Sexual Education and Sexuality in Juvenile Prisons

From a Void to a First Approximation

Abstract

Sexuality and sexual education in the forced contexts of (juvenile) criminal justice represent - at least in Germany - an almost unexplored terrain (cf. Döring, 2006, p. 330; Kaplan, Verlinden & Schneider, 2017). In particular, there is a lack of studies and pedagogical concepts which, in addition to sex education and health counselling, deal with the living environments, sexual (identity) development, interests and needs as well as experiences of sexual abuse and violence among young people affected by detention and arrest.
The study "Jugendsexualität" (Youth Sexuality) by the Federal Centre for Health Education (Bundeszentrale für Gesundheitliche Aufklärung, BZgA), which has been carried out regularly since 1980, examines "the attitudes and behaviour of young people in Germany with regard to education, sexuality and contraception" (Bode & Heßling, 2015, p. 4). The BZgA-Study provides representative results and can be regarded as a reflection of the sexuality lived and experienced by young people (14 to 25 years). For the first time, the authors have had answered items from the "Youth Sexuality" study by young women in juvenile prisons in order to tackle the described research desideratum in a first step and to obtain information about their sexual experiences from their perspective. For this purpose, the answers of imprisoned young women aged 18-25 (n = 8) were examined in connection with those of the BZgA study. Some of the findings collected in this context will be presented and discussed with a focus on implications for sexual education in the forced contexts of juvenile justice.