ABSTRACT

As part of a project funded by the Wellcome Trust, we held a one-day symposium, bringing together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, to discuss priorities for research on relationships and sex education (RSE) in a world where young people increasingly live, experience, and augment their relationships (whether sexual or not) within digital spaces. The introduction of statutory RSE in schools in England highlights the need to focus on improving understandings of young people and digital intimacies for its own sake, and to inform the development of learning resources. We call for more research that puts young people at its centre; foregrounds inclusivity; and allows a nuanced discussion of pleasures, harms, risks, and rewards, which can be used by those working with young people and those developing policy. Generating such research is likely to be facilitated by participation, collaboration, and communication with beneficiaries, between disciplines and across sectors. Taking such an approach, academic researchers, practitioners, and policymakers agree that we need a better understanding of RSE’s place in lifelong learning, which seeks to understand the needs of particular groups, is concerned with non-sexual relationships, and does not see digital intimacies as disconnected from offline everyday ‘reality’.

摘要

作为由惠康基金会（Wellcome Trust）资助的项目的一部分，我们举办了为期一天的研讨会，将研究人员，从业人员和政策制定者召集在一起，讨论在这个年轻人越来越多的世界中，有关关系和性教育（RSE）的研究重点，体验，并增进他们在数字空间中的关系（无论是否性关系）。在英格兰的学校中，法定RSE的引入凸显了出于自身的原因，需要着重于提高对年轻人和数字亲密关系的理解，并为学习资源的发展提供信息。我们呼吁开展更多研究，以年轻人为中心；前景包容性；并允许对娱乐，伤害，风险和奖励进行细致的讨论，这些内容可供与年轻人一起工作的人和制定政策的人使用。学科之间和跨部门的参与，协作和与受益人的交流可能会促进此类研究的开展。采用这种方法，学术研究人员，从业人员和政策制定者都同意，我们需要更好地了解RSE在终身学习中的位置，该过程旨在了解特定群体的需求，关注非性关系，并且不会看到数字亲密关系与离线的日常“现实”脱节。