The missing discourse of desire in sexuality education
Introduction
The discourse of desire and pleasure in sexuality education have been chronically neglected by school. The main reason for that is because it deviated from the ‘right’ path -- three dominant discourses. The existence of desire and pleasure is incompatible with those dominant discourses. This essay gives an analysis of the reasons as well as the consequences for the largely absence of this missing discourse in sexuality education by narrating my own experience from three stages of my educational career.
Body
(1) Sexuality as violence
My own experiment of sexuality education from school in China is very limited when i was in primary school. The hygiene class was always occupied …show more content…
The lecturer educated us that chastity was an important treasure for everyone especially for girls and we should save it until marriage. She also claimed that sex could divert our attention from study, but she did not oppose masturbation. It is an interesting paradox. It seems that the cardinal principle of adolescents is not study hard but premarital abstinence, and the ultimate goal is to show loyalty to their future husband or wife. Within today’s standard sex education curricula, the adolescent women are encouraged to guard their virtue -- respect themselves and control their own desire. Adolescent women who admit that they have sexual desire are seen horny and lewd, this is more so for women. Due to the moral pressure, the degree of participation is not high when topic turns to the desire in sexuality education. Desire becomes a kind of taboo and danger in public places. Because of the stereotype that the dominant purpose of sex for women is reproduction, adolescent women may subconsciously feel they have the responsibility to keep her chastity (Allen, 2003). Fear of being ostracized leads adolescents speechless, especially in a coed situation. Not only for the students, the teachers are also struggling that whether they should talk about desire in sexuality class or not. First, in order to lead students to the path of ‘moral right’, teachers somehow have to show their negative attitude towards sexual desire. Second, teachers may feel uncomfortable if there is a silence of awkwardness. To avoid the embarrassing atmosphere, the majority choose not to mention desire of sexuality. It reflects the moral conflicts hidden in the different layers of ambivalence: the conflicts between self-control and self-indulgence, pain and pleasure, taboo and
Introduction
The discourse of desire and pleasure in sexuality education have been chronically neglected by school. The main reason for that is because it deviated from the ‘right’ path -- three dominant discourses. The existence of desire and pleasure is incompatible with those dominant discourses. This essay gives an analysis of the reasons as well as the consequences for the largely absence of this missing discourse in sexuality education by narrating my own experience from three stages of my educational career.
Body
(1) Sexuality as violence
My own experiment of sexuality education from school in China is very limited when i was in primary school. The hygiene class was always occupied …show more content…
The lecturer educated us that chastity was an important treasure for everyone especially for girls and we should save it until marriage. She also claimed that sex could divert our attention from study, but she did not oppose masturbation. It is an interesting paradox. It seems that the cardinal principle of adolescents is not study hard but premarital abstinence, and the ultimate goal is to show loyalty to their future husband or wife. Within today’s standard sex education curricula, the adolescent women are encouraged to guard their virtue -- respect themselves and control their own desire. Adolescent women who admit that they have sexual desire are seen horny and lewd, this is more so for women. Due to the moral pressure, the degree of participation is not high when topic turns to the desire in sexuality education. Desire becomes a kind of taboo and danger in public places. Because of the stereotype that the dominant purpose of sex for women is reproduction, adolescent women may subconsciously feel they have the responsibility to keep her chastity (Allen, 2003). Fear of being ostracized leads adolescents speechless, especially in a coed situation. Not only for the students, the teachers are also struggling that whether they should talk about desire in sexuality class or not. First, in order to lead students to the path of ‘moral right’, teachers somehow have to show their negative attitude towards sexual desire. Second, teachers may feel uncomfortable if there is a silence of awkwardness. To avoid the embarrassing atmosphere, the majority choose not to mention desire of sexuality. It reflects the moral conflicts hidden in the different layers of ambivalence: the conflicts between self-control and self-indulgence, pain and pleasure, taboo and