Did You Hear About The Girl Who . . . ?: Contemporary Legends, Folklore, and Human Sexuality

Chapter 10:I Don’t Believe This but My Friends Do: Using Folklore in Sexuality Education

10 I DON’T BELIEVE THIS BUT MY FRIENDS DO Using Folklore in Sexuality Education ❏ The Current State of Sexuality Education Sexuality education is one of the most controversial areas of the school curriculum. The debates about abstinence-only curricula versus more comprehensive curricula are as intense as those between anti-abortion and pro-choice groups. Researchers have consistently shown that abstinence -only education (that is, where abstinence is presented as the only possible option for teenagers, or even adults who are not married, and there is no education about contraception or safer sex) does not work in reducing teenage sexual activity or pregnancy. On the other hand, research has found some degree of success (using such measures as delay in first intercourse, use of contraceptives, numbers of partners) with abstinence-plus programs, which emphasize abstinence but also discuss contraceptives and prevention of STD transmission (Kirby, 1997). However, the U.S. Congress undermined researchers and educators by earmarking $88 million in federal and matching state funds to be used 182 for abstinence-only education. That means, for example, these funds could not be used in educational programs in which abstinence is promoted as the best option, but in which students also learn about condom use. Abstinence-only approaches often rely heavily on fear tactics . If contraception or safer sex is discussed at all, it is to teach that they don’t work—using incorrect statistics about condom breakage and exaggerated claims about dangerous side-effects of other contraceptives. Sexual violence is often used as a warning to young women not to start any sexual activity (even kissing) because it leads to uncontrollable arousal of the male, who then may commit sexual assault. In these curricula, nothing seems very positive about sexuality until it is transformed by monogamous marriage into something safe and wonderful. Although many states require sexuality education, they have very different regulations about what can and cannot be presented in the curriculum . Some require a comprehensive curriculum, while others specifically prohibit discussion of such topics as abortion or homosexuality. Many school districts and individual administrators or teachers avoid controversial topics because they are worried about repercussions from what is often a small vocal minority in a community. A few documented horror stories (not legends), such as a teacher who was fired after bringing in a gay speaker to a classroom, serve to keep the curriculum on “safe” ground. Surveys of students indicate that they are often most interested in learning about the very topics that are not being addressed. They want to know about contraception, abortion, homosexuality, masturbation , and they are certainly talking about those topics, as the folklore in this book clearly indicates. The idea that young people can be protected by keeping certain topics out of the classroom is as absurd as the approach in which it is assumed that if you don’t talk about drugs in class, no adolescent will ever think of trying them. Students are talking to each other about a wide range of topics related to sexuality, without any impetus from the curriculum, but the information transmitted through their conversation—including legends, beliefs, and jokes— often contains misinformation, not just about scientific “facts” but also I DON’T BELIEVE THIS BUT MY FRIENDS DO 183 in terms of the stereotyping of populations, whether it is gay men or “rednecks.” Educators need to intervene in these conversations and facilitate learning that would draw on shared beliefs and understandings of the students. While there are many people who may be horrified at the suggestion that many topics in this book should be discussed in classrooms, would they be any less horrified to know these conversations are going on in the hallways and locker rooms? Folklore provides one opportunity for these discussions to be moved into an environment in which appropriate information can be provided and in which there can be a discussion about values, ethics, and such topics as discrimination and violence. Multicultural Sexuality Education A search for literature that looks at multicultural sexuality education is very frustrating. If anything does come up, it usually involves a juxtaposition of those words in ways that do not focus on teaching sexuality education from a multicultural perspective. James T. Sears, the author of one of the few articles on the topic, points out: Sex and love, menarche and menopause, incest and prostitution , condoms and diaphragms, marriage and dating, homosexuality and bisexuality, abstinence and...