This proposed book is an anthology of both original and reprinted articles on sexuality from a sociological perspective. The readings in this collection focus on the diverse and multi-layered meanings of sexuality, sexual behaviors and sexual identities. The essays in this book will explore sexuality as a social process. As a whole, the book takes the perspective that what each of us understands to be sexual is constructed through everyday social processes and interaction, situated in particular spaces and moments, identified through our social-sexual presentations, and symbolized through language, objects and practices. The book is organized around these four distinct but interrelated processes, and augmented by personal narratives around relevant issues. The purpose of this book is to broaden students' perspectives on sexuality by providing them with a consistent framework to help them understand sexualities as social phenomena. The authors' goals for the book are: to engage students in the sociological enterprise by providing interesting and insightful entries that emphasize the importance of meaning-making in human sexuality, and to provide them with conceptual tools to understand human sexuality in a complex and quickly-changing sexual landscape.

Talking Sex: Parents, Schools, and Sexuality

Talking Sex: Parents, Schools, and Sexuality

Talking sex: Parents, schools, and sexuality
Sinikka Elliott Josephine Ngo McKelvy

A few years ago, a broad swath of Texans—parents, community leaders, teachers, physicians, and others—came together for a series of public school board meetings to debate the adoption of new student health textbooks for the state. Of contention was whether the students’ books would contain information about contraception. The people who attended the meetings were clearly divided on this issue—some were for the information appearing in the students’ books while others were against it. With angry looks and high emotions, people lobbed accusations at one another and gave impassioned, sometimes tearful, speeches.

Yet regardless of which side of the sex ed ...

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