PROJECT
Rethinking Sexuality Education

The Rethinking Sexuality Education project draws on evidence-based analyses to promote approaches to sexuality education that emphasize teaching young people to think critically about the social context that drives much of adolescent sexual behavior. For example, a growing body of research links poor sexual health outcomes to adherence to traditional gender norms. Yet few curricula address such topics as gender or rights in a meaningful way.

Since 2004, the Rethinking Sexuality Education project has been promoting a paradigm shift in the sexuality education field—toward a “social studies” approach that actively fosters the development of critical thinking skills and emphasizes learning and reflection about the ways that gender, rights, and other aspects of social context (e.g., race/ethnicity and class) affect sexual experience. This approach can be applied both in formal education and in community-based programs.

Girl's Power Initiative in Nigeria, a partner of the Rethinking Sexuality Education project. Photo credit: Andrea Lynch                                                                © International Women's Health Coalition

Key activities of the Rethinking Sexuality Education project include:

• Promoting dialogue and providing technical assistance aimed at effecting a shift in sexuality education;
• Developing technical resources for sexuality and HIV education programs, and education ministries/departments;
• Fostering pilot interventions—both in the United States and globally—that integrate sexuality, HIV, gender, rights, and critical thinking skills.

Under development
Curriculum development guidelines. There is an urgent need for guidelines to enable policymakers, curriculum developers, and educators to develop locally appropriate sexuality/HIV education curricula that promote critical thinking about gender and rights. To help fill this gap, Council researchers convened an international working group to develop a user-friendly curriculum-development resource package.

Members of the working group include: Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action (India); Girls Power Initiative (Nigeria); International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF); IPPF Western Hemisphere Region (Latin America and Caribbean); International Women's Health Coalition; and MEXFAM (Mexico).

After the resource package is tested and revised in 2007, it will be translated into French and Spanish and distributed worldwide.

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Population Council researchers

Nicole Haberland, Deborah Rogow (consultant)

Donors

The Ford Foundation

United Nations Population Fund

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