ABSTRACT
Historically sex education has focused on the negative aspects of sex such as unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and sexual violence. These are important concerns to cover in Relationships and Sex Education, but the negative focus means that educators often neglect important issues such as intimacy, sensuality, pleasure and consent and the potential positive impact that safe, enjoyable sexual experiences can have on our relationships and wellbeing. Similarly consent education is often delivered to young people using a legal framework that focuses on how consent and rape are defined and understood in UK law. Young people aged 13–15 can be viewed as competent to consent in circumstances where they are close in age and there are no obvious power imbalances.
