The Role of Sexual Pleasure in Comprehensive Sexuality Education in International Development. A qualitative case study of RFSU and their partner organizations exploring sexual pleasure and its inclusion in CSE

Abstract: The study examines pleasure-inclusive CSE within the case of RFSU and their partner organizations and their experiences of challenges and possibilities with CSE implementation and its cultural sensitivity. Experiences in both formal national CSE curricula such as in school- settings, and non-formal settings which reach out-of-school youth, such as in community centres or faith-based organizations, are explored. Secondly, the study analyses this with a critical lens on the dilemma of cultural sensitivity and organizational goals. The study also seeks to inspire future CSE projects/programs. The contribution derives from semi-structured interviews with key informants from RFSU, their partner organizations, and two additional CSE expert inputs. To triangulate the data, the interviews transcripts were complemented with documentary material. Qualitative content analysis was used for data analysis. Findings show a shared notion of the importance of pleasure-inclusive CSE as it is perceived to lead to increased sexual well-being. However, including sexual pleasure in CSE interventions faces many challenges in traditional and religious contexts. The language of sexuality is important, where most religions do not use the language of ‘rights’ but use their own theology to discuss sexuality. There are opportunities to better discuss issues of sexuality through non-formal settings rather than formal settings.