What Do(n't) American Undergraduate Social Work Students Learn About Sex? A Content Analysis of Sex Positivity and Diversity in Five Popular HBSE Textbooks

Abstract

Despite an emphasis within American social work to operationalize important professional values, such as embracing human diversity and promoting social justice, it is not clear how this may or may not occur with respect to human sexuality and sexual practices. In considering this issue, the present study employed a thorough content analysis of undergraduate level Human Behavior and the Social Environment (HBSE) textbooks in order to explore how human sexuality and sexual practices are presented to undergraduate college students. Specifically, this study focused on the extent that texts in the sample reflect sexual diversity and sex positivity, which are consistent with key social work values, and thus how such texts may shape students’ professional views of sexuality. Findings suggest that the educational presentation of sexuality and sexual practices varies across HBSE texts in terms of embracing sexual diversity and promoting sex-positivity.

Keywords

• diversity
• sex positive
• HBSE
• social work
• sexual identity
• sexuality