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Sex education is a term that describes high quality learning and teaching concerning a wide range of topics that are related to the subject of sex and sexuality and which entail an exploration about the beliefs and the values concerning such topics (Meiksin, 2020). Sex education can be provided informally on the home front by parents and guardians of children and it can also be imparted in a formal educational setting such as in a school or a college. Sex education ought to be provided at an early stage of a child’s life in order to make a child well aware of the difficulties, the challenges and the vulnerabilities that he or she is likely to be exposed to when taking part in sexual activity at a young age, especially when under 18. Sex education also teaches children who are in school and who are below 18 years of age how to put up a firm stand against non-consensual sex or rape, and how to keep themselves safe from potential predators, who can otherwise take advantage of their innocence and vulnerability and lead them to experience an unpleasant situation that can leave them scarred for life. As such, sex education should form a crucial part of the school system as those who are in their adolescent years are likely to be the most vulnerable to the ill effects of sexual activity. It is the duty and the responsibility of sex educators to make adolescent children aware of ideas, concepts and beliefs concerning sex in general and consensual sex in particular (Meiksin et al., 2020).; This essay engages in a detailed analysis of how vital it is for sex education to be imparted at the school level and it also discusses the role that sex education can play in the prevention of violence.
The theorizing of sexuality is a recent phenomenon, with the history of the same dating back to only the early part of the 1960’s. While it is true that studies on sexuality had taken place prior to the 1960s, that includes empirical research on the subject matter, sexuality itself had not been questioned in the domain of sociological research prior to the 1960’s (Coy et al. 2016). Radical stances that have been demonstrated on the matter of sexuality, especially since the 1960’s have brought about a significant transformation in cultural mores and norms concerning the same, with people in society now discussing sex far more openly and easily than they were comfortable doing so in the past (Coy et al. 2016). The theorizing of sexuality, and open debates on the subject of sexuality had earlier been repressed due to a wide range of social restrictions and repression with regard to this, something that changed significantly ever since the early part of the 1960’s. Sexual behavior is now something that is being catalogued and the psychoanalysis of sexuality has emerged as a sub discipline within the overall sub-discipline of sexuality and sexual theory in sociology (Sundaram 2016). Furthermore, it is important to note that the sexual self and sexual conduct are now coming to be understood as concepts that are embedded in more broad ranging patterns associated with sociality. Sex has now come to be perceived as something that may be described as a high intensity drive, that there are non-sexual motives which are associated with the act of sex, that sexual activity can take place readily and easily in the everyday lives of ordinary people and that wider social relations can play a role in shaping society in today’s day and age (Sundaram 2016). Such new conceptions and views on the subject of sexuality that have come to the fore since the early part of the 1960’s have a role to play in influencing the work of sex educators in modern times, and in western societies, that is, in societies in which sexual crimes are becoming increasingly rampant and where a need persists for sex education to prevail so that the youth of such societies especially those who are below 18 and in their adolescent years are capable of understanding the risks that are associated with random and unplanned sexual behavior (Sundaram 2016).
Sex education when it is provided at the school level is something that helps children who are in middle school and high school in order to be aware the potential risks that are associated with having impulsive sex at a young age (Bragg et al. 2020). Sex educators at the school level are usually known to provide students with vital statistics and evidence of how dangerous the consequences of having sex can be when one is in middle school or in high school, and why sex is an activity that they ought to pursue only once they have attained 18 years of age. Sex education at the school level makes students aware of the infections and the diseases that they may become vulnerable to when they have active sex lives during their years at school, and especially when they engage in unprotected sex (Bragg et al. 2020). The dangers of an early pregnancy are also made known to school students when sex education is provided at the school level. How it is that an early pregnancy can scar a person who is in her teens, for life, is something that is made known by sex educators (Bragg et al. 2020).
Imparting sex education is easier than it seems especially insofar as the United Kingdom is concerned. It is important to remember that society in the UK is a multi-ethnic society and that there are children of different cultural backgrounds that sex educators have to cater to, when imparting sex education at the school level (Thomas and Aggleton 2016). Not all of the cultures and ethnicities that reside in the UK are open to the idea of discussing sex in a public space, such as within the confines of an educational institution (Thomas and Aggleton 2016). More often than not, children who come from culturally diverse families are not encouraged to talk about sex even on the home front and this is something that is capable of making them quite hostile to receiving any type of sex education even if it is provided by the authorities of the school in which they are enrolled (Bragg et al. 2020). For instance, children who belong to South Asian families are likely to experience a lot of taboo and restrictions when it comes to discussing sex in an open space with adults, and sex educators may not be able to get such adolescent children to open up to them or understand and listen to what they have to say. It can turn out to be quite a challenge for educators to reach out to children from South Asian families and get them to accept what they have to tell them and they might also invite a considerable amount of opposition from the parents of such children when rendering sex education. Thus there are quite a few cultural challenges and difficulties that sex educators in the UK have to overcome, in order to be able to provide sex education in a restriction-free way (Bragg et al. 2020).
The imparting of sex education as a measure to prevent violent sexual crimes in particular is something that is especially quite common in the UK today (William and Levineson 2017). Many public and private schools across the cities and towns of the United Kingdom hire sex educators and counselors to come and talk to students about how non-consensual sex is a crime and how it is something that ought to be protested against instead of being accepted or condoned (William and Levineson 2017). The cultural challenges and difficulties that sex educators are faced with when educating children in UK schools about the danger of non-consensual or forced sex, have an important role to play in restricting the otherwise valuable and useful work that is undertaken by sex educators (Dobson and Ringrose 2016). Sex education counselors at UK schools perform a socially responsible act when they inform young minds about what classifies as rape or violent sex, letting them know that this is not an action that is to be accepted passively but that it is a matter which needs to be reported first to their guardians, then to the school authorities if the unfortunate incident takes place within the premises of the school campus or on the campus of any educational institution, and how the matter has also got to be reported to the police immediately so that the latter can follow up immediately on the issue and have the people who are responsible for the gruesome act, arrested and put behind bars (Dobson and Ringrose 2016). Sex educators who come to speak to children at UK schools also make these children aware of how violent or aggressive sex can not only mean rape but that it extends to the act of molesting a person as well, a subject that can be particularly uncomfortable for adolescent children to discuss about, since many children especially those who hail from the culturally diverse backgrounds rooted in the Global South, are people who experience molestation at the hands of their family members, given the patriarchal nature of South Asian societies (Bragg et al. 2020). Thus, the provision of sex education in UK schools, especially its vital role of preventing violent sexual incidents can be difficult and challenging because of cultural norms and values that are unique to specific ethnic societies, norms and values and cultural perceptions that can keep children from such communities from opening up too readily and easily on matters pertaining to sex and who may be hesitant to come up with questions and thoughts on the subject matter because of the cultural taboos that are associated with the act of sex and the act of engaging in a discussion about sex in the cultures and societies from which they hail (Bragg et al. 2020).
As discussed above, in the first section of this essay, the theorizing of sexuality is a recent phenomenon that dates back to the early part of the 1960’s only. It has been declared as per recent and post-modern research on the subject of sexuality that this is an activity which takes place in everyday life, that there may be no-sexual motives that are associated with the act of sex and that social relations can have an important role to play in influencing how sex is perceived and treated in modern Western society today (Meiksin et al. 2020). It is important to remember when discussing the theoretical basis of sexuality especially in the context of sex education in schools and the role that this has to play in preventing violence in society, that sex has for the longest span of time been subjected to many forms of social control (Meiksin et al. 2020).
As such, sex is one of the most intimate forms of human behavior and society has traditionally had very orthodox views on the subject matter, be it modern western society or post-modern western society (Coy et al. 2016). Social rules and regulations have kept people from engaging in as much sexual activity as they would have liked to. Restrictions have been imposed by western society, including religious institutions like the church on how sex ought to be perceived, how it should be engaged in, how it is essentially God’s design for procreation, and that sex simply for pleasure qualifies as lust, and is as such, something that is to be frowned upon. In other words, western society has always attempted to regulate the sexual behavior of people be it in the past or in the present, and this tendency to regulate sexual behavior and impose a variety of social restrictions on this activity can be extended to the work that is undertaken by sex educators as well (Coy et al. 2016). Sex educators have a vital role to play in informing people especially those who are in their youth of the dangers that are associated with unprotected sex and the type of sex that one engages in when one is in middle school or high school (Sundaram 2016).
Yet when discussing the work of sex educators it is important to bear in mind the fact that the work that they do is essentially valuable and beneficial for their target audience. As mentioned above, the sex educators while conveying the notion that unplanned and unprotected sex is bad are people who keep their target audience in schools, mainly young children who are under eighteen years of age, from making bad choices or decisions when it comes to having random and unplanned sex. Children are informed by such sex educators about why unsafe and unprotected sex is something that is capable of harming them in the long run and the advice and guidance that is made available to them by the sex educators is something that not only keeps them safe from untoward incidents such as an unplanned pregnancy but it is also something that keeps them well protected from violent sexual crimes (Thomas and Aggleton 2016). This is because sex educators make it known to children when speaking to them in the school environment, that is, children who are between 13 to 17 years of age, why certain types of sexual behavior are regarded as violent and non-consensual and why willingly accepting such forms of behavior is not advised, given how violent sex is a criminal offense and it is a matter that needs to be reported to the authorities immediately. Thus, the role that is played by sex educators in school is something that is not to be perceived as a form of social control. Rather, it is a form of socially acceptable behavior as such behavior is aimed at helping young children in UK society to keep themselves safe from the hazards that are associated with unplanned and risky sex, including violent sexual behavior (Thomas and Aggleton 2016).
The moral implications associated with any debate and discussion on the subject of sex must be taken into consideration when understanding and evaluating the role of sex educators at the school level and the vital role that such people have to play in preventing violent crimes (Bruno et al. 2020). Sex educators are morally obligated to educate their target audience not only about the risks and the problems that are associated with impulsive sex but also the types of vulnerabilities and difficulties that people who belong to or adhere to certain types of sexual orientation are seen to suffer from (Taket and Crisp 2017). For instance, sex educators in their approach to the subject of the same in a school environment not only have to speak on behalf of the mainstream heterosexual population but also on behalf of sexual minorities. This is largely due to the fact that people who belong to sexual minorities that is people who belong to the LGBTQ community are prone to crimes that are quite violent in much the same way that women and men are at a young age, in general (Taket and Crips 2017). LGBTQ children and young adults are often attacked and abused because of being queer or different from the others and it is necessary on the part of sex educators to inform during the sessions that they take with school children, how people who are queer or LGBTQ are particularly vulnerable to violent sexual crimes, pointing out in the process to the measures and the safeguards that can be taken by children who are indeed queer or LGBTQ in order to keep themselves from easily becoming victims of crimes that are of a violent and sexual nature (Dobson and Ringrose 2017).
The strengths that are associated with key issues pertaining to the matter of sexuality, and which are brought to the fore by sex educators even when they are doing their work in a school environment, is that they play an active role in informing the young people in school environments about the type of sexual issues and problems that they can face and which can harm their life in general, should they choose to pursue an active sex life during their school years itself (Bragg et al. 2020). The weakness associated with such work done on the part of sex educators is that such work may still be perceived as a form of social control by certain children and there are others who are not going to want to open up and communicate with the sex educators in the first place because of the cultural and social restrictions that are placed on open ended discussions on sex by the communities from which they hail (Thomas and Aggleton 2016). Thus sex educators may not always be able to fulfill their agenda, and they may not always be able to do a sound job of educating the young children of the UK about the dangers of impulsive and unplanned sex or the importance of reporting sexual crimes of a violent nature to the police, including the act of molestation which many children may be vulnerable to on the home front or in any other place in the city or town in which they live (Taket and Crips 2017).
In conclusion it can be stated that the work which is performance by sex educators in schools in the UK is something that is quite challenging and that in spite of the difficulties and challenges associated with the job, this is something that definitely makes a contribution towards making the youth gain better understanding and awareness about violent sexual crimes. Sex educators in the schools in the UK do face a lot of restrictions in the course of doing their work, but it needs to be remembered that the activities of the sex educators is something that makes children in UK schools more conscious of how dangerous unprotected sex can be, what violent sex is all about, the many different manifestations of violent sex and also the measures and strategies that need to be taken by children in order to report instances of violent sexual behavior, should they be at the receiving end of such violent sexual behavior, especially if they are sexual minorities or members of the LGBTQ community.
Bragg, S., Ponsford, R., Meiksin, R., Bonell, C. and Emmerson, L., 2020. Dilemmas of school-based relationships and sexuality education for and about consent. Sex Education, pp.1-15
Bruno, L., Joelsson, T., Franzén, A.G. and Gottzén, L., 2020. Heroes and others: tensions and challenges in implementing Mentors in Violence Prevention in Swedish schools. Journal of Gender-Based Violence
Coy, M., Kelly, L., Vera-Gray, F., Garner, M. and Kanyeredzi, A., 2016. From ‘no means no’to ‘an enthusiastic yes’: Changing the discourse on sexual consent through sex and relationships education. In Global perspectives and key debates in sex and relationships education: Addressing issues of gender, sexuality, plurality and power (pp. 84-99). Palgrave Pivot, London.
Dobson, A.S. and Ringrose, J., 2016. Sext education: pedagogies of sex, gender and shame in the schoolyards of Tagged and Exposed. Sex Education, 16(1), pp.8-21
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Williams, D.J. and Neville, F.G., 2017. Qualitative evaluation of the mentors in violence prevention pilot in Scottish high schools. Psychology of violence, 7(2), p.213.
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