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SEX: A DIRTY WORD? EXAMINING THE NATURE OF SEX AND RELATIONSHIP EDUCATION (SRE) AS A ‘CURRENT ISSUE’ IN PRIMARY EDUCATION (UK).

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SEX: A DIRTY WORD? EXAMINING THE NATURE OF SEX AND RELATIONSHIP EDUCATION (SRE) AS A ‘CURRENT ISSUE’ IN PRIMARY EDUCATION (UK).
Sex: A Dirty Word? Examining the nature of Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) as a ‘current issue’ in primary education (UK).

At the time of writing there is breaking widespread discoveries of sex related scandals or horrific accounts of abuse relating to sex and trafficking (Marley, 2012; BBC News, 2013; Burke, 2013). With a increasingly sexualised society (Mullinar, 1994; Kumar, 2013) and the influence the media has over young people (Slough, 1995), it seems pertinent to ask the question why as a nation, are we not more clued up in preventing rather than recovering from such tragedies?
A noted aim of Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) is to teach about awareness, knowledge and correct actions related to sexual abuse (Loeber et al, 2010) to ensure the learner has the best chance of societal integration and healthy sex life (Loeber et al, 2010). Herein lies the concern, differing societies engage differently, leading SRE to assume many guises (Loeber et al, 2010; Fentahun et al, 2012).
The dichotomy for policy makers and politicians concerned is that relevant and appropriate content has to be offset against the fear of public outcry (Sonfield, 2012; Zhou, 2012). Sex and the surrounding paraphernalia is still seen by some, especially parents or those involved in the education of children, as taboo (Formby, 2011). It is a subject that evokes an unusually deep emotional response in a wide demographic of people (Vasagar, 2011), perhaps because sex and relationships are something we all feel a connection to. Perhaps then surrounding such controversy it is little surprise that there is reluctance to update national policy (Evans and Tripp, 2006; Sonfield, 2012), indeed there has been no major update to any government guidelines concerning SRE in 13 years (Evans and Tripp, 2006; Hoyle, 2012; Sex Education Forum, 2013).
Invariably this has led to schools and educators hesitant to deliver any form of SRE (Formby, 2011) explaining the comment of the Sex



Bibliography: Baldwin, S, and Baranoski, M. (1990), 'Family Interactions and Sex Education in the Home ', Adolescence, 25, 99, pp. 573-582, MEDLINE with Full Text, EBSCOhost, Available at: (Accessed: 9 May 2013) Barker, I. (2012) ‘Hardcore Porn is Damaging our Pupils’, Times Educational Supplement, 26 October, p. 8-9. BBC News. (2013) ‘Oxford Child Sex Ring Committed Depraved Abuse’, Available at: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-21027681 (Accessed: 15 May 2013) BC Council for Families. (2011), ‘Healthy Relationships: Their Influence on Physical Health’, Available at: http://www.bccf.ca/all/resources/healthy-relationships-their-influence-physical-health (Accessed: 14 May 2013) Black, N. (2010) ‘Neuroscientist Explores How Porn Hijacks Male Brain’, Available at: http://www.christianpost.com/news/neuroscientist-explores-how-porn-hijacks-male-brain-43315/ (Accessed: 14 May 2013) Bloom, A. (2012) ‘Rise of the Puritan Classes’, Times Educational Supplement, 11 May, p. 26-30. Burke, J. (2013), ‘Delhi Gang Rape Trial Begins’, Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/21/delhi-gang-rape-trial-begins (Accessed: 13 May 2013) Channel 4. (2013) ‘Teen Sex Survey: Highlights from YouGov’s “Sex Education” Survey’, Available at: www.sexperienceuk.channel4.com/teen-sex-survey (Accessed: 13 May 2013) Combi, C. (2012) ‘Porn: The Shocking Truth’, Times Educational Supplement, 5 October, p.26-30. Crown Prosecution Service (2012) Sexual Offences: Indecent Images of Children. Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sentencing_manual/indecent_images_of_children/. Accessed: 10 May 2013 Evans, D., and Tripp, J (Accessed: 9 May 2013) Fentahun, N, Assefa, T, Alemseged, F, & Ambaw, F (Accessed: 9 May 2013) Formby, E (Accessed: 9 May 2013) Great Britain (Accessed: 9 May 2013) Hoyle, A Knowsley, J. (2012) ‘He Ruined Me’, Times Educational Supplement, 16 November, p.26-30. Kumar, R. (2013), ‘A Open Letter to Michelle Obama: BTW Beyonce No Longer A Role Model’, Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/rakhi-kumar/michelle-obama-beyonce_b_3120434.html? (Accessed: 13 May 2013) Marley, D. (2012) ‘A Wake-Up Call for All of Us’, Times Educational Supplement, 6 July, p.26-30. Mullinar, G. (1994) Developing Sex Education in Schools: A Practical Guide. Family Planning Association: London. Sex Education Forum. (2013), Sex Education Forum Response to Public Consultation on the Draft National Curriculum Proposals. [Online]. Available at: www.sexeducationforum.org.uk/media/13078/sef_-_nc_response_25_march_2013.pdf (Accessed: 9 May 2013) Slough, J. (1995) Sex Education for Children aged 4-11: A Quick Guide for Parents and Carers Daniels Publishing: Cambridge Sonfield, A (Accessed: 9 May 2013) Summers, C (Accessed: 14 May 2013) Vasagar, J (Accessed: 13 May 2013) Vaughan, R Zhou, Y. (2012), 'The Comparative Research on Sex Education for Adolescents of China and the US ', US-China Education Review A, 2, 4a, pp. 408-417, Education Research Complete, EBSCOhost, Available at: (Accessed: 9 May 2013)

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