Emotional and sexual education. A failed subject in the way to the social justice
Author(s):
Guadalupe Calvo (presenting / submitting) Carmen Rodríguez
Conference:
ECER 2014
Network:
07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Format:
Paper

Session Information

07 SES 08 A, Gender Identities and Education

Paper Session

Time:
2014-09-04
09:00-10:30
Room:
B004 Anfiteatro
Chair:
Francesca Gobbo

Contribution

This paper arises from the doctoral thesis entitled "La construcción de las identidades sexuales en la adolescencia. Cuatro estudios de casos de mediadoras y mediadores del programa educativo Forma Joven[1]” (The construction of sexual identities in adolescence. Four case studies about mediators from the educational program Forma Joven ", defended by Guadalupe Calvo and directed by Carmen Rodriguez and Teresa Lozano.

In this research our main objective was find out adolescents´ ideas, believes and interpretations on their own sexual identities and those of their peers. We put especial attention to inequalities or unfair experiences related to sex, gender and sexual orientation detected or experienced by them. In addition, we were interested to infer in which sense the various educational agents have contributed to the construction of these identities, paid attention on the influence it has had on them the Forma Joven program.

Specifically, in this paper we want to reveal the main educational needs identified, in the four cases studied in depth, and among adolescents trained as mediators through Forma Joven, between 2010 and 2013.

Our analysis is based on poststructuralist approaches (Lacan, 1975; Foucault, 1984; Derrida, 1989) and adopts a queer perspective (Hidalgo y Sánchez, 2002; Butler, 2007; Ceballos, 2007; Preciado, 2002 and 2008). We think that our Western society only granted legitimacy to identities "man" and "woman", binary categories defined by opposition. It is expected that all subjects are located in one of these categories, and it´s unfair to persons who don´t into those two and to persons who identifies themselves with the second element of the binomial. Furthermore, we understand that our location in sexual categories is shown as innate and stable, and that it is considered that the true identity is the one which is socially represented. (Vázquez, 2009).

In the same way, we understand that our society keeps maintaining the dualism of gender because it is an heteronormative society, so all individuals are led to the reproduction of the sexual and emotional patterns traditionally assigned to heterosexual individuals: the formation of stable and monogamous couples orientated to family reproduction and foundation which encourage genital and coitus centred sexual relations to be maintained. The main strategy for the promotion of this social system is love discourse, especially, the romantic love discourse (Coontz, 2006; Esteban y Tábora, 2008; Ferrer, Bosch y Navarro, 2010) ; it is essential for the maintenance of the patriarchal and capitalist system within our geographic and historical context (Jónasdóttit, 1993; Pateman, 1995).

[1] Forma Joven. Consultado: 30/01/2014. En: http://www.formajoven.org/

Method

The methodological perspective chosen for our thesis is qualitative. Specifically, we have developed four case studies, focusing on two girls (Alicia and Elena) and two boys (Fernando and David) who have been trained as mediators of health and sexuality through the Forma Joven program. For the selection of the cases we considered several criteria: the easy access to the research context and the availability for this research development (Angulo and Vázquez, 2003: 19); boys and girl selected were wishing to collaborate with us. To maximize what we could learn (Stake, 1995. In Angulo and Vázquez, 2003: 19 and Simons, 2011: 54.); we selected adolescent who had been trained in our central topic. The diversity; our adolescents show the greatest differences among them and besides, some of them who have already adopted non-standard sexual identities. Finally, the only one peculiarity shared among them is their non identification with the hegemonic models of masculinity and femininity. The main techniques for data collection we have used with the four main research subjects have been the in-depth interviews and informal conversations, thirteen interviews and a lot of conversations between November 2010 and February 2013. In addition, information has been gathered through observation and informal conversations in the seven training sessions of the program Forma Joven developed between November 2010 and April 2013.

Expected Outcomes

-To our four protagonists, gender inequalities happen unnoticed, like for most adolescents in urban areas. It´s different for girls and boys from rural areas, who still feel "forced" to play traditional gender stereotypes. -Concerning loving relationships, those of our protagonists are not particularly unequal; however, they known other kind of relationships in their nearby contexts, leading to violence. The relationships that generally refer boys and girls from Forma Joven, are similar to the aforementioned violent relationships, because they assume many of the romantic love myths. -With respect to sexual relationships, most adolescents identified them with coitus; they think that everything which is not related to penetration lacks significance. In addition, these adolescents assume, without reaching understanding, many of the myths about sexuality. -In relation to inequalities related to sexual orientation, Fernando and especially Elena continue experimenting homophobia and keep finding more difficulties than people who identify themselves as heterosexual. It´s because the dominant discourse in our society shows heterosexuality as a natural tendency, and this discourse is generally assumed by boys and girls. -The emotional and sexual education received by the boys and the girls, research subjects, continues spreading the heteronormative and androcentric sexuality model, focusing on the genitals and coitus, and almost exclusively linked to reproduction. To carry out a real inclusive education which promote social justice, it is necessary to place a greater emphasis on adolescents’ development of critical thinking and on their questioning of all those “universal truths” that conform our society organization and determine our lives in particular ways. In this way, we mustn´t treat our students as boys and as girls, we mustn´t assume that everyone is heterosexual and is pursuing heteronormative goals, and we must understand sexual and gender diversity as a source of wealth.

References

-Angulo, F. and Vázquez, R. (2003). Los estudios de caso. Una aproximación teórica. In Vázquez, R. y Angulo, F. (Ed.), Introducción a los estudios de casos (pp. 15-51). Málaga: Aljibe. -Bosch, E. and others. Del mito del amor romántico a la violencia contra las mujeres en la pareja, Instituto de la Mujer. Accessed: 26/09/2010. In: http://www.inmujer.es/ss/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1264006888830&language=cas_ES&pagename=InstitutoMujer%2FPage%2FIMUJ_IFrame -Butler, J. (2007). El género en disputa. El feminismo y la subversión de la identidad. Barcelona: Paidos. -Ceballos Muñoz, A. (2007). Teoría rarita. In Vidarte, F. J.; Saez, J. y Córdoba, D. (Eds.) (2007). Teoría Queer. Políticas bolleras, maricas, trans, mestizas (pp. 165 – 177). Barcelona: Egales. -Coontz, S. (2006). Historia del matrimonio. Cómo el amor conquistó el matrimonio. Barcelona: Gedisa. -Derrida, J. (1989). La deconstrucción en las fronteras de la filosofía. Paidos, Barcelona. -Esteban, M. L. and Tábora, A. (2008). El amor romántico y la subordinación social de las mujeres: revisiones y propuestas. Anuario de Psicología, 39 (1), pp. 59 – 73. -Foucault, M. (1984). Historia de la sexualidad. Vol. I. La voluntad del saber. Madrid: Siglo Veintiuno Editores (1ª ed. 1976). -Hidalgo Ciudad, J. C. and Sánchez Palencia, C. (2002). La crítica lésbica: Del activismo feminista a la Teoría Queer. In Moreno, E. y Villegas, S. (Eds.) (2000). Introducción a los estudios de la mujer: Una mirada a las Ciencias Sociales. Huelva: Diputación de Huelva. -Jónasdóttir, A. G. (1993). El poder del amor. ¿Le importa el sexo a la democracia? Madrid: Cátedra. -Lacán, J. (1975). Escritos I y II. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI. -McDonald, B. and Walker, R. (1975). Case study and the social philosophy of educational research. Cambridge Journal of Education, 5 (1), pp. 2 – 12. -Preciado, B. (2002). Manifiesto contra-sexual. Madrid: Ópera prima. -Preciado, B. (2008). Testo Yonqui. Madrid: Espasa. -Rubin, Gayle (1996). El tráfico de mujeres: Notas sobre la "economía política" del sexo. In Lamas, Marta (Comp.). El género: la construcción cultural de la diferencia sexual (pp. 35-96). México: PUEG (1ª edición de 1975). -Simons, H. (2011). El estudio de caso: teoría y práctica. Madrid: Morata. -Stake, R. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks: Sage. -Vázquez García, F. (2009). Políticas transgénicas y ciencias sociales: por un construccionismo bien temperado. In Ponencias Seminario: Teoría Queer. De la transgresión a la transformación social (pp. 3 – 14). Sevilla: Centro de Estudios Andaluces.

Author Information

Guadalupe Calvo (presenting / submitting)
Universidad de Cádiz
Didáctica
Puerto Real (Cádiz)
Carmen Rodríguez
Universidad de Málaga, Spain

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