Sexual Debut Education: Cultivating a Healthy Approach to Young People’s Sexual Experiences

Abstract

Purpose

This paper explores the benefits of teaching young people about sex through a sexual debut framework.

Methodology/approach

Dominant conceptual frameworks that shape young people’s introduction to sexual intimacy are analyzed.

Findings

Sexual debut is a process by which young people are given the power to decide the who, what, when, where, why, and how of their first sexual encounters. The evolution and nuances of young people’s first sexual engagements can be understood through the interface of culture, social, and psychological contexts, language, actions, experiences, and how they transform those processes into their own conceptualization of sexual behavior and involvement with it.

Research limitations/implications

This framework explains a process by which young people engage in particular sexual acts at a particular time and place with a certain partner. It allows for future data gathering and analysis to refine this model.

Practical implications

Benefits of teaching children they have power to influence with whom they want to become sexually active, what types of sexual activities they want to experience, when they wish to engage in those actions, and where they occur should reduce the risk of abuse, rape, and harm.

Social implications

The debut model challenges abstinence approaches to sex education. The implications of this research reinforce the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to support young people’s participation to influence their lives and well-being.

Originality/value

It provides a realistic view of sexual experimentation and has the potential to reduce risk and increase young people’s well-being.

Citation

Vissing, Y. (2017), "Sexual Debut Education: Cultivating a Healthy Approach to Young People’s Sexual Experiences", Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Among Contemporary Youth (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 23), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 177-200. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120170000023014