Explorations in Women, Rights, and Religions - Morny Joy
Examining Competing Claims in the Dialogue over Sex Education in Ontario: Women, Rights and Religion
Explorations in Women, Rights, and Religions - Morny Joy
Pamela Dickey Young [+]
Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
Pamela Dickey Young is Professor and Interim Director of the School of Religion, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. Her research interests concern the intersections of religion, sex, gender and public policy. Her current research project (with Heather Shipley, University of Ottawa) studies “Religion, Gender and Sexuality among Youth in Canada.” Selected publications include: Religion, Sex and Politics: Christian Churches and Same-Sex Marriage in Canada (Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2012) and Women and Religious Traditions, 3rd edition, edited with Leona Anderson (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2015).
Description
In this article, I will examine some of the forces at play due to the introduction of a new sex education curriculum in the province of Ontario. The article examines the recent debate over sex education in Ontario through the lenses of women, rights and religion. It seeks to problematize all three lenses as well as to show how the three categories intersect. It also endeavours to expose some of the power dynamics in the debate. It suggests that we need to find better ways to interrogate religion in the public sphere than either simply accepting or condemning its presence.