| Abstract: | Cartesian dualism has left a heavy legacy in terms of how we think about ourselves, so that we treat humans as minds within bodies rather than mind/body unities. This has far‐reaching effects on our conceptualisation of the sex/gender distinction and on the relationship between bodies and identities. Related to this is a dualism that is embedded in how we think of children in schools; we focus on the soundness of the mind, with the sound body treated as an afterthought. This paper considers the effects of this dualism on the position of sex education both in the formal curriculum and in the physical and metaphorical fabric of schooling, considering how the body and its sexuality are both ubiquitous and marginalised within schools. I examine how schools discipline both children's bodies in general and their sexuality and sexual expression in particular, and contrast this with the sidelining of education through and about bodies, and the positioning of these aspects of education as potentially polluting. |
