Sex education in school: ‘Saying sex should be pleasurable is not inappropriate — it’s a good thing’
After years of emphasis on biology and abstinence, sex education is finally being reformed in this country. But will it truly deliver what young people want and need?
Educators want to deliver a comprehensive sexual education that goes beyond abstinence or risk-based approaches and discusses concepts like pleasure. Photo: Picture posed/Getty Images
Rosa*, an Irish secondary school teacher, talks about her experience getting up to speed on the new Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) and Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) curriculum during a two-day professional development course.
Important topics like porn, consent and sexual anxiety were discussed, but she says the person delivering the training was rather reluctant to get into pleasure and intimacy. “If anything, she seemed a bit uncomfortable about it,” Rosa says.
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