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Can we move to a genuine understanding and practice of sexuality that im-
plements those liberal values? Not in a vacuum. Sexual behavior is powerfully
integrated within a larger social structure (however intimate and private it
might feel). Sexuality serves as a supportive microcosm of larger social dy-
namics that involve the systematic use of the power of men over women.
Ironically, it is the conservative critics of sex education in the public schools
who correctly perceive that if the schools genuinely promoted liberal sex ed-
ucation, that education would be revolutionary indeed.


Notes

This chapter was presented to the Philosophy of Education Society ( 1995) under the
title "Sex, Sex Education, and the Paradoxes of Liberalism."

1 Note how "dangerous" it might be to require female orgasm as a necessary con-
dition for adultery: This could entail the possibility of numerous nonorgasmic sexual
encounters involving sexual intercourse that would not count as adultery.
2 In this analysis, I am indebted to Karen Rotkin's ( 1976) illuminating article.
3 In all fairness, it should be noted that the book omits any identification and dis-
cussion of the scrotum and testicles although they are clearly pictured.
4 It is interesting to see how different operationalizations of the notion of equality
could lead to very different outcomes. One definition of equality might suggest a "one
orgasm each" model, since that is most likely what a man is going to be capable of ex-
periencing. A second definition of equality might advocate that each should experi-
ence that of which they are capable, a kind of "orgasm commensurability" model,
which would, in many cases, require (?) multiple orgasms for women. An "equality of
orgasmic opportunity" model might generate yet a third sort of outcome.
5 For a devastating account of the use of violence in societies supporting compul-
sory heterosexuality, see Adrienne Rich, Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian
Existence, in Signs, vol. 5, no. 4 ( 1980), 641-660.

-178-

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com

Publication Information: Book Title: The Gender Question in Education: Theory, Pedagogy, and Politics. Contributors: Ann Diller - author, Barbara Houston - author, Kathryn Pauly Morgan - author, Maryann Ayim - author. Publisher: Westview Press. Place of Publication: Boulder, CO. Publication Year: 1996. Page Number: 178.
    
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