Reimagining postsecular sexuality education: a narrative study with heterosexual Christian young men

Heyes, Joshua Michael (2020). Reimagining postsecular sexuality education: a narrative study with heterosexual Christian young men. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

Preview

Heyes2020PhD_Redacted.pdf
Text - Redacted Version
Available under License All rights reserved.
Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

Sexuality education is secularist insofar as it omits religion, relegates religion to a matter of private concern, positions religion as a problem to be overcome, or permits the inclusion of religion only in forms that support existing progressive secular sexual ethics. The original contribution to knowledge of this thesis is a postsecular reimagination of sexuality education developed using four themes from a narrative study with six Christian young men age 16-19 on their experiences of and learning about sexuality and relationships. While there is a growing body of work that is critical of secularist sexuality education, there is little existing research supplying rich accounts of young people’s religious sexual subjectivities that might challenge secularist assumptions about youth sexualities. Drawing on narrative theory and employing biographic narrative interpretive methods, the study shows the different way that the religious sexual subjectivities of six Christian young men fracture under the conditions of postsecularity and how experiences, evaluations and recommendations regarding sexuality education emerge from these shifting subjectivities. Four cross-case themes emerging from a narrative analysis are then developed into a postsecular reimagination of sexuality education that is both responsive to these subjectivities and potentially enriching for all young people.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):