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Critically Sex/Ed: Asking Critical Questions of Neoliberal Truths in Sexuality Education

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The Palgrave Handbook of Sexuality Education

Abstract

In this chapter, I argue that conventional sexuality education typically misdiagnoses social injustice as “sexual risk.” I propose an alternative model, one that engages youth in critical analysis of the interplay between sexual well-being and social conditions. Founded on the original tenets of empowerment theory and practice, critical sexuality education counters the depoliticized and divisive rhetoric that typifies sexuality education. Rather than instruct students in “right choices” and “responsible behaviors,” critical sexuality education reverses perspective so that it is not youth that are scrutinized and targeted for intervention but the unjust social and material circumstances of their lives, instead. To illustrate this recommendation, I offer three sample lesson plans, each of which pose critical questions of what commonly goes unquestioned in sexuality education discourse.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University at Buffalo, 685 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA

    Laina Y. Bay-Cheng

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  1. Laina Y. Bay-Cheng
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Louisa Allen

  2. School of Sociology Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Mary Lou Rasmussen

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Bay-Cheng, L.Y. (2017). Critically Sex/Ed: Asking Critical Questions of Neoliberal Truths in Sexuality Education. In: Allen, L., Rasmussen, M.L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sexuality Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40033-8_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40033-8_17

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