Sexuality, Schooling, and Adolescent Females: The Missing Discourse of Desire

TLDR

Anti‑sex rhetoric surrounding sex education and school‑based health clinics limits adolescents’ sexual responsibility and subjectivity, especially low‑income female students who face higher victimization, teenage pregnancy, and dropout rates. The author aims to argue for sexuality education that promotes full sexual self‑development and broad educational empowerment. She combines a comprehensive literature review with empirical research in public schools to support this argument. Her analysis demonstrates that sexuality education fostering sexual self‑development can mitigate the adverse outcomes associated with current policies. The critique underscores how anti‑sex rhetoric exacerbates vulnerability among young women.

Abstract

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.