Diversity in sex and relationship education – limitations and possibilities in Swedish biology textbooks

Figures & data

Table 1. Biology textbooks’ authors, publishers, year of publication and proportion of SRE chapters.

Textbook title	Full title	Author	Publisher	Publication date, edition; reprint	Chapter pages/total	SRE chapters /total
Capensis	Biologi 7–9 Del 2 Kropp och hälsa (vol. 2 of 3)	Martens, I. & Theng, L.	Falköping: Capensis förlag AB	2018, 1	26/452 = 5.7% (vols 1–3)	1/28  (vols 1–3)
Direkt	Biologi Direkt	Kukka, J. & Sundberg, C.J.	Stockholm: Sanoma utbildning	2012, 2; 5	36/412 = 8.7%	1/26
Makro	Biologi	Henriksson, A.	Malmö: Gleerup	2010, 1; 7	24/400 = 6%	1/14
Puls	Biologi: för grundskolans år 7–9	Andréasson, B.	Stockholm: Natur & kultur	2011, 4; 4	24/384 = 6.3%	1/21
Spektrum	Biologi Grundbok	Fabricius, S., Holm, F. & Nystrand, A.	Stockholm: Liber	2013, 4	30/444 = 6.8%	1/10

Note: The share of SRE content in the book published by Capensis (vol. 2) was calculated in relation to the total sum of pages and chapters in the multivolume set (vols 1–3).

Table 2. Selected quotes and codes in terms of limitations and possibilities.

Quotes	Codes
A sperm fertilises an egg cell. (Capensis 110)	Power, sperm as active, egg as passive (Stereotypical limitation)
What does it mean that there are two sexes/genders? (Direkt 230)	Sexual dimorphism/binary gender (Limitation of gender)
Only one sperm is let in. (Makro 323)	The egg is given agency. (Possibility of challenging stereotypes in biology)
Slidkrans (vaginal corona) (Capensis 101, Direkt 228, Makro 308, Puls 281, Spektrum 379)	A new term instead of the use of mödomshinna (the hymen) (Possibility of challenging myths of virginity)
Man or woman? Is it important to know? (Spektrum 366)	Reinforcement of gender binary (Limitation) (Possibility of challenging binary gender)

Table 3. Estimated percentage of content coverage in five Swedish biology textbooks.

Textbook	No of lines in SRE chapter	One line is equal to (%)	Hetero-sexual (%)	LGBT total (%)	‘LGBT’ abbreviation (%)	Homosexual (%)	Lesbian (%)	Gay (%)	Bisexual (%)	Transgender (%)	Queer (%)	Intersex (%)	Asexual (%)	Crip (%)
Capensis	594	0.17	10.6	4.0	–	2.7	–	0.2	0.5	1.3	–	–	0.5	–
Direkt	620	0.16	7.0	5.0	0.8	2.9	0.2	0.3	0.5	1.5	–	–	–	0.3
Makro	506	0.20	5.3	5.5	2.2	2.0	0.2	0.2	1.2	2.6	–	–	–	0.4
Puls	587	0.17	6.0	6.0	1.2	4.4	1.2	0.9	0.2	1.2	1.0	0.2	–	–
Spektrum	563	0.18	4.4	5.2	1.1	2.7	0.2	0.2	0.9	1.2	0.4	–	–	0.9

Note: LGBT total is the sum of the abbreviation ‘LGBT’, Homosexual, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender content.