Sex education and science

Our starting point for this chapter is that sex education should have as its goal the sexual health, in its broadest sense, of all students, regardless of sexual orientation. We adopt the holistic view of sexual health as defined by the World Health Organization: 'Sexual health is a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the sexual rights of all persons must be respected, protected and fulfilled. (World Health Organization 2002)'. In this chapter, we explore through the literature some of the contemporary issues associated with this kind of sex education. We focus in particular on the United Kingdom and Australia as two comparable multicultural nations with secular education systems facing similar issues in regard to sex education.