Putting ethical sex into practice: sexual negotiation, gender and citizenship in the lives of young women and men

When young people begin to explore their sexuality they are often subject to particularly strong surveillance from adults and the institutions of the state. How young people become ethical sexual citizens is not well understood. In recent years an increased focus on comprehensive sexuality programmes that include violence prevention have led to the development of a number of education programmes targeting young people. This article will draw on quantitative and qualitative responses of a three-phase (pre-group, post-group, follow-up) impact evaluation from 153 young women and men from Australia and New Zealand who participated in the Sex and Ethics Violence Prevention Program from 2009 to 2011. The Program encourages young people to explore alternative approaches to gender and sexuality and learn skills in ethical negotiation which they can utilise in 'real life' situations. This includes developing a reflexive ethical stance to consider how sexual choices impact on themselves and others. The primary aim of the Program is to reduce pressured, coerced sex and sexual assault in intimate relationships. Despite gender differences women and men were able to move toward behavioural change, explore alternative approaches to gender relations and increase their skills in sexual negotiation as ethical sexual citizens. Keywords: sexualitygendersexual ethicsyoung peoplesexual assault prevention Acknowledgements Funding for this research was provided by the Respectful Relationships Program Funding from the Australian Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the New Zealand Ministry of Justice. The views expressed in this article are the views of the authors and do not reflect the opinions of the above departments. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Australian Discourse, Power, Resistance (DPR) Conference, Cairns, 2011. Notes 1. The difference in length of time was determined by when the follow-up time period occurred. For example, if the follow-up date fell at six months in December or January, the chances of securing meaningful return rates would have dropped considerably due to summer holidays. Therefore, some groups were followed up earlier at four months. 2. The use of bystander skills to encourage community challenges to sexual and other forms of intimate violence is considered to be a leading intervention in violence prevention work. The response of young people who took part in the Program to this issue is the subject of another publication in press. See Banyard et al. (Citation2004, Citation2007) for detailed discussion of the bystander approach.