Conservative Sex Education - Assignment Example

Constructing Sexual Subjects (Name) (Institution Affiliation) (Date) Conservative Sex Education Historically, sex education is supposed be an assortment of activities that attempt to pass sex knowledge to different audiences. However, implications for sexuality and gender issues are a trick subject especially in schools today. In as much as sex education appears as a logical task, research indicates that there could be some complications regarding the subject. For instance, since the advent of HIV/AIDS, most artifacts targeting children have been focusing on negative health warnings. In addition, children’s material often discusses sex and sex implications vaguely though some texts attempt to portray sex as a procreation exercise. This article seeks to analyze sexuality discourses approach in children’s sex education. Specifically, this article focus is on Dr. Tiffany jones’s lecture, “Sex and Gender Identity.” Conservative Sex Education As stated earlier, Dr. Tiffany jones’s lecture, Sex and Gender Identity is fundamental to this article since it touches on gender and sex. Jones lecturer explores various topics revolving around sexuality such as: sex, gender and governance, liberal sexuality, and common myths about sex. According to Dr. Tiffany Jones’s lecture, it is a modern artifact aimed at engaging young adults about sex and implications of sex. According to Jones, some educators adopt conservative sex education whereby they use authoritative approaches. As such, sex educators who are conservative concentrate on instilling values, practices and beliefs. Therefore, students in this kind of setting are just passive recipients of this knowledge (Tait, 2012). Basically, conservative sex education aims to prepare young adults to follow civic, social, religious or local community. Since conservative sex education is somehow rigid, diversity beyond this model is demonized or seen as a fallacy. When it comes to gender, sex and sexuality issues, conservatives view this orientation in a bipolar opposition. As such, one is either female or male. Some of the sexuality discourses that shed light on conservative sex education include: religious education, physical hygiene, storks and fairies, sexual moralities, birds and bees, biological science, abstinence and ex-gay redemption. Conservative sex topics only talk about sex as a means of reproduction. In fact, the above texts avoid to touch on sex pleasurable means in human anatomy. Therefore, anything outside these materials is seen as unconventional (Taylor, 2003) Most conservative artifacts concentrate on heterosexual education. According to Jones, sexuality is about desires, acts, feelings, and attractions (Jones, 2011b). However, different discourses have different ways of defining sex education. For instance, the discourses narrow sex topics to be only relevant in marriages and reproduction, a developmental stage and as an identity aspect. For the longest time, schools use sex governance as a way of teaching about sex (Hillier and Jones, 2012). In the first place, some schools have refused to hire teachers who portray different beliefs concerning sex. In public schools, sex has been widely used as information relay in HIV/AIDS prevention. By the same token, teachings of conservative sex perceive sexuality problem as threats towards values and beliefs. Assumptions Concerning the Child Sex education has a lot of assumptions concerning the child. For instance, there is the myth that male children are the latest victims in schools (Hillier and Jones, 2012). Discourses of masculinity and feminism promote gender roles in class. Consequently, children grow up believing that they can only take part in different things from the opposite sex. As such, this type of teaching limits males and females through biological determinism. For instance, in a class setting, a teacher may favor the boy child during answering technical questions while expect the girls to tidy up the classroom. Such type of education is unbalanced since it values male masculinity than the girl child. According to Tait (2012), liberal sexuality strives to strike a balance regarding gender roles. As a result, there is the honor ship of female achievement across the board. Liberal sexuality is about measuring individuals by character as opposed to their gender. In this segment, focus is to have equal outcomes between male and females. Therefore, as a sex educator, one should put into consideration the fact that conservative education can limit abilities in students. It is important to find means in which one can promote equality among students in order to boost their ability. Confining pupils to gender roles hinders them from becoming as instrumental as they should be in the society. Ideal Sexuality According to Dr. Jones, ideal sexuality is education that is keen on touching on every subject regarding sex. As an illustration, critical sexuality education discourse allows students to actively respond to sexuality as well as sexual identities. Sexuality problem only meet a segment of the whole problem which may be inadequate within the modern day society. In that light, DR. Jones advocates that ideal sexuality is inclusive of sex as class liberation (Jones, 2011b). It should also be against radical feminist where the females become victims of their own gender. She also emphasizes on promoting anti-discrimination such as sexuality against gender basis. In this time and age there are different classes of persons. Having inclusive sexuality promotes an environment where everyone is put on the same level. Inclusive education should involve pregnant teens, GLBTIQ among other groups. That said, schools should put into consideration diversity and involve these groups in every function in order to promote a sense of belonging. Moreover, Dr. Jones supports ideal sexuality by calling for safe and supportive sex spaces. In particular, she sheds light on sexual abuse detection as well as homophobic activities. In the spirit of promoting equality, ideal sexuality also touches on gay-Lib discourse. Therefore, in postmodern sex education, it allows students to explore various perspectives on sexual matters and knowledge. It is also a way of promoting a deconstructive approach towards culture and other assumptions (Jones, 2011b). The sexuality problem according to Dr. Jones is a means of teaching against hegemonic cultural truths. Therefore, Dr. Jones artifact celebrates diversity and analyzing gender identities as constructs. Conclusion . Dr. Jones lecturer touches on various types of discourses in relation to sexuality. The purpose of these discourses is somewhat different, making it impossible to establish if they are effective. Through observation of various approaches towards sex education, conservative sexuality promotes limited knowledge towards gender and sex. As such, young adults have limited exposure since conservative sexuality in only about puberty, marriage and reproduction. Any other development outside conservative sexuality is viewed as unconventional. Of course this will have detrimental effects on students who view themselves as different. On the other hand, Dr. Jones promotes the need to have ideal sexuality education to deal with different classes of individuals. Liberal sexuality helps to do away with discrimination and fosters achievements without considering gender. Through dealing with sexuality problems, the society will come to terms with diversity issues concerning sexuality. In the long run, dealing with sexuality problem will provide a safe and non-discriminatory environment. References Hillier, L. and Jones, T. et al. (2010). Writing Theelves In 3: The third national study on the sexual health and wellbeing of same sex attracted and gender questioning young people. Melbourne: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society. Jones, T. (2011a). Saving rhetorical children: sexuality education discourses from conservative to post-modern. Sex Education, 11:4, 369-387. Jones, T. (2011b) A Sexuality Education Discourses Framework: Conservative, Liberal, Critical, and Postmodern. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 6: 2, 133 — 175 Tait, G. (2012). Making Sense of Education. New York: Cambridge University Press. Taylor, F. (2003). Content analysis and gender stereotypes in children's books. Teaching Sociology, 31(3), 300-311. Read More