Can you please help me draw a vibrator?
The challenge of balancing information on pleasure in sexuality education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/djes.v3i1.152195Nøgleord:
Sexuality education, Pleasure, Participatory observation, Psychoanalytic theoryResumé
Sexuality education introduces several topics that can cause embarrassment and discomfort. One of the most sensitive is sexual pleasure, which can make teaching more engaging while also risking the integrity and professionalism of the teacher. This article discusses that challenge by analysing a field study conducted at a Danish school at the lower secondary level. Over four days, I observed a workshop on pleasure that led me to question whether it is possible to maintain a professional distance from students when teaching about sex and pleasure, as these topics tend to blur boundaries between the public, personal and private spheres of life. To unfold my reflections on the difficulties of including pleasure in sexuality education, I present two conversations I had with students about vibrators. These conversations are analysed by applying a psychoanalytic conception of sexuality.
Referencer
Allen, L. (2012). ‘Pleasure’s perils? Critically reflecting on pleasure’s inclusion in sexuality education’. Sexualities, 15(3-4), 455-471. DOI: 10.1177/1363460712439654
Allen, L. (2008). 'They Think You Shouldn't be Having Sex Anyway': Young People's Suggestions for Improving Sexuality Education Content. Sexualities. 11(5). 573-594. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460708089425
Angrosino, M. V. & de Pérez, K. A. M. (2005). Rethinking Observation. From Method to Context. In Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2. Ed. Sage Publications. 673-695
Bay-Cheng, L. Y. (2003). The Trouble of Teen Sex: the construction of adolescent sexuality through school-based sexuality education. Sex Education, 3(1). 61-74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1468181032000052162
Boler, Megan (1999). Feeling power: Emotions and education. Routledge
Danish Family Planning Association [Sex og Samfund]. (2024). Det trygge rum [The Safe space]. https://www.underviserportal.dk/grundskole/undervisningsprincipper/det-trygge-rum/
Danish Family Planning Association [Sex og Samfund]. (2023). Uge Sex 2023: Krop, myter og misforståelser. [Week Sex 2023, Bodies, Myths and Misunderstandings]. https://sexogsamfund.dk/om-os/nyheder/uge-sex-2023-krop-myter-misforstaaelser
de La Motte Gundersen, M., Smidt, L. & Andersen, K. (2024). Sundheds og Seksualundervisning: En grundbog til læreruddannelsen og SSF i grundskolen. København: Akademisk Forlag
Faimberg, H. (1996). ‘Listening to the Listening’. The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 77(4). 667.677. PMID: 8876328
Fine, M. (1988). Sexuality, Schooling and Adolescent Females: The Missing Discourse of Desire. Harvard Educational Review. 58(1). 29-53. DOI: 10.17763/haer.58.1.u0468k1v2n2n8242
Freud, S. (1912). Recommendations to Physician practicing Psycho-Analysis. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Vol. XII (1911-1913). The Case of Screber, Papers on Technique and Other works. 109-120
Freud, S. (2019). Afhandlinger om seksualteori [Three essays on the theory of sexuality]. (2. Ed.) København. Hans Reitzels Forlag
Frisch M, Moseholm E, Andersson M, Andresen JB, Graugaard C. (2019). Sex i Danmark. Nøgletal fra Projekt SEXUS 2017-2018 [Sex in Denmark. Key figures from Project SEXUS 2017-2018]. Statens Serum Institut & Aalborg Universitet, 2019 [Statens Serum Institut and Aalborg University, 2019]
Ford, J. V., Vargas, E. C., Finotelli, I., Fortenberry, J. D. Kismödi, E, Philpott, A., Rubio-Aurioles E., & Coleman, E. (2019): Why Pleasure Matters: Its Global Relevance for Sexual Health, Sexual Rights and Wellbeing, International Journal of Sexual Health, 31(3). 1-14. DOI: 10.1080/19317611.2019.1654587
Forrest, S. P., Strange, V., Oakley, A., and The RIPPLE Study Team Source. (2004). What do young people want from sex education? The results of a need assessment from a peer-led sex education programme. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 6(4). 337-354. DOI:10.1080/13691050310001645050
Haraway, D. (1988) Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective Author(s): Feminist Studies, 14(3) (Autumn, 1988), 575-599. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3178066
Hirst, J. (2013) ‘It's got to be about enjoying yourself’: young people, sexual pleasure, and sex and relationships education, Sex Education, 13(4), 423-436, DOI: 10.1080/14681811.2012.74743
Holland, J., Ramazanoglu, C., Scott, S. Sharpe, S., & Thomson, R. (1992) Risk, power and the possibility of pleasure: Young women and safer sex, AIDS Care, 4(3). 273-283. DOI: 10.1080/09540129208253099
Hyldgaard, K. (2024) Resistance in sexuality education: A psychoanalytic approach. Speki - Nordic Philosophy and Education Review; Vol. 1, 71-85. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5617/speki.11432
Ingham, R. (2005) ‘We didn't cover that at school’: education against pleasure or education for pleasure?, Sex Education, 5(4). 375-388. DOI: 10.1080/14681810500278451
Jappe, E. (2010). Håndbog for pædagogstuderende [Handbook for pedagogue students]. 9. Ed. Frydenlund
Jørgensen, C. R (2012). Deltagende observation i det psykoterapeutiske rum: Psykoanalytiske bidrag til psykologisk observation [Participant observation in the psychotherapeutic space: Psychoanalytic contributions to psychological observation]. In: Pedersen, M., Klitmøller, J. & Nielsen, K. (Ed). Deltagerobservation: En metode til undersøgelse af psykologiske fænomener [Participant observation: A method for studying psychological phenomena]. Hans Reitzels Forlag. 91-105
Kantor, L. M. & Lindberg, L. (2020). Pleasure and Sex Education: The Need for Broadening Both Content and Measurement. AM J Public Health. 110(2). 145-148. Doi:10.2105/AJPH.2019.305320
Kofoed, J., & Staunæs, D. (2015). Hesitancy as ethics. Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology, 6(2). 24-39. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7577/rerm.1559
Koepsel, E. R. (2016) The Power in Pleasure: Practical Implementation of Pleasure in Sex
Education Classrooms, American Journal of Sexuality Education, 11:3, 205-265,
DOI: 10.1080/15546128.2016.1209451
Lacan, J. (1998). The four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis: The seminar of Jaques Lacan Book XI. Norton & Company
Lacan, J. (1991). The Seminar of Lacan 2; The Ego In Freud's Theory And In The Technique Oof Psychoanalysis. Norton & Company
Lamb, S., Lustig, K. & Graling, K. (2013). The use and misuse of pleasure in sex education curricula. Sex Education, 13(3), 305-318. DOI: 10.1080/14681811.2012.738604
Ministry of Children and Education [Børne- og Undervisningsministeriet]. (2021). Sundheds- og seksualundervisning og familiekundskab Faghæfte 2019 [Health, Sexuality and Family Education Curriculum 2019]. https://emu.dk/sites/default/files/2021-06/gsk_vejledning_ssf.pdf
Pound, P., Langford, R. & Campbell, R. (2016). What do young people think about their schoolbased sex and relationship education? A qualitative synthesis of young people’s views and experiences. BMJ Open 6(9). 1-14. DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2016- 011329
Philpott, A., Knerr, W. & Maher, D. (2006). Promoting protection and pleasure: amplifying the effectiveness of barriers against sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy. Lancet. Vol. 368. 1-4. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69810-3
Rasmussen, M.L. (2004). Wounded Identities, Sex and Pleasure: “Doing it” at School. Not!. Discourse Studies in Cultural Politics of Education, 25(4). 445-458. DOI: 10.1080/0159630042000290946
Roien, L. A. & Graugaard, C. & Simovska, V. (2018a). The research landscape of school-based sexuality education. Systematic mapping of the literature. Health Education, 118(2). 159-170. DOI:10.1108/HE-05-2017-0030
Roien, L. A., Simovska, V. & Graugaard, C. (Ed.). (2018b). Seksualitet, skole og samfund: Kritiske perspektiver på seksualundervisning [Sexuality, school and society: Critical reflections on sexuality education]. Hans Reitzels Forlag
Singh A., Both R. & Philpott, A. (2020): ‘I tell them that sex is sweet at the right time’ – A qualitative review of ‘pleasure gaps and opportunities’ in sexuality education programmes in Ghana and Kenya, Global Public Health, 1-13. DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2020.1809691
Stavngaard, L. (Ed). (2020) Sundheds- og Seksualundervisning og Familiekundskab: Inspiration til undervisning fra 0.-9. klasse [Health, Sexuality and Family Education: Inspiration to teaching from 0-9. grade]. Sex & Samfund [Danish Family Planning Association]. https://sexogsamfund.dk/files/media/document/vejledning-til-ssf-2020.pdf
Wind, A., Winther, C. B., Tougaard, A. K. & Sando, A. (2023) Unges viden om Sex, Prævention og Sexsygdomme [Young people's knowledge of sex, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases]. Sex og Samfund [ Danish Family Planning Association]. https://sexogsamfund.dk/files/media/document/Sex%26Samfund_UgeSex%20rapport%202023%2005_Web%2003.02.pdf
Whitehead, D. (2005). In Pursuit of pleasure: Health education as means of facilitating the “health journey” of young people. Health Education. 105(3): 213-227. DOI:10.1108/09654280510595272
Wood, R., Hirst, J., Wilson, L., & Burns-O’Connell, G. (2018) The pleasure imperative? Reflecting on sexual pleasure’s inclusion in sex education and sexual health. Sex Education, 19(1), 1-14. DOI: 10.1080/14681811.2018.1468318
Zaneva, M., Philpott, A., Singh, A., Larsson, G. & Gonsalves, L. (2022). What is the added value of incorporating pleasure in sexual health education? A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE. 17(2). 1-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261034
Zeuthen, K. E. (2018). Jævnt svævende opmærksomhed i et psykoanalytisk perspektiv: børn og seksuelle traumer som eksempel [Free-floating attention in a psychoanalytic perspective: children and sexual trauma as examples]. In: Bøttcher, L. Kousholt, D. & Winther-Lindqvist, D. (Ed.), Kvalitative analyseprocesser: med eksempler fra det pædagogisk psykologiske felt [Qualitative processes of analyses: with examples from the field of educational psychology]. Samfundslitteratur. 89-110
Žižek, S. (2008). In Defense of Lost Causes. Verso
Zupančič, A. (2017). What is sex? The MIT Press
Øyås-Madsen, M. (2023). Seksuel dannelse - Inspiration fra en højskolepraktiker [Sexual bildung – Inspiration from a folk-school practitioner]. Forlaget Højskolerne
Downloads
Publiceret
Citation/Eksport
Nummer
Sektion
Licens
Copyright (c) 2025 Ditte Dyrgaard
Dette værk er under følgende licens Creative Commons Navngivelse (by).
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
