Sexual health activism: the motivations of near-peer volunteer educators working to promote positive understandings of gender and sexuality in UK secondary schools

Boyer, Kate ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8356-4412 and Wood, Isabelle 2023. Sexual health activism: the motivations of near-peer volunteer educators working to promote positive understandings of gender and sexuality in UK secondary schools. Culture, Health & Sexuality 25 (9) , pp. 1244-1258. 10.1080/13691058.2022.2154386

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Abstract

This paper explores and theorises education-based workshops delivered in secondary schools in support of a relationships and sex education curriculum that aims to bring forth more positive understandings and experiences of gender and sexuality. We cast this work as a form of sexual health activism, with our paper deepening understanding of how the motivations of those engaged in this form of activism interface with the decision to invest time in this work. Based on interviews with 40 workshop facilitators in England and Wales we argue that this form of sexual health activism is motivated by facilitators’ life experiences as well as the desire to make the world a better place. As such, this form of work can function as a means of ‘caring for’ both past selves and future generations, thus functioning simultaneously as a form of self-care and a form of ‘societal care work’. Ultimately, these activities may be understood as a form of ‘extra-clinical’ healthcare practice, with leading gender and sexual health workshops serving as an important means of solidifying health students’ identities as both healthcare providers and activists for social change.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis Group
ISSN:	1369-1058
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	10 January 2023
Date of Acceptance:	22 December 2022
Last Modified:	22 Dec 2023 18:27
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/155623

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