Room 520-A | French Presentations Thursday, July 14, 2005 Time: 2:30 PM-4:30 PM |
Reacting to todays sexual mainstreaming and escalation.
Duquet, Francine *,1, 1 Département de sexologie - Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
ABSTRACT- Often subject to stereotyped, idealized and fragmented perceptions of sexuality, children and adolescents remain at once fascinated and intrigued by the world of sex. The rampant promotion of sex, especially in the media, seems to be contributing to the emergence of models based on hypersexual seduction and hyperperformance in sexual behaviours at the expense of feelings and of the development of close relationships. This results in the widespread dissemination of a very partial and often deceptive image of sexuality. Young people need help to decode and make sense of the sexual messages they are constantly bombarded with. For beyond artifice and sensationalism, sexuality remains central to our identity, to the way we relate to others and to our personal fulfillment and well-being. In certain respects, this generalization of sexuality and escalation in the use of sexual representations should be of concern since it relates to the image young people form of how sexuality is expressed (the hypersexualization of girls clothing, even at a very early age, widely and easily accessible cyberpornography, precocious sexual behaviours, sexual chatting, fuck friends, etc.). The issues of meaning, references and limits are essential in sexual education. And it is up to us, the adults, to accompany young people through this necessary reflection on self-knowledge and how we relate to others.
Key words: Sex Education, Sexual representation, Hypersexualization of society, Meanings, references and limits, Adolescent's sexuality