epublishing store: Intro

Sexual Health eBook Volume3
Chapter 16

The Importance of Broad-Based Human Sexuality Education as the Context for Sexual Health Instruction, Deborah M. Roffman

Sexuality education in the United States can be described as the hapless stepchild of the so-called sexual revolution. In a culture that is unsophisticated and undereducated in its understanding of healthy sexual development and the educational needs of young people, even at the turn of the new millennium, it continues to be controlled by special interest groups promoting a narrow ideological agenda.

In powerful ways and despite an obsessively sex-saturated popular media, American cultural attitudes concerning human sexuality and sexuality education are rooted in centuries-old assumptions and beliefs that have little or no relevance to the realities of modern life. To bring sexuality education into the twenty-first century and to truly meet the needs of young people will require “out of the box” thinking as well as courage and vision on the part of school administrators, boards, teachers, parents, and community leaders, and broad-based public education about such issues as age appropriateness; definitions of sex, sexuality, and sexuality education; the broad parameters of values education and the place of religion in public education; the difference between chastity education and abstinence education; and the unique but complementary roles of families and schools.

This chapter will make the argument for the importance of comprehensive human sexuality education across the developmental spectrum. It will focus on the components of truly comprehensive programming and draw sharp contrasts with the narrow abstinence-only-until-marriage initiative currently promoted throughout the United States. The historical and political contexts that facilitated the rise of the abstinence-only approach will be explored, and suggestions for educating and, in many cases, reeducating the American public about these issues will be offered. Finally, five broad-based and developmentally attuned models of sexuality education, offering important alternatives to typical approaches used in United States—including the SIECUS, European, and Canadian approaches—will be described.

Sexual Health eBook Volume3 Chapter 16 $20 http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/netcart.asp?MerchantID=104436&ProductID=3537189

Back to the list