A training course to help practitioners to facilitate young men to engage more effectively in their RSE.
Discourse and young men
Young men can often feel excluded from RSE. The rationale of much of RSE is around the prevention of harms which are seen to be caused by men. This runs the risk of fixing young men as (only ever) perpetrators of harm.
The corollary of this discourse is that they can never be harmed, whilst also denying agency to women and non-binary folk. This conflation of the patriarchy and the individual young men in the classroom means that interlocking oppressions and personal experiences are overlooked.
The pervasiveness of this discourse means that young men hear it too. So it’s no wonder that when we run workshops about sexual violence, unplanned pregnancy, and abusive relationships, young men are folding their arms and building barriers.
Young men being turned off RSE
Additionally, traditional, or didactic, teaching approaches make young men feel like they are being given a bollocking, as well as boring them (and their classmates) to death. This puts the educator in the position of ‘getting through a lesson’ and having to teach this at young people, rather than being able to engage with them. Of course, it’s in this assemblage that young men play up, ‘misbehave’, and become ‘harder to reach.’ It’s bad for educators, bad for the class, bad for the young men, bad for everyone.
This course is about meeting the needs of young men in sex and relationships education by gaining an understanding of young masculinities and practical strategies for engaging them.
About the course
In this course we will:
Explore the messages that young men receive about being a man and what young men learn about sex, sexuality and relationships.
Adopt a model of social justice and oppression work which is solidaristic and transformative. ‘What young men have to gain from doing feminism and how (else) might they do it.’
Learn effective approaches to go with the grain and help young men to do masculinity more positively, without ever colluding with negative masculinities.
Work through examples of workshops around safer sex, consent, relationships, self-esteem and understanding masculinities.
Who it’s for
This course is a fun but challenging course which combines a theoretical and practical approach to the subject. Participants will be asked to draw on their own understanding, experiences and values as part of the learning process. They will also learn key skills and approaches in working with young men and will be able to take away activities and workshop ideas to try out.
This course is for anyone working with young people around RSE: youth workers, teachers, learning mentors, counsellors, pastoral staff, clinicians, health advisers, etc.
If you wish to make a booking or have any questions about the content or fee please get in touch via the contact form.
© Justin Hancock, 2023
Justin Hancock has been a trained sex and relationships educator since 1999. In that time he’s taught and given advice about sex and relationships with thousands of young people and adults in person and millions online at his website for young people BISH. He’s a member of the World Association for Sexual Health. Find out more about Justin here and stay up to day by signing up for the newsletter.