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The theme of sexuality has remarkable importance to each of us as individuals in our personal lives, as well as in our professional roles as researchers, academics, social workers and educators. At the same time expansion of the globalized societyand post-modern culture has transformed sexuality into a structure with extremely complex, intricate and confusing features. Increasing globalisation and mobility particularly among young people mean particular attention needs to be given to our interconnectedness and the impact societal factors and attitudes exert in the area of sexuality. The idea of a special issue for the Social Work Review on the subject of sexuality came from the coordinators’ collaborative work and on-going interest and concern for this fascinating field of study.
Using the working definition on sexuality proposed by John Breck the coordinators, Sue Kay-Flowers and Cristina Faludi, invite you to reflect on the profound implications of human sexuality: ”In our experience, sexuality is not an option. It is a fundamental instinct that expresses an elementary need of every human being: the need for affection, understanding, compassion, tenderness, and love. Sexuality means much more than just the genital activity. It concerns the whole human person: mind, body and soul. Given by God as a defining note of our humanity, gender distinction and sexual expression gives us the opportunity to experience the deepest and most intimate relationships we can know” (2003, 74).
Breck’s view of sexuality is of course open to challenge, sexuality is not necessarily seen as being ’given by God’ particularly by many living in Western Europe whereas ’every human being’s need for affection, understanding, compassion, tenderness and love’ is recognised as part of the human condition. Besides being the source of birth, sexuality engages the most profound layers of personality therefore, its deciphering involves an approach that requires both sensitivity and precision. A limitation at the strict physiological dimension of sexuality hampers a significant advancement in knowledge therefore, it is necessary to consider human sexuality in its broad and complex normality, in the context of love and responsibility (Cornea, 2004, 20, 21). Such relationships are understood in the context of societal understandings and expectations of personal relationships and the laws and regulations that surround them meaning that sexuality is contextualised.In the West for instance where the emphasis is on individual rights and freedoms, current discussions on sexuality could be seen as embedded in a hedonistic perspective, where the focus is on the pursuit of pleasure through intimate relationships. Whereas in Romania the sexual and reproductive health problems inherited from the communist era continue to impact significantly on the country as seen in the high rates of abortion, adolescent pregnancies, maternal and infant mortality, sexually transmitted diseases (UNSD, 2015).
Homosexuality has become a common subject of discussion in mass-media and sex education programs in developed countries in recent decades where legislative changes have affirmed the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people (Breck, 2003, 70-72). This led to many European countries with a strong Christian tradition legalising same-sex relationships: in Italy, same-sex marriages were legalised, and in Greece, civil partnerships were recognised, but not marriage. Romania’s resistance to align with the trend from the European continent remains very strong, putting it in last place regarding the public’s attitude towards acceptance of homosexuality (Smith et al., 2014, apud Waaldijk, 2016).
In reviewing the articles for this edition, a common theme emerged in relation to young people and their desire for more education and information in relation to sexuality. In the UK there is a tradition of sex education in state schools with Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) forming part of the national curriculum in secondary schools (House of Commons Education Committee, 2015, 46). Following an announcement by the Department for Education in England in 2017 the content of the curriculum is being reviewed and is subject to current public consultation (DfE, 2017). Romania does not have such a curriculum in schools and has not created any strategy to address these issues with young people. The first article by Alloni, Centrone and Violaindicates a desire for such education among the Italian young people taking part in their study. However should a country decide to provide such education in its schools it is not possible simply to import a curriculum from elsewhere. Instead the design of the intervention should adopt an integrative, holistic approach, anchored in the country’s specificity to address the particular needs of its own young people set within the social and cultural context of the country.
Many aspects of sexuality remain underexplored, such as the nature of intimate relationships among people with disabilities or the elderly or those facing severe illness. For example, issues experienced by couples following a cancer diagnosis or treatment adversely affecting the quality of life of both the patient and the life partner (Faludi și Dégi, 2016). In addition technological change and the use of social media has raised a number of issues previously unconsidered with particular concerns about cyber-bullying, cyber-porn in particular the sharing of images among children. In this way the distortion of sexuality can be seen to have led to the spread of abuses, especially among women and children.
In this editorial we will introduce the the content of this special edition which consists of fivearticles from a range of countries including Italy, Romania and Rwanda, that address different areas of sexuality. The rest of the articles cover subjects that are close to the theme of this collection, the exception being the final paper which looks at a social program at home for the elderly.
The volume starts with the work of Alessandra Alloni, Maria Centrone and Francesca Viola, who conducted a qualitative study with adolescents in three regions of Italy, in which they investigated the needs, views and perspectives about introducing sexuality education as a formal subject in schools. Italy like Romania, does not have the experience of teaching this subject in school, whether it should, has been hotly debated over many years. They found the young people in their study thought sexuality should be taught in schools, they go on to make recommendations about how this could be done.
In the second article,the author, Gonzaga Isirabahenda focuses on Rwanda, a small country in the middle of the African continent. In his work, Isirabahenda explains how Rwandan culture and religious beliefs affect the way in which information about sexual health and sexuality is transmitted and young people’s understanding of these issues. He describes how sexuality is perceived and practiced among young people in his country and the ethical dilemmas created for social workers in working in the area of sexual health. Thus, we discover a fascinating reality, marked by customs and prejudices seemingly difficult to imagine for European youth.
In the third article, we return to Europe this time to Romania, where through a qualitative exploratory study, Diana Perca captures the experience of the sexual debut ofstudents in social sciences at ”Babeş-Bolyai” University. Researching young people’s level of satisfaction and use of contraception in their first sexual relationship, the study brings new insights into how young Romanians perceive sexual abstinence and use of contraceptives, given that they stated their own debut of sexual life was unplanned or spontaneous.
We remain in Romania for the fourth study in the volume in which Simona Angheloiu provides a detailed case study of the process of psychosocial intervention in the case of a female patient diagnosed with HIV, whose situation became more complex when she becamea wife and mother of two children. The article written by a professional worker with many years of experience of working in a top infectious disease clinic in Cluj-Napoca provides a model of good practice in the field of social work with patients diagnosed with HIV /AIDS in Romania. Since support given to this category of patients in Romanian hospitals is at an early stage and the number of infections with this virus in the country is increasing, it makes a valuable contribution to the way in which professionals particularly social workers are able to work alongside others to meet the needs of this client group.
The fifth study, by Cristina Faludi and Alexandrina Moldovan uses a quantitative design to research Romanian young people’s attitudes towards contraceptive methods, teenage pregnancy, homosexuality, and sexual double standards through a comparative analysis across gender, place of residence and whether they participated within a day center in Cluj-Napoca or through the online environment. The resultsidentified that young men and women held similar beliefs regarding the use of contraception, and a common negative attitude towards homosexuality; they also held a set of stereotypes and myths about sexuality which could lead to risky sexual behaviours. Interestingly, young women were more likely to disagree with pregnancy in adolescence than young men.
In the sixth article, Diana-Helamia Mihali explores whether students at ”Babeş-Bolyai” University experience different approaches and relationships between professors and students, according to their gender. Using a mixed research methodology, she found their manifestation was based on some gender stereotypes but gender differences had a low intensity. Students reportedgender different treatments applied by professors were related togiving attention, evaluation, providing feedback and offering equal opportunities to academic activities.
In the seventh article the provision of psychosocial support services for women recovering from drug addiction is considered. Using thematic analysis of qualitative data, Oana Rotarescu describes the life histories of five mothers from Ireland who sought treatment for their drug addiction; it describes the difficult stages of recovery from drug addiction and the negative consequences this long and painful process had on their relationship with their children and other family members. Illustrating the complexity of interventions in the area of drug addiction when the children are involved and still need sustained and immediate support from their mother, the study highlights the issues raised for professionals.
The last article of this volume, of Nicoleta Neamţu and Victoria But, is addressed to specialists who work in the field of psychological and social work with the elderly. Designed as an extensive case study, the article provides an effective way to evaluate the process and performace of a home-based social program for the elderly, by applying the logic model. Although it is implemented at a small scale, this clear and concise study can easily be adopted and used as a model of good practice in other contexts of social work practice focused on people with a low degree of autonomy at home.
We hope you enjoyed reading this special edition, that the articles in this volume increased your knowledge and stimulated interest in the area of sexuality provoking a desire to investigate and research this subject further. The studies refer to a range of topics and use a variety of different methodological approaches, we hope they inspire you in the design of future research activities and in discovering and developing methods and techniques of intervention in the social work field.
References:
Breck, J. (2003). Darul sacru al vieții. Tratat de bioetică. [The sacred gift of life. Treaty of Bioethics] Cluj-Napoca: Patmos.
Cornea, D. (2004). Sexualitatea – o privire din tinda bisericii. [Sexuality – a look from the church’s porch] Bucureşti: Editura Christiana.
Department for Education (DfE) (2017). Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education, Policy statement, Published March 2017.
House of Commons Education Committee (2015). Life lessons: PHSE and SRE in schools, Fifth Report of Session 2014-15, London: The Stationery Office (Published 17 February 2015)
Faludi, C., Dégi, C.L. (2016). Psycho-social predictors of satisfaction with intimate life in Romanian cancer patients. Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 20, nr. 4/2016, pp. 239-257.
United Nations Statistics Divison [UNSD] (2015). Demographic Yearbook, https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/products/dyb/dyb_2015.cshtml.
Waaldijk, K. (2016). The Laws and Families Database – Legal aspects of marriage, partnership and cohabitation for same-sex and different-sex families in European countries. Paper presented at the Final Conference of the F7 Program ”Families and Societies”, Brussels, Belgium, 17-18 October.
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