Sweden has a long tradition of having sex education in primary school and some of the teaching material have earned international spread. In Sweden, the state develops the teaching material on sex education, such as curriculums and guidelines. In the current essay, school is regarded as an extension of the state. Therefore the state’s view on sex education should be reflected in the teaching material and have impact on the socialization of Swedish adolescents. The research question addressed in this essay concerns the notion and portrayal of the 'ideal' sexuality in four state-developed teaching material on sex education between 1956 and 2013 and how it has altered since sex education became mandatory in 1955. In order to answer this, a Foucauldian discourse analysis is applied as both a theory and method complemented by Rubin's theory about "the sloping walls". The result shows that the 'ideal' sexuality in 1956 is a societal matter and abstinent. In 1977 the 'ideal' sexuality is "free but with responsibility" and exercised on equal terms. In 1995, the 'ideal' sexuality is intertwined with love, an individual right and a source of happiness, and heteronormativity is prominent up until now. Lastly, in 2013, the 'ideal' sexuality is norm-critical and an individual matter. Initially, the state was clear about what the 'ideal' sexuality included. The most prominent discursive change found was that the state over time embodies an unobtrusive role, illustrated by silences and ambivalence in the teaching material from 2013. Further research on implementation is required in order to investigate what adolescents internalize of the messages conveyed in the current sex education teaching material and how it affects the self-perceived sexuality. Our hope is that the study motivates the transformation of sex education as an independent school subject and part of the Swedish teacher education.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-353558 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Konde, Nicole, Bäckström, Klara |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Sociologiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet, Sociologiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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