Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2013, 49(2): 269-290 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2013.49.2.04

The Demise of Tradition and Its Salvation through Sex: The Discursive Strategies of Opponents of Sex Education

Lucie Jarkovská, Kateřina Lišková
Fakulta sociálních studií, Masarykova univerzita, Brno

In 2010 sex education became a surprising target of criticism in the secular Czech Republic. The voices of social conservatives were raised and were answered by the Minister of Education, who launched a reform of educational curricula to exclude sex education. This article analyses the discursive strategies employed by conservative opponents of sex education and highlights the interpretive repertoires of sexuality and gender. The authors argue that Czech conservatives deploy both a moral panic strategy and a discursive strategy of empowerment that uses positive sanctions to support 'good sex', defined exclusively as marital, procreative heterosex. This interpretive repertoire of 'good and healthy sexuality' is universally intelligible and thus has the potential to resonate not only with social conservatives but throughout society. When combined with other socially conservative agendas it has the capacity to regiment the public space and diminish the role of public institutions.

Keywords: sex education, discursive strategies, gender, conservatism, Czech Republic

Published: April 1, 2013Show citation

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Jarkovská, L., & Lišková, K. (2013). The Demise of Tradition and Its Salvation through Sex: The Discursive Strategies of Opponents of Sex Education. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 49(2), 269-290. doi: 10.13060/00380288.2013.49.2.04.
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