Sexuality Education in the United States
Course #: WGS 320
Description:
This course investigates the theory and practice of sexuality education in the United States. Sexuality and sexual health education occurs through a number of sites, including but not limited to K-12 schools, colleges and universities, community-based organizations, activist groups, clinical settings, and state institutions (group homes, prisons, etc.). Despite a shift away from federal funding of "abstinence only until marriage" toward so-called "evidence-based comprehensive" content and instruction, scholars illustrate how sex education remains deeply heteronormative, disregards desire and pleasure, constructs sex as risky and dangerous, reproduces gendered and racist ideologies, and neglects the bodies and experiences of trans and gender-nonconforming people. We will investigate these inequalities with an eye toward imagining a liberatory practice of sex education. In addition to utilizing theoretical interventions from critical education studies, queer theory, and feminist public health, we will engage in action-based course projects such as policy analysis or curricula design and implementation.
Pre Requisites: Pre-requisite: At least one WGS course or permission of instructor.