Research Culture Seminar Series - School Matters: Social Class and the Youth Sexuality Education Experience in Contemporary China

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED FOLLOWING MEASURES AND ADVICE ISSUED BY THE GOVERNMENT IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19.

Guest speaker Chong Liu is a 3rd year PhD student in Sociology and Social Policy. She is carrying out research on sexuality education and social stratification in contemporary China. 

Abstract:

Based on her six months’ fieldwork at a vocational high school and an academic high school in 2019, Chong Liu will discuss the interrelation between sexuality education and social stratification through the lens of schooling in China. Specifically, she’ll examine how class impacts youth experience with sexuality education through schooling.

Sexuality education has a significant impact on its subjects’ sexuality identity, practice and relationships. In her research, Chong Liu re-defines sexuality education to be both an input and an output of China’s social context and its social construction.

In this presentation, Chong Liu will first give an overview of how youth can obtain sexuality-related knowledge and information in China. Then she’ll discuss the differences between her two research sites, and highlight the institutional challenges of the implementation of sexuality education in schools. Next Chong Liu will revisit the youth attitudes towards sexuality education, and their experience with sexuality education through schooling. Lastly, she’ll conclude by examining class and the youth sexuality education experience, and argue that the unequal distribution of societal and educational resources is a key determinant of experience with this education.