Introduction

Sexuality education in school spaces embodies a specific type of sexual knowledge, one which is very different from the type of sexual knowledge available through other sources such as gossip, pornography, or cinema. As the above-mentioned quote suggests, most adolescents acquire sexual knowledge on their own, that is, outside the space of the classroom. This presents us with one of the key debates in sexuality education: the problem of ‘knowledge gap’ which signifies the gap between what is taught in the classroom and adolescents’ sexual knowledge and experiences. Louisa Allen (2001) theorizes this ‘knowledge gap’ as constructing two forms of sexual knowledge or rather two discourses: one is the ‘official discourse’ which is present in the sexuality education curriculum in the classroom focusing on sexual health, contraception, puberty, menstruation, and so on; another is the ‘unofficial discourse’ which is present in the sources of information that adolescents have on sex outside the classroom (like pornographic material) and the conversations that adolescents have with their peers about sex, bodies, and attraction.

This chapter describes the ‘unofficial’ body of knowledge on sex not as a lack, or a reason to institute formal sex education, but as a legitimate discourse on sex and sexuality, understood on its own terms. By doing this, I no longer place it in a hierarchy but see it as another form of sexual knowing, thus decentring the ‘official’ discourse of sexuality education. The ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ discourses are read as two forms of sexual knowing which, while indeed overlapping, cannot be always brought together. While sex education continues to be the ‘official’ discourse on sex and sexuality, adolescents’ sexual knowledge outside the classroom, as this chapter argues, is structured in such a way that it does not easily occupy the space of the classroom. Sexual knowledge from peers, pornography, jokes, and so on, cannot necessarily and does not always need to be a part of the classroom.