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About the Module

Issues of gender and sexuality play an important part in understanding young people’s selfhood within the context of both family relationships and wider society in general. This module will critically engage in contemporary debates around the role of gender in forming the identities of children and young people. 

Students will explore a broad range of literature in order to develop critical understandings as to the place of informal and formal agencies in supporting young people in their sexual choices and emerging sense of self. In this respect, control and fear, especially in terms of the loss of childhood innocence and the ways in which the performance of masculinities and femininities are constructed in society, are ideas that will be interrogated in the context of modern societal values. A key emphasis will likewise be placed upon the concept of sexualisation, particularly as this tends to have a gendered dimension in its focus. 

Module Aims

• Stimulate critical debate on the differing approaches to young people’s sexuality and sexual choices according to gender.
  
• Critically reflect on the concepts of ‘sexualisation’ and ‘desexualisation’ in terms of the controls put on young people and children in contemporary society.
  
• Engage with the concepts of ‘structure’ and ‘agency’ in relation to the functioning of gender.
  
• Interrogate the importance of the socially constructed concepts of masculinity and femininity in the identity formation of young people and children.
  
• Explore dominant theoretical, political and social discourses in recent policy and practice.

Module Learning Outcomes

1. Critically evaluate theories of gender with regard to the identity formation of children and young people.
   
2. Identify and analyse the ways in which the sexualities of young people and children are controlled and feared in our society.
   
3. Critique ideas and perspectives surrounding the ability of children and young people to negotiate and construct their own pathways through the realms of gender and identity construction

Student Expectations

To succeed on the module, you need to: 

1. Attend all of your taught sessions. See Timetable for details of the taught sessions. 
2. Complete the additional activities. There will be short quizzes and reading activities. These activities are designed to extend your learning. 
3. Actively engage in, and do your best to contribute to group discussions. This will also make the learning experience more interesting!

Hopefully, this advice will help you to engage with, and enjoy, the module!