Document Type

Syllabus

Publication Date

Spring 2024

Course Description

This course examines sex education, in its varying forms, from historical, philosophical, policy, and cultural perspectives. This includes an exploration of the ethical, epistemological, and political implications of sex education policy for the project of social justice education. It also aims to cultivate a deep understanding of gender, sexuality, and race in order to begin to reimagine what it means to be "sexually educated". We will begin with a careful consideration of formal, federal sex education policy and a discussion of critiques of it before problematizing these discourses and working towards reimagining sex education in light of these critiques and problematiziations.

Student Outcomes

The primary objective of this course is to help students to critically understand and question sex education policy, discourses, and futures through assignments that require the development of critical thinking, writing, and speaking skills. More specifically, by the end of this course you should be able to: 1. Explain the history of sex education in the United States, including important events, individuals/groups, and ideological trends that shape sex education; 2. Connect US sex education policy to sexual politics in at least two other nations; 3. Analyze the political and normative assumptions underlying policy critiques and proposals; 4. Apply knowledge about sexual wellness, including knowledge about consent, pleasure, communication, and how race, class, religion, and culture shape what counts as “sexual wellness” across educational contexts; 5. Identify multiple intersections between the idea of “education” and sexuality, sex, and gender; 6. And, propose specific interventions into and/or demands for sex education that expand what we imagine to be possible for the project itself.

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