Sexuality, Schooling, and Adolescent Females

The Missing Discourse of Desire

Bibliographic Data

ID5838482
AuthorsM Fine (0000-0001-5941-7247, University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author)
Year1988
Volume58
Issue1
Pages29-54
Publication date1988-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHarvard Educational Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0017-8055 • E-ISSN: 1943-5045
PublisherHarvard Education Publishing Group (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.17763/haer.58.1.u0468k1v2n2n8242
OpenAlexW1864790508
LanguageEN
Citations received663
References cited10

Michelle Fine argues that the anti-sex rhetoric surrounding sex education and school-based health clinics does little to enhance the development of sexual responsibility and subjectivity in adolescents. Despite substantial evidence on the success of both school-based health clinics and access to sexuality information, the majority of public schools do not sanction or provide such information. As a result, female students, particularly low-income ones, suffer most from the inadequacies of present sex education policies. Current practices and language lead to increased experiences of victimization, teenage pregnancy, and increased dropout rates,and consequently, ". . . combine to exacerbate the vulnerability of young women whom schools, and the critics of sex education and school-based health clinics, claim to protect."The author combines a thorough review of the literature with her research in public schools to make a compelling argument for "sexuality education" that fosters not only the full development of a sexual self but education in its broadest sense

Argument (complex analysis · Vulnerability · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy

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