Re/producing Power: Sex Education and the Queer Identified Subject

This research delves into the complex relationship between sexuality and/or gender identity and sex education. Seven queer-identified adults were interviewed regarding their experiences of sex education curriculum in Toronto, Ontario. This research draws heavily on queer phenomenology and Foucauldian theory in its examination of education and educational influence on identity. It is, further, influenced by disability studies and post colonialism with regard to the role of society in defining and constraining identity categories. Findings show that the curriculum experienced by participants created and reinforced particular heteronormative discourses in regard to sex, gender, and sexuality. This in turn lent itself to experiences of identity which were marked by a degree of ambivalence. This thesis argues that, while indicative of a problem of representation within the curriculum, this ambivalence is also a site whereby identity can be reimagined as a relational process rather than a defining characteristic.M.A