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Possibilities for Pleasure: A Creative Approach to Including Pleasure in Sexuality Education

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Abstract

This chapter introduces an arts-based methodology for thinking about pleasure within sexuality education. The methodology is drawn from The ‘good sex’ project—a participatory film-making and research project that set out to develop strategies for reanimating original research for young audiences. The chapter documents two of the strategies developed during the project and examines what kinds of knowledge and knowledge-making they made possible. A reflective account of both the methods is provided to evaluate possibilities for using participatory, performative methods within sexuality education, using data from workshop recordings, audio–visual materials produced by participants and reflections recorded on the project blog. Limitations of the approach are also explored and in conclusion, the chapter outlines a number of ways in which elements of the approach could be employed in within different educational contexts.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://goodsexproject.wordpress.com/

  2. 2.

    Grant reference ES/K005421/1.

  3. 3.

    https://goodsexproject.wordpress.com/

  4. 4.

    All names of original research participants are pseudonyms chosen by the participants.

  5. 5.

    Further details of the groups monologues can be viewed here: https://goodsexproject.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/the-story-of-jessica-turning-interview-data-into-film/

  6. 6.

    Nandos is a popular fast food restaurant chain.

  7. 7.

    https://goodsexproject.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/kats-story-experiments-in-reanimating-data/https://goodsexproject.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/the-story-of-jessica-turning-interview-data-into-film/

  8. 8.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpnUO-Is-qY

  9. 9.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBQ_9O9CeFI

  10. 10.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bamJjbEky8c

  11. 11.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lZBWaXYFN0

  12. 12.

    An impact evaluation was issued to all project participants 12 months after the project had finished. Comments from this survey are included here.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nationwide with a headoffice in Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Ester McGeeney

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  1. Ester McGeeney
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Louisa Allen

  2. School of Sociology Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Mary Lou Rasmussen

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McGeeney, E. (2017). Possibilities for Pleasure: A Creative Approach to Including Pleasure in Sexuality Education. In: Allen, L., Rasmussen, M.L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sexuality Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40033-8_28

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40033-8_28

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-40032-1

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