Reimagining Relationships and Sex Education

Emily Setty is Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Surrey, UK.Jonny Hunt is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Social Sciences, Childhood and Youth Studies, at the University of Bedfordshire, UK.

• Introduction: Creating space for uncertainty Chapter 1. Rethinking relationships and sex education and adolescent Intimacies Chapter 2. Safe uncertainty: A pedagogical framework for adolescent intimacies and relationships and sex education Chapter 3. Creating safe(r) spaces to explore uncertainty Chapter 4. Why safe certainty is inadequate for consent: Navigating ambiguity and ambivalence in adolescent intimacies Chapter 5. Gender power dynamics in adolescent relationships Chapter 6. Digital intimacies Chapter 7. Online sexual learning and sex media Chapter 8. Rethinking ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ relationships through safe uncertainty Conclusion: Reimagining RSE for the future

This could not be a more timely book. The recent media focus on issues such as misogyny and the harmful sexual behaviours that this can result in has placed educators in a position where they need to consider how to tackle these. As Setty and Hunt contend, often the media focus on cases can create knee-jerk approaches that react to the latest moral panic. Through their research, they have identified that existing approaches to informing and awareness raising do little to address harmful sexual behaviours and that a different approach is needed. What this book argues is a different approach to engaging young people in these conversations, one based on relational education principles to hold space for conversations on what are often complex and challenging topics. This book goes beyond providing a theoretical argument for a different approach but offers an accessible and practical model for reimagining relationships and sex education. Their approach weaves academic literature with practical experiences from their work in schools. This is an academically rigorous yet engagingly written book that speaks to both academics and practitioners alike and is a must-read for anyone engaging with young people.