Abstract:
Democracy, at its most basic level, is about relationships between people within a system of government. It embodies systems of respect for diversity, promotion of equality among citizens and opportunities for participation in the system. Australian and British sexuality education programs still primarily focus on biomedical, mechanical and hygienic aspects of human sexuality. Although still widely believed that this focus is charged with the moral imperative of educating the young for citizenship in a democracy, this narrow focus does little to engage students in learning to respect individual differences, to understand the rights of self and others and to gain other skills useful to participation in a democracy. Drawing on recent studies with youth about their learning experiences in sexuality education, this paper puts forward the argument that sexuality education today can have better democratic outcomes when enriched with diverse perspectives about sexuality. More specifically, this paper provides a discourse exemplar on how including diverse perspectives on religious and spiritual influences on sexuality can promote a more inclusive and democratic sexuality education. This article engages with the idea that the inclusion of religious and spiritual viewpoints on sexuality will challenge dominant secularist views of sexuality, introduce alternative modes of content and delivering, promote critical thinking skills and more egalitarian ways of learning about sexuality. In doing so, a more relational approach to sexuality education can be created in which the learner is central to the learning process and respect for a diversity of individual values and perspectives are promoted. Sexuality education is in need of a new language that allows for competing views and vocabularies. Religious and spiritual influences on sexuality in this discourse are viewed as alternative conceptual positions where new constructions of sexuality can be formed in re-imagining a sexuality education for a democratic society.