sexual violence and health topics. High school-aged participants created the game concept in a three-week workshop, after which assets were assembled and refined by a university-based game design lab. The outcome,Lucidity, was a multimedia game with a nonlinear narrative that led to two different outcomes based on player decisions. The narrative followed the life of one character, an African American woman named Zaria who remembers and grapples with a sexual assault from her past. The player discovers parts of the story by reading comics, watching videos, navigating interactive websites and playing short videogames. The final evaluation consisted of gameplay, a post-game focus group and follow-up interviews. Twenty-four young people participated in three focus group discussions (n = 9,n = 5,n = 10); 23 participated in the follow-up interviews. Salient themes identified in the focus group discussions included: overall approval of the game, the acquisition of new knowledge and minimal past exposure to conversations or education about sexual violence. At follow-up, almost all (n = 22) had initiated a conversation about sexual violence with a parent, peer and/or teacher.Luciditysucceeded in engaging young people and facilitating communication with adults and peers regarding sexual violence and other sexual health topics. Ultimately, a game-based intervention such as this represents a feasible approach for introducing issues of sexual violence, with potential for future implementation in educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an attempt to resist moral panics over children's media consumption, and especially girls' consumption of hyper-sexualised popular media, this paper aims to offer a more positive account of popular culture and young children's, especially girls', engagement with it. By adopting a historical approach to modern childhood and the moral panics associated with it, I argue that the consumption of entertainment media and popular culture is a leisure activity which, rather than facilitating or reinforcing female subordination and youth vulnerability, can be seen as a possible source of knowledge about sexuality, about the self and the social world. I draw on findings from qualitative research conducted in Athens with young schoolgirls aged 10–12 years about their favourite popular icons in order to examine the variety of their engagements with, readings and practices of popular culture. Their discursive accounts reveal the intricate ways in which pre-teenage girls make sense of fandom and stardom, discuss taste, fashion and body aesthetics, and construct notions of attractiveness and ethical selfhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has pointed to the potential of entertainment media as a source of informal sex education for young people. New social media may offer additional potential in this respect. In this paper, we consider the pedagogical possibilities and limitations of online fan forums, via a case study of the forums of the controversial British teen drama seriesSkins. We analyse discussions of the realism of the series' representation of teenage life, and of specific issues (virginity, attractiveness and gay sexuality). We compare participants' discussions of their own experiences – in a section of the forum entitled ‘advice on life’ – with their discussions of the series and the characters. We find that the presentation of issues to do with sexuality sometimes challenges young people to engage in debate, and to move beyond established discourses. However, the value of the series in this respect depends crucially on its ‘openness’ – that is, its avoidance of fixed moral positions – and on its perceived plausibility and authenticity. The forum emerges as a new space for non-formal, peer-to-peer education that has limitations as well as new pedagogical possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Adolescents are at increased risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the Southern states of the USA, where rates among youth are higher than in the rest of the nation. This paper reports on findings from a pilot study of an HIV prevention intervention that uses interactive theatre to educate young people about sexual health. The intervention was developed in Los Angeles and adapted for testing in the Southern USA, with its legacy of abstinence-based approaches to sexual health education. This study assessed intervention effects among a sample of young people in two public high schools in North Carolina. We used a pre-test, post-test quasi-experimental evaluation design to assess changes in 317 ninth-grade participants' knowledge and attitudes about HIV. At post-test, we found statistically significant increases in participants' HIV knowledge (t = 60.14;p = 0.001), as well as changes in attitudes (χ2 = 8.23;p = 0.042) and awareness (χ2 = 4.94;p = 0.026). Focus group data corroborated an increase in HIV knowledge and a reduction in HIV stigma as successful outcomes of intervention participation. The findings make an important contribution to the literature on theatre-based interventions for sexual health education. Furthermore, they highlight the importance of considering sociocultural and political context in implementing HIV prevention interventions in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum was introduced in Fiji schools in 2010 in response to concern about increasing teenage pregnancies and young people's vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections and other health and social problems. However, conservative and suspicious parental attitudes towards FLE have been an obstacle. The need for an educational programme for parents to complement the FLE curriculum taught in schools is now urgent. This study examines parents' views on the sex and sexuality component of the FLE curriculum. Data were collected from 474 individuals using questionnaires, focus groups and face-to-face interviews. Participants represented different ethnic groups with Indigenous Fijians, women and Christians in the majority. The influence of the Christian religion on negative attitudes towards homosexuality and the use of protection is strong, as is parents' resistance to discussing sex education with their children. The paper concludes with suggestions on how to counter parents’ resistance to what they negatively perceive as Western or unbiblical ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Comprehending praxis is a critical step in developing interventions that can have a real-world impact on people's lives. In this paper, we reflect on the lessons learned in the development of a curriculum for young people living in informal settlements in eThekwini, who are exposed to numerous vulnerabilities, including HIV-related risks associated with precarious urban livelihoods. Behavioural interventions have not led to commensurate reductions in HIV incidence, and the impact of these approaches remains regulated by numerous contextual conditions affecting those participating. Our collaborative project tested the impact of implementing a combination of the well-tested gender transformation intervention, Stepping Stones, with a new livelihood transformation curriculum, Creating Futures, among young people in eThekwini's informal settlements. Creating Futures was grounded in the theory and practice of sustainable livelihoods, but equally in the experience of the multi-disciplinary project team members who have conducted both research and development work among youth in the eThekwini area. Our approach was founded on the work of Doug Kirby, and we are indebted to him for his inputs. His logical model approach ensured that the team remained orientated to specific curriculum outcomes. Analysis of the results at 12 months post-baseline indicates positive livelihood outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from focus group interviews conducted in Swedish government group homes for young people with a history of psychosocial problems, substance misuse and criminal behaviour. Participants were asked to reflect on a newly developed sex education curriculum located within a harm-reduction paradigm prior to its implementation. In addition to appreciating the proposed 10 sessions, young people positively evaluated the proposed dialogical and norm critical teaching style as likely to facilitate productive discussion about sexuality. Findings will contribute to future implementation of the sex education curriculum across a range of institutional settings. Results also highlight the democratic aspects of involving vulnerable young people in matters that directly concern them, and underline the importance of properly contextualised forms of sex education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on oral history accounts elicited from 25 Gĩkũyũ elders in Kenya, this paper describes a non-penetrative sexual practice,ngweko, permitted for the sake of pleasure and sexual release among circumcised and unmarried young people in the Gĩkũyũ community. Lessons that can be learned from the pre-colonial Gĩkũyũ sexuality culture are identified, and possible implications for contemporary sexuality education explored. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses data from a focus group conducted with a group of female pupils aged 13–14 to re-examine the assumption that pupils' negative assessments of sex and relationship education (SRE) should be understood only as a reflection of inadequate teaching. Focusing on the emotional aspects of their accounts, and the inconsistencies in their efforts to present a collective story of SRE, findings suggest that there are other ways in which such accounts can be read. Drawing on insights from psychoanalytic theory concerning the emotional aspects of learning and the teacher–pupil relationship, it is suggested that these accounts can also be understood as a result of transference. Using psychoanalytic understandings of the role of sexual learning in adolescence, findings reveal that pupils' relationships to SRE are complex and need to be understood as being tied up with internal struggles and anxieties about their own sexual development. This reading is presented as an additional perspective for teachers and is one that would benefit from further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents the findings from an explorative study comparing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) against local realities for young people in Uganda. This was done by analysing statements by Ugandan adolescents extracted from focus group discussions relating to two SRHRs central in this research: (1) the right of young people to complete and accurate information; and (2) the right to self-determination. We found discrepancies between these universally formulated rights and the (political, economic and community) context young Ugandans live in. Consequently, we argue how comprehensive rights-based sex education should take this local reality into account to make SRHR meaningful for Ugandan adolescents. Implications for the content, form and context of comprehensive rights-based sex education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People of Latin American descent make up the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the USA. Rates of pregnancy, childbirth, and sexually transmitted infections among people of Latin American descent are higher than among other ethnic groups. This paper builds on research that suggests that among families of Latin American descent, mothers have a particularly strong influence on the sexual attitudes and behaviours of their children, yet that parents of Latin American descent communicate less with their children about sex than parents of other ethnic groups. It examines the messages about sex women received as children in their countries of origin, and how these messages and their views of the USA influence the sexual education women provide for their children. On the basis of data from focus groups, we suggest that, in spite of the persistence of sexual silence, some women's self-reflective analyses of their own sexual education as well as their views of the USA as a sexually more open society contribute to their views of silence as dangerous and trigger more open communication with sons and daughters. Mothers hope to break the cycle of unwanted pregnancy by speaking with daughters about the consequences of menstruation and with sons about contraception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although schools have been identified as important settings in which young people's sexual and reproductive health (SRH) can be promoted, there has been limited research into the role of teachers in delivering sex education programmes. This paper describes findings from a qualitative study of teachers' beliefs and attitudes towards young people's SRH in a Ugandan secondary school, and discusses the ways in which conservative attitudes to young people's sexual activity and an adherence to gender stereotypes can limit students' access to SRH information and services. Teachers' attitudes, beliefs and often superstitions relating to young people's sexual activity inevitably affect the content and nature of school-based sex education. Findings from this preliminary study suggest that, rather than assuming teachers act as neutral delivery mechanisms in schools, these attitudes and beliefs must be taken into consideration and addressed in the development of school-based sex education programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to further explore the role that culture plays in the provision and assimilation of sex education among Latina immigrants in the USA. To accomplish this, researchers conducted focus groups and interviews with 30 women from Central and South America who have lived in the USA for at least five years. Participants were asked to reflect on their experience with sex education in their home country and in the USA, and to assess how their attitudes towards sex education may impact their behavioural choices as parents and as sexually-active women. The findings demonstrate a wide range of views that did not follow patterns by common demographical proxy variables, suggesting that such variables are not enough to predict adoption of new cultural values that are different from their family's traditional norms. Instead, adherence to traditional cultural beliefs appeared to be a better predictor of attitudes and behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on qualitative research with Australian parents concerning their attitudes to sexuality and relationships education, both at home and in school. A wide range of values and attitudes were represented among parents in this study. Regardless of the varying approaches parents used, all participants expressed a desire for their children to be well informed about sex, sexual health and relationships, yet many felt inadequate to the task of providing high-quality sex education to their children. Some participants blamed this lack of confidence on their own limited education about sexuality. Their main concern was to ensure that their children are safe and that when they do become sexually active their experiences of sex are positive. Most participants saw sex education as primarily their responsibility, with school sex education as an important adjunct. They wanted to be well informed about the timing and content of school programmes for their children, and to be assured that those educators who will be teaching their children about sexual health have the skills and qualifications to do their job well, while remaining sensitive to the diversity of values among students and their families. While most parents who participated in the research supported sexuality education in schools, they did so with reservations. In particular, they wanted schools to take an active role in communicating with them about the content of sexuality education programmes and be open to meeting with those parents who expressed concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]