Legitimate Sexpectations - katrina marson
Legitimate Sexpectations by Katrina Marson is a work that explores the vital importance of relationships and sexuality education (abbreviated to RSE). The work is based on the research undertaken by Marson as a 2018 recipient of a Churchill Fellowship (a program that offers the successful applicant the opportunity to conduct research into a topic of their choice overseas, with the caveat that the research must be beneficial to, and shared with, the Australian public).
Each chapter of the book begins with a fictionalised vignette that connects with the topic of that chapter. This approach, while disquieting at times, is very effective; the vignettes viscerally highlight the ways in which young people suffer when not provided with comprehensive RSE (the fictional characters struggle with issues ranging from overt sexual assault to toxic entitlement to bullying, shame and relationship miscommunications). Marson has ensured she captures queer experiences within these vignettes too; her work highlights how current RSE often fails our queer young people even more deeply than it does the general population. Indeed, in the work Marson writes of how young people often express they’d learned more about queer sexuality and identity in sex-ed.
One of the most important takeaways from Legitimate Sexpectations is the fact that the research shows that comprehensive, positive RSE is extremely effective in delivering many outcomes we should want for our young people. Compared with an abstinence-only approach, comprehensive, positive relationships and sexuality education leads to later first sexual experiences, fewer unwanted sexual experiences, less teenage pregnancies and fewer pregnancy terminations.
The problem is, of course, that in politics and the media we usually hear the opposite. There is a warped idea that providing students with comprehensive, age-appropriate RSE will somehow encourage young people to engage in sexual acts, even as the research highlights that the opposite is true. As a society we must move beyond this unfounded fear of comprehensive RSE. When we fail to provide this crucial education to our young people, the consequences are dire.
Marson writes of how the window of opportunity to provide comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education before it is needed is small, and we must seize it. As a criminal lawyer, Marson knows all too well that the criminal justice system can only intervene once an incident has already occurred. While this of course serves its purpose, we must move beyond seeing these incidents solely through a lens of criminal justice, and instead proactively work to safeguard the sexual wellbeing of our young people, which is where education comes in.
Comprehensive RSE is about so much more than just harm minimisation. It’s about recognising that we all have a fundamental right to live healthy, happy lives, and empowering our young people to take steps to do just that. As Marson writes, sexual experiences should not only be “free from harm” but “far from harm”.
I found this work to be an invaluable read. Legitimate Sexpectations is a must-read if you are a feminist, an educator, or simply a person who wants better for society and for younger generations.
