The Aims of Sex Education: Demoting Autonomy and Promoting Mutuality
Abstract
In this essay, Paula McAvoy critiques a commonly held view that teaching young people to be good choice makers should be a central aim of sex education. Specifically, she argues against David Archard's recommendation that sex educators ought to focus on the development of autonomy and teaching young people that “choice should be accorded the central role in the legitimation of sexual conduct.” Instead, McAvoy argues that under conditions of gender inequality this view advantages boys and disadvantages girls. Juxtaposing a case of a culturally arranged marriage with a spring break scene from Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, McAvoy shows that focusing on sexual choice making obscures and reifies the unequal social conditions that young people navigate. She concludes by suggesting an alternative that is in line with Sharon Lamb's argument in “Just the Facts? The Separation of Sex Education from Moral Education” that intimate encounters are better governed by attending to our ethical obligations to others.
Number of times cited: 6
- Lauren Clark and Sarah M. Stitzlein, Neoliberal narratives and the logic of abstinence only education: why are we Still having this conversation?, Gender and Education, (1), (2016).
- Sharon Lamb and Renee Randazzo, From I to we: Sex education as a form of civics education in a neoliberal context, Curriculum Inquiry, 46, 2, (148), (2016).
- Professor Venka Simovska, Dr Ros Kane, Venka Simovska and Ros Kane, Sexuality education in different contexts: limitations and possibilities, Health Education, 115, 1, (2), (2015).
- Professor Venka Simovska, Dr Ros Kane, John P. Elia and Jessica Tokunaga, Sexuality education: implications for health, equity, and social justice in the United States, Health Education, 115, 1, (105), (2015).
- Sharon Lamb, Revisiting Choice and Victimization: A Commentary on Bay-Cheng’s Agency Matrix, Sex Roles, 73, 7-8, (292), (2015).
- Anastasia Alevriadou and Ioanna Sereti, Educational Intervention Programme in Sexual Education of a Pre-Adoloscent Boy with Prader- Willi Syndrome: A Case Study, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 185, (98), (2015).
