Human Sexuality as a Critical Subfield in Social Work

Abstract

Human sexuality is of vital importance to social work practitioners, educators, and scholars. Yet historically, the profession’s leadership around it has waxed and waned, impacting practice. This article discusses the importance of human sexuality as a critical subfield within social work. It suggests that the mechanisms, namely textbooks, journals, and national conferences, for stimulating human sexuality social work scholarship are limited. The authors assert that the taboo of human sexuality limits the advancement of a cohesive professional discourse and contributes to the continued oppression of marginalized populations. Recommendations for providing better support for those who study, teach, and practice in the arena of human sexuality are offered.

The Importance of Training Marital, Couple, and Family Therapists in Sexual Health

“…This clearly relates to the lack of training across the different mental health fields, which may lead to a lack of comfort when discussing sexual topics with clients (e.g., Ford & Hendrick, 2003;McCave, 2014;Miller & Byers, 2008, 2010Schover, 1981). Given the breadth of sexual topics about which clinicians should be knowledgeable, it is also unlikely they are comfortable discussing all of them.…”

“…Sexuality is a core aspect of humans and their development; yet, mental health fields have tended to either disregard sexuality or pathologise it (McCave, ). Even mental health professions and specialties that focus on intimate relationships, such as marital, couple, and family therapists/counsellors (MFT/Cs), have not made great strides in requiring clinicians to have expansive knowledge of sexuality.…”

MSW student perceptions of sexual health as relevant to the profession: Do social work educational experiences matter?

“…The call for curriculum that includes human sexuality education occurred as early as the 1970s (e.g., Brashear, 1976;Gochros & Schultz, 1972), and has continued throughout the past few decades (e.g., Ramseyer Winter, 2015;McKay, 2015;Gezinski, 2009;Van Den Bergh & Crisp, 2004;O'Neill, 2016). One study reports that graduate social work students reported attempts to include discussion and/or study of sexuality as part of their program, and subsequently were encouraged to abandon these topics by social work faculty (McCave, Shepard, & Ramseyer Winter, 2014). These experiences support previous research suggesting that social work may be behind other professions in knowledge of and education about human sexuality, with this gap of education resulting in a disservice to clients (Morrow & Messinger, 2006;Timm, 2009).…”

Youth Sexual Development: A Primer for Social Workers

“…Some people are condemned, even by social workers, for sexual actions without deeper considerations of the nexus of the rules governing those interactions or attempts to problematize such strictures. While some sexual interactions, such as rape, necessitate universal condemnation, failure to examine the social basis for sexual condemnation can be detrimental to the lives of those with whom social workers engage (Brandon-Friedman, 2017;McCave et al, 2014). With their person-in-environment focus, social workers are well situated to explore the sexual development process with the youth with whom they work and to assist others with enhancing their understanding of aspects of others' sexual identities.…”

“…When discussion does occur, it is often within a negative framework focused on avoidance or within a disease model that teaches youths to fear their bodies and desires (Fortenberry, 2014). Accepting these norms, many schools of social work have resisted efforts to incorporate material on youth sexual orientation, sexual development, sexual identities, or sexual activities into their core curricula (McCave, Shepard, & Winter, 2014).…”