So much for abstinence: exploring sexuality education and its impacts (or the lack thereof) amongst ‘Gen Z’ women in Singapore

• Main Author: Chong, Shao Ning
• Other Authors: Shannon Ang
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Social Sciences; Sociology; Sexuality education
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/175736
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Sexuality Education (SE) has been formalised within the education system since the year 2000, yet the definitive impact and significance on modern-day populations in Singapore remain minimally explored. This paper examines the enduring impacts of SE on the population of Gen Z women (born in 1997 to 2012 (Dimock 2019)) – a generation that is noted to have grown up alongside the rise of social media and the Internet, through a series of qualitative interviews. We delve into the effects of informal SE (specifically parental, peer, and digital influence) on Gen Z women in Singapore, in comparison to what was derived from formal SE in their schooling years. The topics of sexual knowledge and emotions that were implicitly internalised come into play when examining the impacts that the formal and informal SE had on these women, what was imprinted on their impressionable minds, and what was retained almost a decade on.