Sex Education and YA

Posted by Chris on June 30th, 2008 filed in libraries, sex, young adults

Two articles worth reading, especially if you work with teens and young adults:

  1. “The mystery and the act: Towards a YA human sexuality collection,” by Tori Weesner, in the online journal Progressive Librarian.
  2. “Sex education and the American public library: A study of collection development, reference services, and programming for young adults,” by Rebecca J. Cohen, in the journal Young Adult Library Services.

The really sad thing is that Cohen’s article is from 2008, and it describes many of the same problems and challenges that Weesner describes back in 2000.  Apparently there hasn’t been a great deal of change in how public libraries approach the idea of teen sexuality — and it’s been almost a decade.

Is it a question of personal and professional discomfort with the subject?  Community standards?  Or is it something else that I’m missing?

And with that, it’s time for me to get back to writing my paper about It’s Perfectly Normal.


One Response to “Sex Education and YA”

  1. mb Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 2:34 pm

    Dear Mr. Riot,

    This will teach me to take my eye off your blog for a minute. Teen sexuality is a fairly provocative subject no matter where you go or who you talk with (schools, nonprofit groups, and families). Little wonder the library is having issue with it too.

    There’s a million cautionary tales about teen sexuality out there. So I think a good question is where are the stories about positive and healthy teen sexuality? Who’s to say what that would even look like?

    i <3 Go Ask Alice!
    -mb

Leave a Comment