Historical studies have shown that, since its beginnings, sex education in England has mostly focused on "damage limitation", emphasising only the dangerous inevitability of pregnancy and childbirth after unprotected sex and the hazards of sexually transmitted diseases. This approach is largely based on restrictive notions of teenage sexuality,…

Pleasure and desire have been important components of researchers' vision for sexuality education for over 20 years, a trend inspired by Michelle Fine's seminal paper, "Sexuality, Schooling, and Adolescent Females: The Missing Discourse of Desire." This essay considers how discourses related to pleasure and desire have been taken up in the USA and…

Drawing on the notion of popular culture as a form of queer emotional provocation, in this paper I suggest that attending to the material enactment of queer pedagogies in context enables an understanding of the importance of attending more fully to the emotional ramifications of queer pedagogies. Working within the context of a research project…

Researchers in sexuality education have tended to focus on formal schooling. However, young people learn about sexuality from a range of sources, including entertainment media. This is particularly important because young people actively seek out entertainment media. They do so because it gives them the kinds of information they want, in ways that…

Research in the area of children's sexuality is largely based on observational and retrospective studies. Childhood studies literature increasingly calls upon the inclusion of children's voices, yet with sensitive topics ethical positions often close research possibilities in the territories of children's worlds. Children are perceived as a…

This paper concerns "The Little Red Schoolbook," an English translation of the Danish book "Den lille rode bog fur skoleelever." After the book's publication in the UK, opponents were successful in pressing for its publisher's prosecution. The ensuing trial led to its withdrawal and its bowdlerisation. It is argued that the work played some part…

The reluctance of parents to provide sex education has been a problem for educators since the first attempts at the modernisation of sex education in the early twentieth century, yet the sexual needs, desires and fears of parents are rarely even mentioned in pedagogical debates. This article examines the intense anxiety and embarrassment felt by…

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…

Education Ordinance 1971 in Hong Kong not only provided girls with a much greater chance of receiving education than had hitherto been the case, it also had the effect of incorporating them into the regulatory framework of the school system. This paper examines how the discourses of civic education and sex education before and after reunification…

To use the Internet for sex educational purposes and for sex information has been recognised by prior research as benefits of the technological development and important areas to investigate, but few empirical studies have so far been conducted. The purpose of this study was to identify those who use the Internet to seek information about sexual…

Young people in Australia are at greatest risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, and priority actions are necessary for this population group. This study of marginalised and at-risk young people in out-of-school environments was conducted in Western Australia with the aim of obtaining young people's perceptions about their experience…

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) pose a significant threat to the health and well-being of populations worldwide, and to young people in particular. Despite empirical evidence that comprehensive sex education is an important tool for prevention, the legitimacy and content of sex education in schools continue to be challenged by conservative…

As part of a larger study, this article discusses the views of 135 producers from 65 countries around the world regarding the presentation of sex on quality television for children. The article suggests that overall this topic is silenced because it is perceived as either inappropriate or culturally impossible to deal with in the context of a…

In 2004, the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) commissioned the Playing By The Rules research project in response to allegations of sexual assault by members of a professional rugby league team. This article offers an overview of the theoretical and methodological approaches adopted by the team, and the subsequent workplace education…

This article discusses "The Sexualisation of Young People" review, authored by Dr Linda Papadopoulos in 2010 for the UK Home Office. The article examines the review as an academic piece of work, considers it in the context of debates about young people, violence and sexualization, and discusses the characteristics and significance of rhetorical…