The social work of sexuality : rethinking approaches to social work education

Morton, JW; Jeyasingham,, DJ; Hicks, S

Abstract

This paper discusses teaching about sexuality on
university social work programmes, and is based
upon a presentation at the Joint World Conference
on Social Work and Social Development in
Stockholm 2012. The authors analyse dominant,
anti-discriminatory practice approaches to this topic
in order to raise several limitations, such as a focus
solely upon negative experiences of ‘sexual
minority’ groups, the establishment of ‘correct/
incorrect’ values, and the imperative to identify
individual homophobic beliefs. Instead, the authors
present an alternative approach, based upon
analysis of everyday practice and discourse, or the
ways in which questions of sexuality are ordinarily
represented and talked about, and they emphasize
social work’s active production of forms of sexual
knowledge. The article outlines some examples
from teaching, in order to question the emphasis
on codes of practice and values within social work
education, and suggests ideas for a reflexive
approach to sexuality in practice.
Keywords: sexuality, social work, homophobia,
heteronormativity, anti-discriminatory practice

Citation

Morton, J., Jeyasingham,, D., & Hicks, S. (2013). The social work of sexuality : rethinking approaches to social work education. Health and Social Care Education, 2(2), 16-19. https://doi.org/10.11120/hsce.2013.00027

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Dec 15, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Mar 27, 2019
• Journal: Health and Social Care Education
• Print ISSN: 2051-6487
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 16-19
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.11120/hsce.2013.00027
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.11120/hsce.2013.00027
• Related Public URLs: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rhep15/current
• Additional Information: Additional Information : The journal changed publication name to "Higher Education Pedagogies" in 2015.