Sex Education and the Responsibility of Schools

Abstract

Few issues create such intense debate as that which surrounds identity/sexuality and children. We prefer to think of children as asexual and needing to be protected from sexual issues. However, we live in a world where children are constantly bombarded with messages about gender and sexuality. There is increasing concern around the use of sexuality in advertising, TV, movies and songs, and the exposure to, and involvement of, children in these forms of cultural life (for example, the Australian research around corporate pedophilia by Rush & La Nauze, 2006). The gender and sexuality messages to which children are exposed have a significant impact on their development.