Sexual Subjects Young people, sexuality and education Louisa Allen Sexual Subjects By the same author THE LIFE OF BRIAN: Masculinities, Sexualities and Health in New Zealand (with H. Worth and A. Paris) Sexual Subjects Young people, sexuality and education Louisa Allen © Louisa Allen 2005 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2005 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-13: 978–1–4039–1283–1 ISBN-10: 1–4039–1283–1 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Allen, Louisa Sexual subjects : young people, sexuality, and education / Louisa Allen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1–4039–1283–1 (cloth) 1. Sex instruction for youth. 2. Youth–Sexual behaviour. 3. Sex instruction for youth–New Zealand. I. Title. HQ35.A615 2005 613.9′ 071′ 293–dc22 2005042903 10987654321 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne For Andrew, with love This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Tables ix Acknowledgements x 1 Introduction 1 Locating the research 1 Conceptual frameworks 7 Structure of the book 12 2 Researching Sexuality: Methodological Complexities 15 Locating the researcher 15 Methodological framework 16 Accessing a sample for research on sexuality 20 Designing the methods and analysing data 24 Through my ‘I’ : The researcher/researched relationship 29 3 Sperm Meets Egg? Young People’s Conceptualisations of Sexual Knowledge 35 The constitution of sexual knowledge within sexuality 36 education programmes Young people’s constitution of sexual knowledge 39 What young people say they know about sexual knowledge 50 Sources of sexual knowledge 52 The relationship between knowledge and practice: young people’s perceptions 56 So what does this mean for sexuality education? 60 4 Sexual Subjects: Young People’s Sexual Subjectivities 62 Recognising the sexual self 63 Describing the sexual self 66 Discourses and sexual subject positions 71 Discursive manoeuvres: performing sexuality in the 86 research context Concluding comments 91 5 ‘Like I’m floating somewhere ten feet in the air’: 94 Experiencing the Sexual Body Bodies of theory 95 Young women’s narratives of sexual embodiment 98 vii Young men’s narratives of sexual embodiment 101 Sexual disembodiment and dysembodiment 104 Implications of a continuum of embodiment for the ‘gap’ 112 equation Conclusion 114 6 Desire, Pleasure, Power: Understanding Young People’s 116 Sexual Relationships The couple context: young people’s (hetero)sexual practices 117 Pleasure and desire in relationships 123 Negotiating sexual activity in relationships 129 Knowledge ‘in’ practice 136 Knowledge ‘in’ practice: negative consequences 141 Conclusion 143 7 Constituting a Discourse of Erotics in Sexuality 145 Education Conceptualising a discourse of erotics 146 Findings which support the inclusion of a discourse of 148 erotics in sexuality education Implications of a discourse of erotics for particular sectors 153 of the youth population A final note 163 8 Closing Thoughts and Future Directions 165 Main research findings 165 Implications for sexuality education 168 Directions for future research 172 Appendix 175 Notes 177 References 181 Copyright Acknowledgements 193 Index 194 viii Contents List of Tables Table 3.1 What Young People Think They Are Knowledgeable 50 About Table 3.2 Preferred Sources of Sexual Knowledge 53 Table 3.3 Does Sexual Knowledge Affect Young People’s 57 Relationships? ix [...]... constitution of sexuality and its institutional capture in sex education. 1 A main concern of this work has been to gain greater insight into young people’s (hetero)sexual subjectivities, knowledge and practices and to think about how such understandings might inform sexuality education This task has involved understanding young people’s own conceptualisation of their (hetero)sexual selves, knowledge and practices... knowledge, practices and subjectivities are and in this way problematise the notion of the ‘gap’ phenomenon for determining sexuality education s effectiveness Sexuality education: The New Zealand context Historically sex education has served as a vehicle for furthering a number of moral and social imperatives, of which arming young people with knowledge about how to prevent STIs and pregnancy has endured... health education (Tasker, 2004) In 1999 a new Health and Physical Education curriculum was released replacing the previous health, physical education and home economics syllabuses Sexuality Education was named as one of the key areas of learning in this curriculum with attention drawn to a distinction between this and the concept of ‘sex education According to the curriculum: the term sexuality education ... promotion and the socioecological perspective.5 The term ‘sex education generally refers only to the physical dimension of sexuality education (Ministry of Education, 1999, p 38) The curriculum states that the overall purpose of sexuality education is to ‘provide students with the knowledge, understanding, and skills to develop positive attitudes towards sexuality, to take care of their sexual health and. .. their reproductive and sexual health education programmes in order to increase their efficacy and only half undertook the required consultation process with parents and caregivers The new Health and Physical Education curriculum has endeavoured to address sexuality education s pedagogy while the Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy has provided a vision of young people’s sexual and reproductive health... the fluidity and diversity of sexual identities and a political/theoretical interest and commitment to decentring (hetero )sexuality Along with my (hetero)sexual identity I am also a 31 year old, Pakeha1 woman who was born in England and emigrated to New Zealand at four years old As a consequence of living most of my life in New Zealand and feeling a strong connection with its landscape and culture,... anti-racist and disability studies (Ramazanoglu and Holland, 2002, p 16) Ramazanoglu and Holland maintain that what is distinctive Researching Sexuality: Methodological Complexities 19 about feminist research is ‘the particular positioning of theory, epistemology, and ethics that enables feminist researchers to question “truths” and explore relations between knowledge and power’ (Ramazanoglu and Holland,... studies with astute analyses and infinite energy Kay Morris Matthews and Roger Dale for sagacious advice and unfailing support always, and Alison Jones for inspiring a passion for feminist theories of education and providing me with more opportunities than I can name Through the tunnels and turns of this research I have encountered people whose dedication to sexuality education and professionalism has greatly... New Zealand) the first section documents this in terms of their number length and type For those who work with or care for young people, this kind of information is extremely valuable for contextualising and understanding their sexual experiences The pleasures of young peoples’ relationship experience are often considered obvious or unimportant and subsequently rarely explored in sexuality education. .. intersex and transgendered youth, young people of different cultural and religious backgrounds as well as young people with disabilities While these young people were not targeted by the study, I argue their visibility is integral to understanding youth and sexuality The inclusion of such issues of diversity in this book is a statement about how imperative any acknowledgement and inclusion of these young . sex and sexuality. As it currently stands, sexuality education is a component of health education (Tasker, 2004). In 1999 a new Health and Physical Education curriculum. subjectivities, knowledge and practices and to think about how such understandings might inform sexuality education. This task has involved understanding young people’s