What the #*%! does ‘sex’ mean, anyway?

During my parent and teacher presentations I always ask the audience, “What do people in our society broadly think of when they hear the word ‘sex’?”

We always end up with two main interpretations of this word:

1. Heterosexual penis-in-vagina intercourse (responses often include things like ‘the act of’, ‘doing it’, ‘the deed’, ‘the physical act’ and so on).
2. Being male or female (responses always include ‘gender’).

Narrowing it down to these two limiting concepts is very unhelpful for what we know about the complexity of human sexuality.  Focusing on  heterosexual penis-in-vagina intercourse for ideal sexual function is very limiting and the concept of a gender binary is inaccurate.

This is why I prefer not to use the term ‘sex' education, as it implies we are teaching children only about the act of ‘sex’, or that humans are only male or female. 

I prefer to use  the term 'sexuality' education based on Human Sexuality, Respectful Relationships and Consent (HSRRC). 

Sexuality education (or HSRCC) actually has hardly anything to do with ‘sex’, or what people generally think of when they hear that word, instead it age appropriately incorporates these broad topics:

Human Sexuality Education  (not 'sex' ed)

Source: Adapted from Government of Western Australia Department of Health (2023)

Simply describing all of this as ‘sex’ is very limiting compared to what we know about the complexity, diversity and uniqueness of each person’s sexuality journey through life. 

Let’s take the focus away from ‘sex’, (whatever that word means), and focus more on the human lived experience of  HSRRC. You can learn all about this in my new book “Talking Sex A Conversation Guide for Parents” which will be out on the 6th of September 2023! In this book you can learn how to approach conversations with your child so that you are their main educator of HSRRC. Pre-order here via Amba Press.