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'Happy Stories' of Swedish Exceptionalism Reproducing Whiteness in Teaching and Biology Textbooks in Sexuality Education
Malmö University, Faculty of Education and Society (LS), Department of Natural Science, Mathematics and Society (NMS). Malmö University, Centre for Sexology and Sexuality Studies (CSS).ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3614-9603
Umeå Univ, Dept Sci & Math Educ, Umeå, Sweden; Umeå Univ, Umeå Ctr Gender Studies, Umeå, Sweden.
2025 (English)In: Science & Education, ISSN 0926-7220, E-ISSN 1573-1901, Vol. 34, no 1, p. 129-151Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Sexuality education (SE) takes place in fields of tension where biology, legislation, norms, and values intersect. Drawing on Ahmed's phenomenological account of whiteness, this article examines how Swedish whiteness is constructed and reproduced within SE. In Sweden, SE is formalised as an overarching, subject-integrated knowledge area where the biology subject plays a crucial role in its delivery. To include a wide spectrum of SE, where both planned and unplanned aspects of teaching are considered, as well as tensions in the content, we have analysed eight semi-structured teacher interviews and five biology textbooks. Our analysis shows how Swedish whiteness is reproduced as a form of institutionalised orientation constructed by norms, social values, people, subject knowledge, policies, and legislation, all intertwined in a complex web. This web places SE, teachers, and pupils in a racial landscape that constructs and reproduces specific forms of Swedish whiteness by assigning each a position in relation to familiarity. This familiarity provides a taken-for-granted starting point in SE, where 'here' is constructed as a place of progression, openness, and possibilities for happy future sexual lives, while other places come to stand out as hyper-visible examples of the less familiar, less happy, and 'far away'. From this outpost, teachers and biology textbooks construct and reproduce Swedish whiteness through 'happy stories' of Swedish exceptionalism. Although these positive messages in SE may stem from good intentions, our findings show that a colourblind view of racial hierarchies in the rendering of 'happy stories, about, for example, gay rights, free abortion, and equality also contributes to reproducing whiteness and reinforcing ideas about race and Swedish exceptionalism in SE.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2025. Vol. 34, no 1, p. 129-151
Keywords [en]
Sexuality education, Race, Whiteness, Teacher interviews, Biology textbooks, Swedish exceptionalism, Phenomenology
National Category
Educational Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-62642DOI: 10.1007/s11191-023-00454-3ISI: 001041269600001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85166334234OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mau-62642DiVA, id: diva2:1798011
Available from: 2023-09-18 Created: 2023-09-18 Last updated: 2025-04-25Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Orientations in Swedish sexuality education
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Orientations in Swedish sexuality education
2025 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

This thesis contemplates the complexity of sexuality education in schooling by focusing on how Swedishsexuality education has come to be organised, stabilised, and able to reproduce positions of privilege andmarginalisation while it, at the same time has been seeking to disrupt and emancipate. By utilizing SaraAhmed’s concept of orientation, this thesis discusses the contribution of four stand-alone articles to explorehow the body, gender, race, and sexuality are (re)produced in Swedish sexuality education, how sexualityeducation is conditioned, and how educators can navigate sexuality education to “do right”.

Article I analyses biology education textbooks and interviews with teachers. It shows that a particularform of Swedish exceptionalism prevails within contemporary Swedish sexuality education in the shape ofhappy stories, which, on the one hand, emphasise important progression in legislation concerning sexualand reproductive rights and, on the other, reproduces exclusion by marginalising or othering anything butthe happiness of the open, inclusive, and progressive Swedishness. Article II presents a hermeneuticreading of a Linnaean lecture from the 1700s called Om sättet att tillhopa gå [About the way to becometogether]. By discussing this lecture through other scholarly work on Linnaeus and conceptualisation of thebody, gender, race and sexuality, the article discusses the body was envisioned to be a holistic vessel. Through Article I and Article II, the thesis discusses how conceptions of the body have radically changedand how this has affected both sexuality education and actions in society.

Article III discusses the tradition and pedagogic culture of talking within Swedish sexuality education byanalysing interviews and observations of municipality actors working with in-service teachers’ professionaldevelopment. It suggests that talking in sexuality education is neither natural nor neutral, for it is a culturalperformance of pedagogic tradition and ideals in which teachers can embody ideals of professionalism. Toget more insight into the embodiment of ideals, Article IV focuses on teachers’ experiences of how gender,age and sexuality has conditioned their practices in sexuality education. The article highlights how,especially older women, “tanter”, become successful as they embody a heterosexual, yet desexualised, lifecourse. In contrast, men, both young and old, are conditioned to perform safe forms of masculinity.

Together, Article III and Article IV show how teachers’ efforts to disrupt and emancipate normativenotions of gender and sexuality simultaneously can reproduce positions of privilege.

To conclude, this thesis shows sexuality education to be not only complex but unfulfilling as it reproducespositions of privilege and marginalisation, even if it is seeking to disrupt and emancipate. However, byshowing this, the thesis delivers a compelling argument for why it is necessary to continue providing anddeveloping sexuality education in school, as it is an important instrument for understanding who we are,what we know and how we are going to be uniquely diverse in a shared reproductive future.

Abstract [sv]

Den har avhandlingen begrundar komplexiteten i skolans sexualundervisning genom att fokusera på hur den svenska sexualundervisningen har kommit att organisera, stabilisera och reproducera privilegium och marginaliseringar samtidigt som den har försökt att stora normer och frigöra individen. Genom att använda Sara Ahmeds begrepp orienteringar diskuterar denna avhandling bidraget från fyra fristående artiklar for att utforska hur kroppen, kon, ras och sexualitet återskapas i svensk sexualundervisning. Avhandlingen syftar också till att synliggöra hur sexualundervisning ar villkorad och vad det kan innebära for lärare "göra ratt" inom detta kunskapsområde. Artikel I analyserar biologiläroböcker och intervjuer med lärare. Den visar att en särskild form av svensk exceptionalism förmedlas genom en mängd glada berättelser som framhåller Sveriges och svenskars progressiva värderingar och lagstiftningar nar det kommer till jämställdhet samt sexuella-och reproduktiva rättigheter. Artikeln diskuterar hur de glada berättelserna i sexualundervisningen belyser viktiga framsteg, samtidigt som de återskapar uteslutning genom att marginalisera eller förminska allt som inte ar den glada, öppna, inkluderande och progressiva svenskheten. Sexualundervisning har varit obligatorisk i Sverige sedan 1955, men dess historia sträcker sig längre tillbaka i tiden. For att utforska orienteringar bakat i tiden presenterar Artikel II en hermeneutisk läsning av föreläsning som påstås vara given av Carl von Linne någon gang pa 1700-talet. Föreläsningen som kallas Om sättet att tillhopa gå diskuteras genom att lagga ett särskilt fokus pa hur kroppen, kon, ”ras”, sexualitet och reproduktion forestalls och vad det ar for kunskap som den tidens sexualundervisning kan tankas förmedla. Genom att placera Artikel I och Artikel II i relation till varandra diskuterar avhandlingen hur uppfattningar om kroppen har förändrats och hur dessa idéer om kroppar har påverkat bade sexualundervisning och handlingar i samhället. Artikel III diskuterar hur den svenska sexualundervisningen uppbar en tradition och en pedagogisk kultur av att prata. I artikeln analyseras intervjuer och observationer av kommunala aktorer som arbetar med fortbildning for lärare. Artikel diskuterar hur den pratande praktiken inom sexualundervisning varken ar naturligt eller neutralt, eftersom det blir en form av kulturellt framträdande av en ideal pedagogisk tradition. Genom att behärska pratet förkroppsligar lärare idealen om professionalism. For att fa mer insikt om hur förkroppsligande av ideal inom sexualundervisning lägger Artikel IV fokus pa hur kon, alder och sexualitet villkorar lärares undervisning. Artikeln lyfter fram hur kvinnor, och da särskilt äldre kvinnor, sa kallade "tanter", blir ett framgångsrikt pedagogiskt subjekt eftersom de förkroppsligar en heterosexuell men avsexualiserad livsbana. Man, såväl unga som gamla, ar däremot villkorade att genomföra sexualundervisning pa ett satt dar de förkroppsliga en trygg och ofarlig maskulinitet eftersom den manliga heterosexualiteten ar kodad som en aktiv sexualitet. Tillsammans visar Artikel III och Artikel IV hur lärares ansträngningar att stora och motverka normativa föreställningar om kön och sexualitet i undervisningen blir genomförbara just for att de förkroppsligar normerande privilegierade positioner. Sammanfattningsvis visar denna avhandling att sexualundervisning inte bara ar komplex utan otillfredsställande eftersom den återskapar privilegierade och marginaliserade positioner, trots dess ansats att stora normer och frigöra individen. Denna spanning utgör dock det grundläggande argument till varför det ar nödvändigt att fortsatta att tillhandahålla och utveckla sexualundervisning i skolan. För trots allt visar avhandlingen hur sexualundervisning är ett viktigt instrument for att tillgängliggöra kunskap för att kunna första vilka vi är, vad vi vet och hur vi ska kunna vara unikt olika i en gemensam reproduktiv framtid.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Malmö: Malmö University Press, 2025. p. 124
Series
Malmö Studies in Educational Sciences: Doctoral Dissertation Series, ISSN 1651-4513, E-ISSN 2004-9161 ; 111
Keywords
Biology, Biology Education, Exceptionalism, Gender, Norms, Science Education, Scientific Racism, Sex Education, Sexuality Education, Sexuality
National Category
Educational Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-75582 (URN)10.24834/isbn.9789178776252 (DOI)978-91-7877-624-5 (ISBN)978-91-7877-625-2 (ISBN)
Public defence
2025-04-23, OR:D138, Orkanen, Malmö universitet, Malmö, 13:15 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Note

Paper II and III in dissertation as manuscript, paper II under the title "Beauty, Pleasure and Vital Fluids in the Linnaean lecture About the way to become together: race, gender and sexuality education in the 1700s"

Available from: 2025-04-25 Created: 2025-04-25 Last updated: 2026-01-16Bibliographically approved

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