***Registration to close on Friday***
Understanding the Young Sexual Body Symposium
Exploring young sexualities: research-practice entanglements
Date: 24th April 2015 10am-5.30pm
Venue: The Open University London, 1-11 Hawley Crescent, Camden Town, Camden, London NW1 8NP
The Open University is pleased to invite you to a follow-up event to the successful ESRC funded seminar series on Understanding the Young Sexual Body. This symposium will embrace the overall aim of the series: to develop partnerships and creative dialogue, between leading academics and practitioners concerned with young people's sexual health.
The one day event will focus on how research is influenced - complicated and enhanced - by practice, and how practice is influenced by research. We will be organising a number of panels, uniting practitioners and academics, to introduce topics for discussion. An interactive debate will follow the panel discussions. Our confirmed presenters are -
· Ruth Beni (award-winning film-maker of Two Little Girls http://www.twolittlegirls.org and A Dangerous Journey http://vimeo.com/95721191 will show her two latest animated films: on Forced Marriage, and FGM.
· Keira Pratt-Boyden (University College London) and Kirrily Pells(Policy officer on the young lives study at the University of Oxford): Female Genital Cutting and Social Media Campaigns
· Alma Reisel (Social Worker, Hackney) Professional Discourses of Choice in Cases of Child Sexual Exploitation. This paper draws on new research findings to trace how professional perceptions of consent are refracted through conceptions of age, gender and power.
· Geraldine Brady (Coventry University) with speaker from Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre The meaning of sexual consent in the lives of young people
· Maddie Blackburn (The Open University): "Consent dilemmas in conducting sexuality research with young adults with life-limiting and life- threatening conditions (LLTCs)"
· Dan Baker (METRO Centre, Greenwich, and the University of Greenwich) Digital Bodies and Sexualities On-line: exploring data from the Youth Chances Project
· Kate Sapin (Manchester University) and Rachel Williams (LGBT Youth North West): Youth Work in Schools to Raise Awareness of LGBT Lives
· Eleanor Formby (Sheffield Hallam University): Questioning inevitability and critiquing anti-bullying perspectives: Implications for practice regarding homophobic, biphobic and transphobic 'bullying'
· Alice Hoyle (Advisory Teacher of SRE, Bath) Research into practice- modelling the systems for challenging homophobia.
Re-imagining consent
A final session will be facilitated by Meg John Barker (The Open University) and Justin Hancock (BishUK), who will reflect on the issues discussed during the day and initiate a discussion on consent.
Symposium Audience:
This symposium will appeal to practitioners and academics of both the health and the education practitioner sector. Education policy and practitioner participants would primarily be people engaged with SRE/PSHE and working in an educational setting or with young people (e.g. youth centre). Health policy and practitioner audience will have an interest in sexual health (broadly defined), and in the implications of research on young sexualities for policy and practice.
Please click on the link below to register
http://www.open.ac.uk/health-and-social-care/main/research/research-events/research-project-and-group-events/understanding-young-sexual-body-symposium
This event will run between 10am - 5.30pm, and will include lunch and refreshments. The cost to attend is £40.
For any enquiries or further information regarding Understanding the young sexual body symposium, please contact [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Programme
Understanding the Young Sexual Body Symposium
'Exploring young sexualities: research-practice entanglements'
Friday 24th April 2014, 10am - 5.30pm
The Open University, 1-11 Hawley Crescent, Camden, London, NW1 8NP
Main Event Room 2,
Breakout Rooms 1, 4 & 6
PROGRAMME
10.00am - 10.30am Registration - Tea and Coffee will be available
10.30am - 10.35am Welcome - Lesley Hoggart, Open University
Background and introduction to the day: Lesley Hoggart (Open University)
Sexual Consent and Bodily Autonomy: chaired by Ofra Koffman
Recent government plans under which children from the age of 11 are to be taught about sexual consent highlight the on-going need for improvement in PSHE education around bodily autonomy and consent. This first session of the day will explore how young people understand the meaning of sexual consent and how practitioners can facilitate young people to maintain agency in their sexual decision making to minimise their risk of negative or exploitative relationships. Complexities such as cultural influences, disability and capacity will be explored. The session will conclude with the showcasing of two films which are intended to empower young women to self-protect against sex and drug trafficking.
10.35am - 10.45am Geraldine Brady (Coventry University) & Jo Costello (Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre)
"The meaning of sexual consent in the context of the lives of young people"
10.45am - 10.55am Maddie Blackburn (The Open University)
"Consent dilemmas in conducting sexuality research with young adults with life-limiting and life- threatening conditions (LLTCs)"
10.55am - 11.05am Alma Reisel (Social Worker, Hackney)
"Professional Discourses of Choice in Cases of Child Sexual Exploitation"
11. 05am - 11.15am Keira Pratt-Boyden (University College London) & Kirrilly Pells (University of Oxford)
"The Movement to end Female Genital Cutting: Keeping Research in Mind"
11.15am - 11.25pm Ruth Beni (Animage Films)
Interactive discussion between panel members and audience
13.00pm - 14.00pm Lunch
LGBT lives and the role of research: Chaired by Susan Walker
This session brings together practitioners' and researchers' insights into the lives of young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual/gendered people. It constructively critiques anti-bullying and anti-homophobic strategies used in schools, and asks what we do well, and how we can do better. We are fortunate in having four papers from presenters whose backgrounds span the practitioner/researcher spectrum, and we hope the discussion session will allow insights to be exchanged, with a view to meaningful engagement beyond the end of the symposium and seminar series.
14.05pm - 14.15pm Dan Baker (University of Greenwich)
"Digital bodies and sexualities on-line"
14.15pm - 14.25pm Kate Sapin (Manchester University) & Rachel Williams (LGBT Youth North West)
"Youth Work in Schools to Raise Awareness of LGBT Lives"
14.25pm - 14.35pm Eleanor Formby (Sheffield Hallam University)
"Questioning inevitability and critiquing anti-bullying perspectives: Implications for practice regarding homophobic, biphobic and transphobic 'bullying'"
14.35pm - 14.45pm Alice Hoyle (Advisory Teacher of SRE, Bath)
"Research into practice- modelling the systems for challenging homophobia."
Interactive discussion between panel members and audience
15.00pm - 15.10 Short break
15.10pm - 17:00pm Meg John Barker (The Open University) & Justin Hancock (BishUK)
'Shades of grey? Consent, consent, consent'
17:00pm Wine and Cheese while showcasing of publications, posters and relevant materials
Abstracts
Alice Hoyle
"What is the research evidence base to support teachers and schools in challenging homophobia?"
The literature reveals that schools are not adequately prepared to discuss non-heterosexuality or to challenge homophobic bullying. Teachers lack the skills to be able to address such issues. As a result, educational opportunities are avoided. Evidence for successful strategies for challenging homophobia in schools remains mostly as grey literature. This paper aims to address this by reviewing the last five years of published research into challenging homophobia in schools. A search protocol with systematic methodology was developed. Keywords were identified and arranged into 17 specific key search phrases. Each of these phrases were used to search 5 relevant databases. Search results were screened against inclusion/exclusion criteria. This resulted in fourteen unique articles to be reviewed. An analytical framework was developed based on three core contexts: Schools (the social and institutional context), Practitioners (the teacher context) and Practice (the pedagogical context). This research found that aiming to challenge homophobia by offering lessons or training teachers is insufficient. Schools and teachers need to consider the role they play in the creation and maintenance of homophobic environments. They need to recognise that homophobia does not just affect LGBT children, but acts as a means of enforcing heteronormativity for all. Therefore Schools and teachers need to be willing to adopt collective school-wide approaches that change school cultures. Directions for future research are also explored.
Alma Reisel
"Professional Discourses of Choice in Cases of Child Sexual Exploitation"
There has been intense controversy about the appropriate response to child sexual exploitation, with debates in the UK particularly hinging on the meaning of consent and coercion (Coy et al, 2010; Beckett et al, 2012). For professionals with a duty to safeguard young people, a key site of tension is how to avoid limiting young people's experience of agency without leaving them at risk (Warrington, 2013). Drawing on new research findings, this paper traces how professional perceptions of consent are refracted through conceptions of age, gender and power. It considers how markers of agency, such as age, can become framed as "willingness" - and hence reduce professional concerns. However, where opportunities for reflection are taken by professionals, this framing crumbles into sharper understanding of the resources available to young people. The paper closes by considering the implications for thinking about the hidden curriculum in our interventions with young people.
Dan Baker
"Digital bodies and sexualities on-line"
Using data from the Big Lottery funded 'Youth Chances' project led by equality and diversity charity METRO, this presentation will explore the internet use of young gay and bisexual men using data from the largest ever survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning 16 to 25 year olds in England.
How commonly do young gay and bisexual men access the internet to find information and support in three respects: firstly, when they are coming out, secondly, as part of their routine social interaction and thirdly in order to learn about sex and relationships. Furthermore, how does the role of the internet vary for different socio-economic groups and population densities?
The presentation will then explore the implications of these findings for service providers. What is currently provided off-line and on-line and what are some of the challenges and possibilities?
Having managed Youth Chances for four years and now taken on the role of Head of Integrated Youth Services at METRO, alongside my part-time PhD examining the influence of the internet on the sexual identity development of young gay and bisexual men, I will be able to bring academic and practitioner perspectives on this subject.
Eleanor Formby
This paper presents new empirical data that highlights how a focus on 'bullying' is too narrow when thinking about homophobia, biphobia and transphobia that young people may experience. The paper draws on two recent studies with young (aged 11-20) lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) participants, and professionals (mainly teachers and youth workers) who work with them. Each study identified issues and experiences not readily captured within dominant bullying discourses and understandings. Drawing on the findings, this paper will highlight the limiting constraints of anti-bullying discourses, arguing that they divert attention away from families, teachers, schools, and wider social contexts, and have implications for how prejudice is responded to. In conclusion, I set out some implications and suggestions for the development of practice, and future research, concerning homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in youth settings.
Geraldine Brady
"The meaning of sexual consent in the context of the lives of young people"
Research with young people took place in Coventry in 2013/14, against a backdrop of concern for increasing rates of reported sexual abuse, assault and inappropriate behaviour. Much of this reported evidence had been gathered by Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre. The starting point for the research was an identified need to take a step back from such incidences of sexual violence to ask 'what influences young people's decision-making in sexual encounters?' Qualitative workshops took place, where a short film was shown to stimulate discussion of the meaning of sexual consent. The workshop findings informed the development of an on-line questionnaire, responded to by a larger number of young people (n = 547), the majority of whom were students in HE or FE. Alongside this, the researchers and CRASAC staff were also actively campaigning to tackle sexism and harassment within the HE environment and in local entertainment venues. The paper contributes to thinking about sex education in its widest sense, relating to the meaning of sexual consent in the context of young people's lives, gendered practices and the notion of 'responsibility'. We continue to work together as researchers, practitioners and activists to ensure that the research findings have impact and are useful for practice around sexual consent and sexual violence in the city.
Kate Sapin, Amelia Lee and Rachel Williams
"Youth Work in Schools to Raise Awareness of LGBT Lives"
In order to identify key practice elements, our research reflected on experiences of youth work facilitated by LGBT Youth North West in 69 NW UK secondary schools over the past eight years. Their workshops and projects aimed to create safer spaces for Lesbian, Gay, Bi- and/or Trans* students, teachers and allies by raising awareness of LGBT* identities and engaging school communities in addressing homo/bi/transphobia.
Conversations, interviews and writing exchanges were constructed in a form of reflexive ethnography (Alvesson, & Sköldberg, 2009, Daly, 2010) or mini-'learning community' (Revans, 1983) by focussing on examples or incidents and considering their relationship to definitions of youth work practice and professional values (e.g. Davies, 2005; Sapin, 2013). We found that the external specialist youth workers' use of open-ended and participative methods and conscious use of self, particularly in relation to LGBT identities, enabled them to carry out positive work within schools that many teachers have found to be difficult or problematic .
Maddie Blackburn
"Consent dilemmas in conducting sexuality research with young adults with life-limiting and life- threatening conditions (LLTCs)"
There are many issues relating to sexuality and disability that young people with LLTCs are not always given the opportunity to discuss, whether this is in personal and social health education programmes(PSHE), with family, health and social care professionals and friends. Such topics of interest may include relationships, intimacy, sexuality, the use of sex workers and legal matters. (Please see http://www.open.ac.uk/health-and-social-care/main/research/research-themes/reproduction-sexualities-and-health/the-sexuality-alliance and Blackburn, as yet unpublished PhD literature review). Some of these limitations may arise from society's on-going attitudes and taboos in discussing sex and relationships with people with complex disabilities, even in 2015. Researchers may also encounter specific challenges in recruiting hard- to-reach groups, such as people with LLTCs and other complex disabilities, often having to rely on gate-keepers who identify and invite participants on the researcher's behalf but may consciously or sub- consciously ultimately thwart their participation( Barber, 2014:Reeves, 2010, Guthrie and Barbour, 2002).
Based on the author's current PhD research, this presentation will address the complex issues surrounding consent with research participants with LLTCs, the role of gate-keepers in negotiating consent and research participation, the sensitivities of undertaking sexuality research, as well as the challenges of ensuring robust research, using well thought- through sampling and selection, theoretical and ethical techniques ( Barber, 2014: 2:p.70)
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