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ERIC Number: EJ831866
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Mar
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0159-6306
EISSN: N/A
"Looking at the Real Thing": Young Men, Pornography, and Sexuality Education
Allen, Louisa
Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, v27 n1 p69-83 Mar 2006
This article examines the sexually explicit comments and references to pornography in young men's answers to a survey about sexuality education. Instead of viewing these remarks as simply impertinent and therefore discountable, I argue that they offer insights into the constitution of masculine identity and an erotic deficit in sexuality education. Many of these comments make requests for the inclusion of enfleshed (female) bodies in sexuality programmes and the use of pornographic materials (i.e. videos, magazines). These responses can be seen to represent a challenge to school authority in the way they are laden with "shock" value and push at the discursive limits of "sexual respectability". In a school environment that seeks to deny the sexual and contain student sexuality, these statements symbolise an assertion of young men's sexual agency. Young men's remarks also offer a critique of sexuality education that is de-eroticised and which denies them as positive and legitimate sexual subjects. The implications of these comments for how sexuality education might be conceptualised are considered. (Contains 10 notes.)
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A