How gay and bisexual men compensate for the lack of meaningful sex education in a socially conservative state

The information shared in schools on sex education in the USA is highly variable depending on the state and sometimes city in which a student lives. Gay and bisexual students living in a socially conservative, primarily rural state such as Oklahoma often receive little information about sexual health information that pertains to their behaviours unless it is discussing the dangers of sex. Using a qualitative approach, 20 gay and bisexual men currently residing in Oklahoma completed semi-structured interviews about their experiences with sex education and alternate ways to compensate for lack of information provided. Participants noted an awareness of the lack of meaningful sex education or if it was offered, a primary focus on abstinence-only until marriage heteronormative curricula. Participants described various ways they compensated for lack of sex education including accessing pornography and information from the internet. With the current socio-political environment of Oklahoma, it is unlikely wholesale changes to the sex education curricula can be made. The importance of public health professionals using the internet and peer educators to deliver inclusive and informative sexual health information remains salient and viable for men who reside in socio-politically conservative areas like Oklahoma.     

美国青少年性教育模式研究

美国是较早进行性教育的国家之一,其多样的模式和丰富的经验使其受到各国研究者的关注。文章通过对美国两大主要青少年性教育模式的发展历程和现状、价值体系、教育目标、课程内容四大方面的比较研究,以期为我国青少年性教育提供借鉴。     

Adult discrimination against children: the case of abstinence-only education in twenty-first-century USA

This paper analyses abstinence-only education programmes and discourses within the frame of theories of adult discrimination against children. To begin with, a definition of abstinence-only programmes and of the political context in which they were created will be provided. These programmes will then be analysed through the lens of children's rights, as these have been defined by the United Nations. Finally, the concept of ‘childism’ as defined will be used to underline how abstinence-only education programmes can be seen to fit within the larger frame of discrimination against children.     

当代美国青少年性教育的两大模式探析

20世纪后半叶,青少年性教育引起了世界各国的普遍关注。美国是青少年性教育的先行国家之一,它的性教育模式多样纷呈,其中最具代表性的当属综合性性教育模式和唯禁欲性教育模式。本文将回顾这两大性教育模式的发展历程,通过比较两者的性教育目标、性教育内容以及各自的性教育价值取向等,以分析两者背后所隐藏的不同的价值观体系,以期为我国方兴未艾的青少年性教育提供参考。     

Bristol Palin: the pedagogical media spectacle of a sexual abstinence ambassador

This paper explores the public political media spectacle of Bristol Palin's teenage pregnancy and her status as a single mother through the lens of a critical feminist discourse analysis. The author explores how cultural anxieties over teenage sexuality and unintended pregnancy in America are constructed when the pregnant teen is the daughter of an ambitious politician who is White, upper-middle class, and holds evangelical Christian beliefs. From pregnant teen thrust into the media spotlight by her politically ambitious mother to ambassador of sexual abstinence, the pedagogical media spectacle of Bristol Palin promoting abstinence is unique and can be understood as part of a broader postfeminist media culture in which the articulation of feminist empowerment principles, such as female agency and reproductive choice, is subverted within the neoliberal discourse of personal responsibility and financial independence.