What do you remember about sex education at school?
For me, a student with already interested in bodies and gender, sex education class was both stimulating and some what disappointing. While it was fun to learn about anatomy and genitals, pregnancy and childbirth, it was never enough to satisfy my curiosity.
I was able to fulfil that curiosity little by little after I entered university, majoring in Home Economics Education and exploring research and learning both formal and informal. In the process, I came to the conclusion that the sex education we receive at school is completely wrong.
Now that I’ve graduated university and am meeting students firsthand in the Home Economics classroom I have began to contemplate how to create a middle school sex education curriculum that could really change students lives.
What do you learn during Home Economics class?
In South Korea Home Economics is a subject that focuses on building relationships through healthy interactions with oneself, family, community, resources, and the environment, and developing independent living and practical problem-solving skills. Among the regular school subjects it deals with sex education the most. In the 2015 revised curriculum for middle school students the elements and outcomes regarding sex education for Home Economics are as follows.
These elements are then incorporated into the classes of middle school students across the country through the following process.
Through this process the curriculum impacts the textbooks, textbooks influence the classes and the classes then affect the teachers and students. The direction of a class can thus be influenced by the language and contents of the available textbook. The elements and outcomes are all composed of content to be learned in adolescence, emphasizing the growth of self-identity during mental and physical maturation.
But does the content of these textbooks accurately express these ideals? While the page design, sentence style, included pictures might vary depending on the publisher the basic focus and content of the textbooks are all very similar. Let’s take a look at the ‘Adolescent Sexual Development’ sections of representative textbooks used by schools around Korea.
JeongYeon’s Textbook Commentary Round 1 - The Female Body
CASE #1 The Whereabouts of the Vulva
What’s included in the textbooks
✔ Sections on male sexual development include both the internal reproductive organs (testicles, epididymus, vans deferens, seminal vesicle, prostate etc) and the external organs (penis, scrotum).
✔ Sections on female sexual development include only the internal reproductive organs (vaginal canal, ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes).
What’s not included in the textbooks
✖ Sections on female sexual development do not include any explanation, or even mention, of female external genitalia (the inner and outer labia, clitoris etc).
CASE #2 Menstruation… it’s a cycle. That’s it?
What’s included in the textbooks
✔ The textbooks explain ovulation, menstruation, the menstrual cycle and it’s expected date.
What’s not included in the textbooks
✖ Any kind of practical explanation of menstruation is excluded.
