In the fight against HIV/AIDS, the Behavior Change Communication (BCC) model stands as international best practice in preventive education. Ideally, a BCC intervention aims to changes behaviors and attitudes by facilitating group negotiation and introspection, with a resultant improvement in health. However, introducing this best practice model to…

Sex education is almost as sensitive a topic in public schooling as is the imposition of high-stakes testing. Both typically claim to be value-free contributions to the development of the student's cognitive, psychological and sometimes even moral maturity. Ironically each seems to short-change students in all three areas of development. The focus…

The FPA Speakeasy parent course is a UK initiative with the aim of helping parents to talk with their children about sex and relationships. The nationally accredited course is delivered in a variety of community settings and supports parents to be more confident, knowledgeable and open in talking about a range of matters relating to sex and…

The aim of this work is to raise awareness of sexual minority issues with a special focus on the primary school domain in Greece. Greece is considered a conservative country where most people regard homosexuality as taboo and non-heterosexual people as an invisible group. Research data from interviewing primary Greek teachers showed that…

Finland is probably the only country where sex education has been studied in two consecutive national surveys, in 1996 and 2006 directed at biology and health education teachers, and in 2000 and 2006 by measuring adolescents' sexual knowledge. In 2006, responses from teachers and students could be combined for 339 schools. The most important…

Factors that contribute to sexual decision-making among young people are varied, and several determinants have been identified as contributing to the process. However, the influential role of music preference has been sidelined both in the literature and by sex and relationships educators. The research outlined in this paper explores the normative…

This paper aims to examine the potential long-term legacy of abstinence-only discourses in the USA in order to consider the extent of the changes that might actually occur as a consequence of the 2009 presidential election. It first provides a brief overview of the history of discourses regarding youth sexuality and sex education over the past 30…

This paper draws on focus group and interview data from 45 young men from the north of England to explore the barriers to effective sex and relationships education (SRE). Recent policy debates in relation to establishing statutory SRE in schools provide an opportunity to revisit how it is currently delivered to, and received by, young men. The…

It is very important that sex and relationships education (SRE) programme developers attempt to elicit, understand and incorporate young people's views in the SRE development and implementation processes. This paper reports the findings of a study that sought to identify young people's self-identified learning needs and priorities regarding sexual…

This research set out to explore how young people could contribute to sexual health curriculum development, in order to increase the relevance of such curricula to school children. The aim was to facilitate young Irish people, through a participatory research methodology, to generate, collate and present their views on effective sex education.…

In this article we discuss the findings from a recent study of UK policy and practice in relation to sexual health services for young people, based in--or closely linked with--schools. This study formed part of a larger project, completed in 2009, which also included a systematic review of international research. The findings discussed in this…

This interpretive study draws on interdisciplinary scholarship on affect and knowledge to ask: toward what feelings do abstinence-only and comprehensive sexuality education curricula direct us? A methodology that is attuned to double exposures is discussed, and one abstinence-only sexuality education curriculum and one comprehensive sexuality…

An early-twentieth-century movement for social purity in England, Canada and the United States aimed to eradicate prostitution, the double standard of sexual morals and their dreaded corollary, the venereal diseases. Social purists suggested that "purity education" for children was the best pedagogical prophylaxis against such…

This paper draws on the theory and method of free association in psychoanalysis to frame an investigation of the content, structure, and function of the thinking expressed in conversations about sexuality and sexual health. The investigation emerges from an ongoing three-year study of the way adolescents, teachers, and peer sex educators negotiate…

There are many assumptions made about the beliefs behind abstinence-only until marriage (AOUM) sex education, yet comparatively little research examining the views of abstinence education providers. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 21 abstinence grantees throughout New York State, I examine how individuals working in abstinence organizations…