Pleasure as Pedagogy: Rethinking Risk-Based Narratives in Contemporary Sex Education

Contemporary sex education in the United States overwhelmingly emphasizes risk prevention, focusing on sexually transmitted infections (STIs), pregnancy, and sexual assault, largely omitting discussions of sexual pleasure. Recognizing this gap, this thesis explores how pleasure can function as a central pedagogical tool in sex education. Grounded in framing theory, social constructionism, theories of biopower, and a sociological theory of pleasure, this thesis examines how dominant risk-based narratives impact the efficacy of sex education. Using qualitative methodology, I conducted semi-structured interviews with students from the Claremont Colleges to investigate how their early sex education experiences shaped their later understandings of sex and sexuality. Findings reveal that participants overwhelmingly recalled their sex education as negative, fear-based, and lacking instruction on pleasure, negatively impacting their relationships to their own sexualities. The results suggest that reframing sex education to center pleasure, rather than risk, holds transformative potential. I argue a paradigm shift in sex education policy and practice away from risk, towards pleasure. I suggest that reframing sex education around pleasure will challenge entrenched cultural narratives about sex and offer a pathway toward a more sexually literate and healthy society.