Beyond 'Good Catholic Girls': Exploring the Role of Statutory RSE in Young Women's Constructions of Sexual Agency in Catholic Schools

本研究探讨天主教内新的法定关系和性教育（RSE）政策对年轻女性生活和经历的影响。21世纪，年轻女性的社会政治地位发生了翻天覆地的变化。人们日益认识到，性教育是旨在维护全球年轻妇女健康、福祉和繁荣的政策举措的重要组成部分。从2020年9月起，英格兰的宗教学校将首次被要求向所有中学学生提供法定的RSE。然而，在包括天主教会在内的保守宗教团体表示反对引入“进步的”性教育模式的时候，英格兰天主教学校满足这些总体RSE政策目标的能力成为一个及时的经验问题。这项工作将天主教学校实施新的法定RSE措施的评估与对更广泛的性教育政策话语中少女期的构建和理解的批判性分析联系起来。英国的性教育政策招致了大量的社会学批评，尤其是来自女权主义学者的批评，他们认为性教育可能会维护性别、阶级和种族的有害规范。因此，在宗教学校中引入法定的RSE，将世俗RSE的社会经济定位与神学的性观点相交叉。性教育可以为他们提供重要的支持，使他们能够做出安全、知情和积极的性选择。然而，英国天主教学校当前和发展中的RSE政策内容对年轻女性生活的影响仍然未知。通过对集中年轻女性声音的法定性取向教育进行政策分析，我的工作为当代天主教性教育的生活影响提供了及时的评估。本研究进一步推动了围绕青春期女性、性与身份的女权主义实证工作。这项工作得到了解释性女权主义方法论的支持，采用了一种“激进研究”的立场，鼓励边缘化的声音，并采取了一种反思的研究立场（Fine, 1992）。数据将从一项对25名在西米德兰兹郡天主教中学接受教育的年轻女性的研究中收集。样本将在五所社会经济和绩效指标不同的学校进行整理。我的目标是建立与我在MRes研究期间建立的教师网络，以协商进入学校的机会。社会经济和信仰身份在年轻人参与性叙事中起着至关重要的作用，因此确保在这些轴上的多样化样本对于全面调查RSE的影响至关重要。性别压迫的经历往往需要深入的数据收集方法（Marshall, 1999）。因此，我将采用半结构化访谈和与参与者的焦点小组相结合的方式，以形成个人和集体与性的关系的微妙观点。我将使用聆听指南分析方法（Tolman, 2002），该方法识别参与者在讨论性等问题时可能使用的不同“声音”，并由Nvivo软件支持，以开发年轻女性经历和感知的主题编码。总的来说，这项工作倡导在RSE政策的制定和实施中对少女时代进行交叉和批判性的重构。通过运用批判的理论视角，这项工作设想了一种积极寻求改善年轻女性物质条件的性教育模式。

This research examines the impact of new statutory Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) policy within Catholic on the lives and experiences of young women. The 21st century has seen exponential change in the socio-political positioning of young women. Sex education is increasingly recognised as an essential component of policy initiatives designed to uphold the health, wellbeing and prosperity of young women globally. From September 2020, faith schools in England will, for the first time, be mandated to provide statutory RSE to all secondary level pupils. However, at a time where conservative religious groups, including the Catholic Church, have expressed opposition to the introduction of 'progressive' sex education models, the ability of Catholic schools in England to meet these overarching RSE policy aims becomes a timely empirical question. This work bridges appraisal of the implementation of new statutory RSE measures within Catholic schools with critical analysis of the construction and understanding of girlhood within broader sex education policy discourse. Sex Education policy in England has levied significant sociological criticism, particularly from feminist scholars who suggest that sex education can uphold harmful norms of gender, class and race. As such, the introduction of statutory RSE within faith schools sees the socio-economic positioning of secular RSE intersected with theological perspectives on sexuality. Sex education can offer a significant form of support as they navigate these discourses, allowing them to make safe, informed and active sexual choices. However, the impact of current and developing RSE policy content within English Catholic schools on young women's lives remains unknown. By developing a policy analysis of statutory RSE that centralises the voices of young women, my work provides a timely assessment as to the lived impact of contemporary Catholic sex education. This research furthers feminist empirical work surrounding adolescent women, sexuality and identity. This work is bolstered by an interpretative, feminist methodology , employing an 'activist research' stance that emboldens marginalised voices and adopts a reflexive researcher position (Fine, 1992). Data will be collected from a study of 25 young women educated in Catholic secondary schools in the West Midlands. The sample will be collated across five schools of varying socio-economic and performance indicators. I aim to build on networks with teachers established during my MRes research to negotiate access to schools. Socio-economic and faith identities play a crucial role in young people's engagement with sexual narratives, therefore ensuring a diverse sample across these axes is essential to a full investigation of the impact of RSE. The experiences of gender-oppression can often require in-depth methods of data collection (Marshall, 1999). Thus, I will employ a combination of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with the participants in order to develop a nuanced view of both individual and collective relationships to sexuality. I will use the listening guide method of analysis (Tolman, 2002) which identifies different 'voices' participants may use when discussing issues such as sexuality, supported by Nvivo software to develop thematic coding of young women's experiences and perceptions. Overall, this work advocates for an intersectional and critical reframing of girlhood within RSE policy development and implementation. By employing a critical theoretical lens, this work envisages a model of sex education that actively seeks to improve the material conditions of young women.