Schooling Sexualities brings together contemporary debate about sexuality with the study of schooling. The book looks closely at the production of sexual identities at school and argues that sexuality is intrinsic to the formation of individual and group identities in schools. It explores not only the formal sexual curriculum but the sexual cultures of both teachers and students. Essential reading for teachers concerned with sexual education.

This volume assembles a range of writers from diverse backgrounds and geographies to examine five broadly-defined areas in elementary education: foundational issues; social and sexual development; curriculum; the family; and gay/lesbian educators and their allies.

'Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Schooling' brings together contributions from a diverse group of researchers, policy analysts, and education advocates from around the world to synthesize the practice and policy implications of research on sexual orientation, gender identity, and schooling.

This book focuses on key contemporary discourses related to sexualities and schooling. Such discourses include: educational strategies used to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students; considerations of how educators might influence students' sexual identity; narratives of risk and violence often asociated with LGBT youth; stories of salvation and protection; as well as debates relating to the 'closet' and calls to 'come out' in the classroom. People often are left out of discussions of sexualities and schooling are also incorporated in this text.

This book's central argument presents educationalists with new ways of understanding the significance of sexuality and gender in young people's lives and suggests ways in which this knowledge is useful in practice.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- 1 The Sexual Landscape of Schooling -- 2 Researching the Sexual Cultures of School -- 3 Picturing Masculinities, Sexualities and Schooling -- 4 Picturing Femininities, Sexualities and Schooling -- 5 Tau(gh)t Bodies: Student Sexual Embodiment and Schooling -- 6 Schooling Heteronormative Cultures -- 7 Schooling Sexual Spaces -- 8 A New Ontology of Sexualities at School -- 9 An Open-Ending: The Sexuality Education Assemblage -- Index

This book is an ethnography of teachers and children in grades 1 and 2, and presents arguments about why we should take gender and childhood sexuality seriously in the early years of South African primary schooling. Taking issue with dominant discourses which assumes children’s lack of agency, the book questions the epistemological foundations of childhood discourses that produce innocence. It examines the paradox between teachers’ dominant narratives of childhood innocence and children’s own conceptualisation of gender and sexuality inside the classroom, with peers, in heterosexual games, in the playground and through boyfriend-girlfriend relationships. It examines the nuances and finely situated experiences which draw attention to hegemonic masculinity and femininity where boys and girls challenge and contest relations of power. The book focuses on the early makings of gender and sexual harassment and shows how violent gender relations are manifest even amongst very young boys and girls. Attention is given to the interconnections with race, class, structural inequalities, as well as the actions of boys and girls as navigate gender and sexuality at school. The book argues that the early years of primary schooling are a key site for the production and reproduction of gender and sexuality. Gender reform strategies are vital in this sector of schooling.

In Obscene Pedagogies, Carissa M. Harris investigates the relationship between obscenity, gender, and pedagogy in Middle English and Middle Scots literary texts from 1300 to 1580 to show how sexually explicit and defiantly vulgar speech taught readers and listeners about sexual behavior and consent. Through innovative close readings of literary texts including erotic lyrics, single-woman's songs, debate poems between men and women, Scottish insult poetry battles, and The Canterbury Tales, Harris demonstrates how through its transgressive charge and galvanizing shock value, obscenity taught audiences about gender, sex, pleasure, and power in ways both positive and harmful. Harris's own voice, proudly witty and sharply polemical, inspires the reader to address these medieval texts with an eye on contemporary issues of gender, violence, and misogyny.

Sexuality education in the schools has become a key battleground in the wider social conflict over the sexual norms of Western culture. In Sexual Ideology and Schooling, Alexander McKay conceptualizes the sexuality debates as a battle between two basic but diametrically opposed belief systems about the nature and purpose of sexuality in human life and society—Restrictive and Permissive. He outlines the philosophical/moral foundations of a democratic approach to teaching young people about sexuality and persuasively argues that public institutions, including the schools, should base public policy related to sexuality on democratic principles rather than the dictates of sexual ideology.

Issues related to gender and sexual diversity in schools can generate a lot of controversy, with many educators and youth advocates under-prepared to address these topics in their school communities. This text offers an easy-to-read introduction to the subject, providing readers with definitions and research evidence, as well as the historical context for understanding the roots of bias in schools related to sex, gender, and sexuality. Additionally, the book offers tangible resources and advice on how to create more equitable learning environments. Topics such as working with same-sex parented families in elementary schools; integrating gender and sexual diversity topics into the curriculum; addressing homophobic bullying and sexual harassment; advising gay-straight alliances; and supporting a transgender or gender non-conforming student are addressed. The suggestions offered by this book are based on recent research evidence and legal decisions to help educators handle the various situations professionally and from an ethical and legally defensible perspective.