Sexuality, Gender and Schooling: Shifting Agendas in Social Learning

201 Pages·2002·0.9 MB·English

by  Mary Jan Kehily

Sexuality, Gender and Schooling
The sexuality of young people arouses controversy and remains a source of concern for
parents, teachers, policymakers and politicians. But what young people really think about
sexuality and gender and how these issues impact upon their lives is often marginalised
or overlooked.
Based upon extensive ethnographic research with young people and teachers,
Sexuality, Gender and Schooling offers a telling and insightful account of how young
people acquire sexual knowledge and how they enact an understanding of their own
gender. It high-lights the ways in which young people’s constructions of gender and
sexuality are formed outside the school curriculum, through engagements with various
forms of popular culture—such as teen magazines and television programmes—and
through same-sex friendship groups.
Offering a fresh perspective on a subject of perennial interest and concern, Sexuality,
Gender and Schooling provides accounts from the inside—some of which may challenge
and eclipse current approaches to sexuality education. It has significant implications for
policy and practice in Personal, Social and Health Education and is also an excellent
introduction to key debates and issues in the study of gender and sexuality.
Mary Jane Kehily is a lecturer in Childhood Studies at the Open University.

Sexuality, Gender and Schooling
Shifting agendas in social learning
Mary Jane Kehily

London and New York
First published 2002 by RoutledgeFalmer
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by RoutledgeFalmer
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
RoutledgeFalmer is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

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© 2002 Mary Jane Kehily
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-99539-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-28047-8 (pbk)
ISBN 0-415-28046-X (hbk)
To Anoop and Sean, with love and thanks

Contents

Acknowledgements ix
Foreword x

Introduction 1
1 Fragments from a fading career: personal narratives and emotional 7

investments
2 Ways of conceptualising sexuality, gender and schooling 24
3 Producing heterosexualities: the school as a site of discursive practices 38
4 Agony aunts and absences: an analysis of a sex education class 53
5 More Sugar? Teenage magazines, gender displays and sexual learning 71
6 Understanding masculinities: young men, heterosexuality and embodiment 92
7 Sexing the subject: teachers, pedagogies and sex education 117
8 Sexuality, gender and schooling reconsidered: notes towards a conclusion 141

Notes 152
Appendix 155
Bibliography 156
Index 170

Acknowledgements
I am indebted to the many friends and colleagues who have contributed to this project in
different ways. First of all I would like to thank the students and teachers who shared
their experiences with me. I wish to express my gratitude to Debbie Epstein who
supervised this study as a thesis and gave me generous support and guidance especially
through the final stages. I wish to acknowledge the Institute of Education, University of
London, for the financial support of a studentship. Thanks are also due to Janet Holland
and Beverley Skeggs for their painstaking work in examining the thesis.
Many other friends have contributed to this work and sustained my interest in the
project. I am indebted to Kate Corr for her support over the years, her comments on the
work, especially on psychoanalytic themes and for her careful proofreading of the
chapters. I wish to thank Joyce Canaan for her insightful comments, many valuable
discussions and for her emotional support. I am grateful to Mairtin Mac an Ghaill for
discussions on earlier drafts of chapters. I am grateful to Tuula Gordon for her friendship,
her enthusiastic support of this work and for many stimulating discussions.
I wish to thank members of the Birmingham Narrative Group for interesting
discussions on themes of narrative and subjectivity: Leone Burton, Joyce Canaan,
Mariette Clare, Chris Griffin, Richard Johnson, Peter Redman and Deborah Steinberg.
Additionally I would like to thank Peter Redman and Deborah Steinberg for their
comments on Chapter 4 and Richard Johnson for his comments on Chapters 5 and 6.
Thanks are also due to Tarja Tolonen, Val Hey, Frinde Maher, Rob Pattman, Sean
Escritt, Susan Johnson and David Spencer for help along the way.
I am indebted to friends and colleagues at the Open University for support during
periods of study leave and beyond. I am particularly grateful to Peter Barnes, Rachel
Burr, Mary Jane Curry, Liz Freeman, Chris Golding, Wendy Stainton Rogers, Joan
Swann and Lynda White.
Finally, I would especially like to thank Anoop Nayak for always being there. His love
and support are invaluable.