Discourses of Exclusion

Sexuality Education's Silencing of Sexual Others

Bibliographic Data

ID12973166
AuthorsJohn P Elia (San Francisco State University, corresponding author), Michele J Eliason (0000-0003-0666-5612, San Francisco State University)
Year2010
Volume7
Issue1
Pages29-48
Publication date2010-01-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of LGBT Youth (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1936-1653 • E-ISSN: 1936-1661
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/19361650903507791
OpenAlexW1967840715
LanguageEN
Citations received47
References cited20

This article begins with a broad historical overview detailing how school-based sexuality education has been taught from a specific kind of heterosexual perspective that has excluded lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identified (LGBTQ) students as well as heterosexual students who do not fall along culturally dominant heterosexual lines. To illustrate such exclusionary sexuality education, we examine the discourses of exclusion in U.S.-based and international models of sexuality education. Then we turn to a continuum of sexuality education programs ranging from no sexuality education at all, abstinence-only, abstinence-based, to comprehensive, and anti-oppressive approaches. We conclude by offering ideas about the ideal characteristics or qualities needed for sexuality education to be inclusive of LGBTQ youth. This would not only stem the tide of the negative impact exclusionary sexuality education practices have had on these youth, but also such an educational experience—which would involve an inclusive interdisciplinary approach across the curriculum—would likely be beneficial in a variety of ways to all students

Human sexuality · Political science · Sex education · Sexuality education · Social exclusion · Sociology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology