Why should intimate partner violence prevention be integrated in sex education?

ABSTRACT

In the last half-century the primary aim of sex education has centred on sexual health and reducing the number of sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancies. However, this focus on the biological aspects of sex under the premise of the ‘value neutral’ transfer of knowledge has been criticised. Scholars have instead suggested integrating aspects of moral education into the sex education curriculum which should focus on the well-being of romantic partners and of society as a whole. Using the example of intimate partner violence (IPV) this article adds to ethical sex education scholarship by justifying the placing of moral and interdisciplinary content about IPV in curricula. It argues that as IPV is impossible to eradicate solely by the use of law, sex education is one of the best ways to tackle it.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethics
• sex education
• adolescents
• intimate partner violence
• human rights

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maria Moulin-Stozek

Maria Moulin-Stozek is a criminologist and a human rights lawyer focusing her research on intimate partner violence. She received a PhD in Criminology from Jagiellonian University and a Masters in Law from Harvard Law School. Maria Moulin-Stozek works currently as a Lecturer and Researcher at Jan Dlugosz University of Czestochowa.