ABSTRACT
There is a well-documented dearth of inclusive school-based sex education for Australian queer youth. Moreover, few studies specifically examine how queer young women and non-binary people experience sex education. This chapter addresses this gap and contributes new perspectives by examining queer young people’s experiences of sex education through the lens of sexual citizenship. Drawing on qualitative interviews, this chapter argues that risk-based, cis-heteronormative sex education reduces queer young people’s sexual health literacy. Findings also reveal that queer young people actively engage with and produce sexuality, gender, relationships, and sexual health information through social media to supplement their insufficient formal education. Here, as sexual health entrepreneurs, queer young people demonstrate post-feminist empowerment narratives, yet they challenge neoliberal individualist healthism through their critical queer approaches to peer support and activism.
