ERIC Number: EJ1145742
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0954-0253
EISSN: N/A
The Power of Feminist Pedagogy in Australia: Vagina Shorts and the Primary Prevention of Violence against Women
Ollis, Debbie
Gender and Education, v29 n4 p461-475 2017
This paper examines the challenges of using feminist pedagogies in the development of school-based interventions to address Violence Against Women in Sexuality and Relationships Education in Australia. The focus of the paper is a feminist-based classroom program developed by a group of teachers, which was piloted in three secondary schools in Melbourne. The paper uses interview data from the teachers who taught in the program as well as the students who completed it to explore the feminist discourses embedded in the key program resources. The analysis shows that the program draws heavily on liberal and radical feminist approaches, both perceived by many gender scholars as having limited understandings of gender by comparison with post-modern approaches. The data also indicate that these approaches "have the potential to elicit" powerful responses from students, raising their awareness of sexism, objectification and sexual safety. The paper concludes by arguing that, while many scholars see post-modern approaches as conceptually superior, they are in practice extremely difficult to operationalize and therefore of limited practical use.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Feminism, Violence, Prevention, Females, Womens Studies, Sexuality, Intervention, Interpersonal Relationship, Victims of Crime, Classroom Techniques, Interviews, Teacher Attitudes, Student Attitudes, Program Effectiveness, Program Evaluation, Secondary Schools, Qualitative Research, Online Surveys, Learning Activities, Controversial Issues (Course Content)
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A