Pleasure’s perils? Critically reflecting on pleasure’s inclusion in sexuality education

Abstract

Until now, the inclusion of a discourse of pleasure in sexuality education has been constituted as a ‘progressive’ and ‘liberatory’ undertaking. This article seeks to scrutinize the political and moral motivations that have underpinned this discourse by tracing the origins of its emergence. It employs a series of anecdotes from the author’s everyday experience, as a launching point for thinking theoretically about how this discourse might be ‘being put to work’ in educational settings. With recourse to the writings of queer theorists, I interrogate the possibilities and limits of a discourse of pleasure in regard to its social justice aims. It is argued that the ‘politically depressed’ picture these anecdotes suggest, is a consequence of a particular conceptual framing of ‘agency’ that implies future-focused and advancing action. The article proposes new ways of thinking about pleasure’s agency, which hold in tension ‘leftist politics’ and queer theoretical understandings.