CSSE 2016 University of Calgary - Slides
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This document discusses navigating concepts of sex, sexuality, and gender for young women in Canada. It outlines a model of female adolescent sexual health and discusses the theoretical perspectives and methodology used. It then examines the various sources where young women receive information about these topics, including curriculum, popular magazines, books, the internet, television, and their parents and schools. These sources are analyzed in terms of the messages they convey and the influences they have on young women's understanding of their sexuality.
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CSSE 2016 University of Calgary - Slides
- 1. Navigating Concepts of Sex, Sexuality, and Gender for Young Women in Canada Brittany A. E. Jakubiec, PhD Student Faculty of Education, University of PEI bjakubiec@upei.ca / @brijaay
- 2. What am I here to talk about?
- 4. A model of female adolescent sexual health (Tolman, 1999) All of the ways & places that young women encounter stories about sex, sexuality, and gender
- 5. Theoretical Perspective: 4 Discourses of Sexuality (Fine, 1988) Methodology: Narrative Inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Clandinin, 2007; Kim, 2016)
- 6. Where (and from whom) do young women receive information?
- 7. Curriculum • Textbooks & curriculum (Temple, 2005) • Consequences (Connell, 2005) • Sex ed curriculum increasingly sex negative (Pascoe, 2011) https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/31/27/c7/3127c7680417ff0690af6ce94c50da49.jpg
- 8. Popular Magazines • What are young women reading as a source of sex info? (Bielay & Harold, 1995) • What questions are they asking? (Van Roosmalen, 2000) http://www.galleryoftheabsurd.com/images/2008/12/08/fuckmolitan3_2.jpg
- 9. Popular Magazines (Van Roosmalen, 2000, p. 213) (Van Roosmalen, 2000, p. 214)
- 10. Books • The Little Black Book for Girlz (St. Stephen’s Community House, 2006) • If schools aren't doing it, girls are doing it for themselves
- 11. The Internet • Ease & anonymity v. reliability of info & info overload (Kanuga & Rosenfeld, 2004; Pascoe, 2011) • Anonymous questions on website (Goldman & McCutchen, 2012) • Proof of Fine’s (1988) four discourses? https://twitter.com/ARTS_PDSB/status/735079800382054400
- 12. Television • Heterosexual script (Kim, Sorsoli, Collins, Zylbergold, Schooler, & Tolman, 2007; Rich, 1980; Tolman, Kim, Schooler, Sorsoli, 2007) http://www.wecansingapore.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/8443610_f520.jpg
- 13. Schools • Binaries, double standards (Connell, 2005) • Heteronormative (Goldman & McCutchen, 2012)
- 14. Parents • Primary source of sex information • Shared responsibility with school • Want sexual health education in schools, starting in primary school • Secret-keeping, views of parental attitudes toward sex • Reluctance, embarrassment (Sneed, 2008) • (McKay, Byers, Voyer, Humphreys, & Markham, 2003; McKay & Pietrusiak, 1998; SIECCAN, 2004, 2009)
- 15. Conclusion
- 16. References Bielay, G., & Harold, E. S. (1995). Popular magazines as a source of sexual information for university women. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 4(4), 247–262. Connell, E. (2005). Desire as interruption: Young women and sexuality education in Ontario, Canada. Sex Education, 5(3), 253–268. Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Elliot, J. (2005). Using narrative in social research: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Fine, M. (1988). Sexuality, schooling, and adolescent females: The missing discourse of desire. Harvard Educational Review, 58(1), 29–53. Goldman, J. D. G., & McCutchen, L. E. (2012). Teenagers’ web questions compared with a sexuality curriculum: An exploration. Educational Research, 54(4), 357–373. doi:10.1080/00131881.2012.734722 Heimer Dadds, J. (2011). Feminisms: Embodying the critical. In B. A. U. Levinson (Ed.), Beyond critique: Exploring critical social theories and education (pp. 171–195). Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers. Hirschman, C., Impett, E. A., & Schooler, D. (2006). Dis/Embodied voices: What late-adolescent girls can teach us about objectification and sexuality. Sexuality Research & Social Policy: A Journal of the NSRC, 3(4), 8–20. Kanuga, M., & Rosenfeld, W. D. (2004). Original studies: Adolescent sexuality and the Internet: The good, the bad, and the URL. Journal of Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology, 17, 117–124. Kim, J. L., Sorsoli, C. L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 33(2), 145–157. McKay, A., Byers, E. S., Voyer, S. D., Humphreys, T. P., & Markham, C. (2014). Ontario parents’ opinions and attitudes towards sexual health education in the schools. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 23(3), 159–166. doi:10.3138/cjhs.23.3-A1 McKay, A., & Pietrusiak, M-A. (1998). Parents’ opinions and attitudes towards sexuality education in the schools. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 7(2), 139–145. Myers, K., & Raymond, L. (2010). Elementary school girls and heteronormativity: The Girl Project. Gender and Society, 24(2), 167–188. Pascoe, C. J. (2011). Resource and risk: Youth sexuality and new media use. Sexuality Research & Social Policy: A Journal of the NSRC, 8(1), 5–17. Rasmussen, M. L. (2012). Pleasure/desire, sexularism and sexuality education. Sex Education, 3(2), 132–144. Rasmussen, M. L. (2016). Progressive sexuality education: The conceits of secularism. New York, NY: Routledge. Rich, A. (1980). Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence. Signs, 5, 631–660. Sandelowski, M. (1991). Telling stories: Narrative approaches in qualitative research. IMAGE: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 23(3), 161–166. SIECCAN. (2004). Sexual health education in the schools: Questions and answers. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 13(3/4), 129–141. SIECCAN. (2009). Sexual health education in the schools: Questions and answers (3rd edition). The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 6(1/2), 29–38. Sneed, C. (2008). Parent-adolescent communication about sex: The impact of content and comfort on adolescent sexual behavior. Journal of HIV/AIDS Prevention in Children & Youth, 9(1), 70–83. doi:10.1080/10698370802126477 St. Stephen’s Community House. (2006). The little black book for girlz: A book on health sexuality. Toronto, ON: Annick Press. Temple, J. R. (2005). “People who are different from you”: Heterosexism in Quebec high school textbooks. Canadian Journal of Education, 28(3), 271–294. Tolman, D. L. (1999). Femininity as a barrier to positive sexual health for adolescent girls. Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association, 54(3), 133– 138. Tolman, D. L., Kim, J. L., Schooler, D., & Sorsoli, C. L. (2007). Rethinking the associations between television viewing and adolescent sexuality development: Bringing gender into focus. Journal of Adolescent Health, 40, 84.e9–84.e16. Tolman, D. L., Striepe, M. I., & Harmon, T. (2002). Gender matters: Constructing a model of adolescent sexual health. The Journal of Sex Research, 40(1), 4–12. Van Roosmalen, E. (2000). Forces of patriarchy: Adolescent experiences of sexuality and conceptions of relationships. Youth & Society, 32(2), 202–227.
Editor's Notes
- Young women encounter stories and messages about sex, gender, and sexuality from myriad sources, including peers and classmates, teachers, parents and family. They are consumers of digital media, television, and print (books, magazines) as a source of information. In this paper, I explore all of the ways and places that young women encounter these messages in order to gain a fuller contextual understanding of their lived experiences, before commencing my SSHRC-funded dissertation research.
- No, more than that… all of the ways that young women encounter stories about sex, sexuality, and gender.
- I will use Fine’s (1988) four major discourses of sexuality education to situate young women’s experiences. The first major discourse is sexuality as violence and includes topics such as abuse, incest, AIDS/STIs, and sexual coercion. The second major discourse is sexuality as victimization and includes topics such as “male predator” (p. 257), defense and protection against disease, pregnancy, being used, and being a victim of male desire. The third major discourse is sexuality as individual morality, including topics such as sexual decision-making, self-control, and self-respect. The fourth and last major discourse is sexuality as desire. This discourse is largely absent from young women’s experiences. Within this discursive category, young women are the subjects of sexuality, they can be initiators, and they can be negotiators. Here, discussions can occur around experiences, limits, and needs. Thus, I will begin with Fine’s (1988) discourses as a framing tool. From here, I will use critical feminist theory to get at the underlying structures of experience. I’ll be using narrative inquiry as my methodology of choice. Young women are bombarded constantly with messages about sexuality and gender, from all areas of their lives. Narratives, or stories, assume many forms. They are “present in language, image, gesture and myth, painting and conversation. Narratives assume many forms. They are heard, seen and read; they are told, performed, painted, sculpted and written” (Sandelowski, 1991, p. 62). My purpose is to narratively explore young women’s experiences of sex, sexuality, and gender in four Atlantic Provinces.
- Curriculum. Temple (2005) performed a content analysis of 20 textbooks in Quebec schools looking at how sex, sexuality, and relationships were written about. 95% of the books did not mentioned same-sex relationships, and of the 5% of textbooks that did, 80% of those references were negative. There were were rigid dichotomies between female/feminine and male/masculine, heterosexuality was written about as the “normal” sexuality, and authors of textbooks problematized same-sex relationships (e.g., “unnatural”). Rather than be sex positive, or progressive (Rasmussen, 2016) and include things such as pleasure and choice, sex education curriculum is increasingly sex negative (Pascoe, 2011). Sex and sexuality are discussed in terms of consequences to actions. For example, the consequence of sexual intercourse is pregnancy, AIDS, and STDs (Connell, 2005). The discourse of sexuality as desire (Fine, 1988) is left out entirely. Sexual health education also does not consistently address the objectification and sexualization of women in the media (film, music videos, ads, television, etc.) (Hirschman, Impett, & Schooler, 2006) What is the message? Dichotomous thinking (male/masculine, female/femininine; heterosexuality as sexuality). Silence (desire, pleasure, same-sex discourses all ignored).
- Popular magazines. Popular magazines and romance novels provide information to readers about sex, sexuality, and sexual relationships. In an older study by Bielay and Harold (1995), the two researchers investigated what magazines young women were reading, and what content they sought out. The top magazine was Cosmopolitan and most read topics included: sexual skills, techniques, pleasuring, contraception, STDs, safe sex, and rape. In Cosmo specifically, with a 79% readership among the 251 participants, most read topics included: improving your sex life, what men like/desire, and romance. Probably not the most reliable of sources. Van Roosmalen (2000) gained access to 875 letters to Teen Magazine (written in late 90s, adolescent women). The letters contained young women’s questions about love, sex, romance, and relationships.
- What is the message? Dominant discourses: male pleasure (“what men like/desire”). Letters to Teen Magazine revealed that navigating sexual relationships during adolescence is a foundational experience for young women, over fraught by confusion and a lack of information, getting and keeping boyfriends, navigating firsts and emerging sexuality/identity, pressures of dating and sex, and emotional and relational conflicts.
- Books. In the absence of materials and information for and by young women, comes The Little Black Book for Girlz: A Book on Healthy Sexuality (St. Stephen’s Community House, 2006). “No stuffy school textbook. No preachy adults. Just a diverse group of teens looking for the real deal about sexuality.” (Back cover). If schools are not doing it, young women are doing it for themselves. What is the message? Knowledge is power. Girls can be sexual agents!
- Websites. We may remember a time when our information about sex and sexuality came from parents, doctors, teachers, and peers, but increasingly so, adolescents are getting this information online. It is emerging as a primary source of information for sex and sexuality (Pascoe, 2011). For sensitive issues there is the benefit of anonymity when searching out information online, and there is certainly an ease factor (all you need to do is go to Google, type, and click search). However, there is no guarantee of the reliability of this information, AND there is just a ton of information to sort through—how do you know what to trust? (Kanuga & Rosenfeld, 2004; Pascoe, 2011) Goldman and McCutchen (2012) sought to find evidence of Fine’s (1988) four discourses. They selected a website that allowed anonymous postings (questions) and was moderated 24 hours a day by specialists. The researchers selected 200 questions over a 6-month period (180 individuals). Questions were analyzed and categorized into the four discourses: 9% of questions were categorized as sexuality as violence (9% female, 0% male), 46% were categorized as sexuality as victimization (23% female and 23% male), 25% as individual morality (14% female, 11% male), and 20% as desire (11% female, 9% male). Young women most often asked about their bodies, pregnancy, contraception, sexual intercourse, and sexual relationships. Young men most often asked about what they wanted to do to their girlfriends (their wording), one asked about STDs, and one asked about pregnancy (in being the voice for his concerned girlfriend). Thus, there is evidence that supports Fine’s (1988) four major discourses, providing essential reliability for this theoretical framework (for use in my dissertation research).
- Television. Young people are receiving messages and information about sex, relationships, and gender from television programming (Tolman, Kim, Schooler, & Sorsoli, 2007). More specifically, they are learning about the heterosexual script, which includes appropriate behaviors for boys and girls, men and women, but also that sex and sexuality have different meanings and consequences for boys and girls, men and women. There is the double standard around sexual experience, where it is okay for boys/men to accumulate it, but not for girls/women. There are different, and gendered, courtship strategies where boys/men are seen as powerful and the active pursuant and girls/women are alluring and passive. There are also differences in terms of commitment, and what is socially expected and accepted for boys/men (to avoid) and for girls/women (to seek). Television programming sustains and reinforces these gendered and power inequalities through the heterosexual script. A typical TV program will make 15 references an hour to the heterosexual script.
- Schools. Messages about what it means to be female/feminine and male/masculine are in abundance in the school and classroom contexts (Connell, 2005). For example, the notion that “[b]oys gain popularity with sexual experiences, are curious about sex, put pressure on girls for sex and emotionally withdraw if girls refuse sexual advances” (p. 260). Further, that girls are seen as passive, uninterested, and submit under pressure (p. 260). “In schools, an objective of high-quality school-based sexuality education should be to deconstruct and critique heteronormativity, that is, the dominant, normalized as natural and original, social female/male gender binary” (Goldman & McCutchen, 2012, p. 360). Thus, as researchers, “[i]n order to understand the sexual subjectivities of young women more completely, educators need to reconstruct schooling as an empowering context in which we listen and work with the meanings and experience of gender and sexuality as revealed by the adolescents themselves” (Fine, 1988, p. 36, emphasis mine).
- Parents. Parents and guardians are a primary source of sex information & want sex education in schools, starting in primary school (McKay et al., 2014; McKay & Pietrusiak, 1998). Some adolescents keep secrets from their parents about sex and having partners. An adolescent in a study by Hirschman, Impett, and Schooler (2006) said there was no way she was going to tell her mom she had sex. Another said her family has a “don’t ask/don’t want to know” culture around sexual activity. One adolescent said that her mother’s permissive attitude toward dating and sex led her to believe she didn’t really care what she did. Others commended their mother for not being judgmental about their decision to go on birth control, or to have sex for the first time. Parents and adolescents often say that they are reluctant or embarrassed to talk to the other about sex and sexuality (Sneed, 2008). When talking does occur, it happens more frequently between daughter and mom, and son and father, and on topics such as “abstinence” (don’t have sex, wait until marriage to have sex, wait to have sex), and a close second is condoms and birth control. What is the message? Reinforces the AOUM message: Abstinence Only Until Marriage (Rasmussen, 2012) Sexuality education based on fear, fear of public opinion, fear of social and other consequences reinforced at home and in school. (Rasmussen, 2012)
- Young women encounter stories and messages about sex, gender, and sexuality from myriad sources, including peers and classmates, teachers, parents and family—in more places than sexual health education. They are consumers of digital media, television, and print (books, magazines) as a source of information. In my own work, I’ll be looking to understand all of the ways and places that young women encounter these messages.