Interrogating the Politics of Pleasure in Sexuality Education ― Pleasure Bound

Arguing that sexuality education is clearly shaped by specific cultural and political contexts, this book examines how these contexts have shaped our thinking about pleasure and sexuality education with a view to considering how this field of research has developed in different socio-political contexts. Returning to key researchers in the field of sexuality education in order to investigate the following questions: Who do calls to include pleasure and desire in sexuality education address and negate and with what effect for young people? How do competing notions of "good" and ‘‘progressive’’ in sexuality education intersect with debates about pleasure and desire? Are discussions of pleasure and sexuality intrinsically moral debates? How do differing socio-political contexts influence research pertaining to pleasure and desire in sexuality education?

Louisa Allen is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education, University of Auckland. She researches and writes in the areas of young people, sexualities and schooling. She has published extensively in these areas and her latest sole authored book is ‘Young People and Sexuality Education: Rethinking Key Debates’.

Mary Lou Rasmussen is a Senior Lecturer in Education, Monash University. Her principal research is in the area of sexualities, gender and education. She is the author of Becoming Subjects (2006) and co-editor of Youth and Sexualities (2004). A monograph, Progressive Sexuality Education: The Conceits of Secularism is forthcoming (2014).

Kathleen Quinlivan is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. She researches and writes extensively in the areas of critical sexuality education and schooling. She is the co-editor of Educational Enactments in a Globalised World: Intercultural Conversations (2009).