Gender relations and the production of difference in school-based sexuality and HIV/AIDS education in Australia

HIV/AIDS discourses have not only made people aware of HIV as a disease entity but have opened up new ways of thinking and talking about sex and sexuality. This article draws on findings from an evaluation of a pilot sexuality education programme, conducted in secondary schools in Victoria (Australia), to examine gender relations and the production of difference. Participating schools were required to incorporate teaching and learning experiences which normalised and affirmed sexual diversity and explored issues around HIV-related discrimination and homophobia. Two examples, gender, power and menstruation and heterosexism and homophobia, are used to analyse the language and practices students engage in as part of the process of achieving a (hetero)sexual identity. It is argued that HIV/AIDS education and sexuality education, more broadly defined, presents a particular challenge to dominant forms of masculinity and that programmes need to address gender, power and heterosexuality and its discontents if they are to have a positive impact on HIV-related discrimination and homophobia.