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Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

Module Title Language, Sexuality & Culture
Module Code SOC1005 (ITS: NS5063)
Faculty Nursing, PsyT & Comm Health School Science & Health
NFQ level 9 Credit Rating 10
Description

This module constitutes a core module for the Grad Cert in Sexuality & Sexual Health Education and the Grad. Cert. is relationships & Sexuality Education for people with Intellectual Disability. It introduces students to the theoretical debates about sexuality, sexual identities, gender identities, sexual orientation, and their representations in society. It also examines the fundamental of communication concepts and how utilising theories of the language of sexuality can lead to positive outcomes for people. Sessions are a combination of lecture and seminar. Students are expected to engage with the literature through significant reading. The module aims to develop the student’s intellectual insight and innovative thinking through encouraging the student to develop a keen sense of the importance of critically evaluating, appraising and reflecting. They will be encouraged to embrace new knowledge and engage in broad debate, recognising when resourcefulness and creativity are required in their approaches.

Learning Outcomes

1. Critically engage with contemporary theoretical approaches to sexuality.
2. Critically evaluate the interplay between language and culture and how it plays out in the realm of sexuality.
3. Explore the social, cultural and individual process involved in the enactment of sexuality relations.
4. Engage with interdisciplinary approaches to challenge normalisations, hierarchies and relations domination.
5. Critique the influence of societal institutions such as family, religion, education as well as other forces such as culture, ethnicity, dis-ability and gender on our concepts of sexuality.
6. Students will be encouraged to self-appraise and to recognise both the possibilities and the boundaries of their knowledge and capabilities. They will take responsibility for their personal development and seek expert advice, where appropriate, to guide their decisions and actions.


WorkloadFull time hours per semester
TypeHoursDescription
Lecture48This is a 24week lecturing series of 2 hour input.
Online activity3this is a reflective piece.
Assignment Completion24Poster - preparation, design and delivery
Independent Study135This is where the development of the students own learning, integration of the knowledge gleaned and reflecting on this reading is implemented. Each lecture will have reading assigned to it with the expectation that this is the basic elements for undertaking the module.
Class Presentation5This is the presentation of the poster. Students will be allocated 20 minutes for both presentation of the poster and participate in a question and answer session. There is an expectation that they will attend all the presentations of their class mates. The size of the class dictates the time allocated to this task. However it is calculated at 20 students x 20 mins.
Assignment Completion25Essay
Group work10This is an on-line activity whereby students have 3 articles and they do a critical review puece.
Total Workload: 250
Section Breakdown
CRN10788Part of TermSemester 1 & 2
Coursework0%Examination Weight0%
Grade Scale40PASSPass Both ElementsY
Resit CategoryRC1Best MarkN
Module Co-ordinatorMel DuffyModule Teacher
Assessment Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
Reflective journalThe personal will underpin the students’ ability to become effective sexuality educators. Students undertake a learning curve that initially captures their reflections on how they came to know what they know about sexuality. It will be embedded in theories of knowing and/or reflective theories to bring the student to an understanding how this may be embedded in their attitudes and beliefs about issues of sexuality including their development of sexual literacy.Reflective Journal 1 word count 50010%Week 4
Completion of online activityThis is a group assessment. This means that a single mark will be awarded for the group submission, which will apply, to all students within that particular group. Each group will contain 4-5 students. For this assessment, each group will be provided with 3 articles on a particular topic. As a group you will be required to critically review the articles and write a 2,000 word review.15%Week 10
Poster presentation Topic of choice that will relate to the essay25%Other
Essay3,000 word essay on critically analysing a topic of student choice.50%Other
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories;
RC1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module.
RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element.

* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite None
Co-requisite None
Compatibles None
Incompatibles None

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Socialisation process
How we come to be the woman or man we are today. What are the norms, values and belief systems that underpin our knowledge of sexuality. How does this relate to diverse groups in society such as those with an Intellectual disability.

Brief hisotory and theories underpinning sexualtiy
Ways of knowing from diverse perspectives.

History of Irish sexuality
Interplay between state and church. History of contraceptive from an Irish perspective.Politics/Nationalism/Citizenship

Social institutions
Family, religion, state and how they shaped and influence sexuality. How these institutions shape who can be considered as sexual for example how these institutions shape the imagining of the person with an intellectual disability being a sexually competent human being.

Language, Media and Communications
The language of sexuality and how it is communicated and represented in the media

Culture
The interplay of culture and ethnicity in our understanding of sexuality for example sexual culture, prostitution, pornography

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, heterosexuality
Unpacking the theoretical frameworks around these concepts. answers questions such as is there such a thing as LGBT community? the all pervasive influence of heterosexuality. Heteronormativity and homonormativity

Power/Intimacy
The dynamics of power in relationships and the influences that underpin our understanding of sexuality. Power, intimacy, bodies, ableness and disableness.

Indicative Reading List

Books:
  • Steve Duck and David T. McMahan.: 2015, Communication in everyday life, 15, Thousand Oaks, Calif; Sage, U.K., xxx, 372 :, 9781452259789
  • Margaret Shildrick: 2012, Dangerous discourses of Disability, Subjectivity and Sexuality, 2, 7, Palgrave Macmillan, U.K., 215, 9781137272805
  • Lisa Adkins and Maryanne Dever: 2016, The Post-Fordist Sexual contract: working and Living in contingency, 1, 10, Palgrave Macmillan, UK, 217, 9781137495532
  • Elizabeth McDermott and Karina Roen: 2016, Queer Youth, Suicide and Self-Harm: Troubled Subjects, Troubling Norms, 1, 8, Palgrave Macmillan, UK, 186, 9781137003447
  • Marie Leane and Elizabeth Kiely: 2014, Sexualities and Irish society: A Reader, 1, 17, Orpen Press, Dublin, 517, 9781909518476
  • Jennifer Redmond, Sonja Tiernan, Sandra McAvoy and Mary McAuliffe: 2015, Sexual Politics in Modern Ireland, 1, 8, Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 190, 9780716532842
  • Momin Rahman, Stevi Jackson: 2010, Gender and Sexuality, 1, 12, Polity, UK, 200, 9780745633770
  • Tom Inglis: 2003, Truth, Power, and Lies, 1, 15, University College Dublin Press, Dublin, 304, 9781904558026
  • Jeffrey Weeks, Brian Heaphy, and Catherine Donovan: 2001, Same sex intimacies, 1, 8, Routledge, New York, 245, 9780415254779
  • Emma Renold, Jessica Ringrose and R. Danielle Egan: 2015, Children, Sexuality and Sexualization, 1, 22, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 388, 9781137353382
  • Jeffrey Weeks: 2011, The Language of Sexuality, 1, 17, Routledge, London and New York, 247, 9780415375733
  • Patricia Smith: 2015, Disability and Culture: An International and Inter-professional Perspective, 1, 18, Common Ground, UK, 184, 9781612299433
  • Ken Plummer: 2015, Cosmopolitan Sexualities, 1, 6, Polity Press, UK, 281, 9780745671000
  • Meredith Temple-Smith, Susan Moore and Doreen Rosenthal: 2016, Sexuality in Adolescence: The Digital Generation, 1, 12, Routledge, London and New York, 354, 9781848723023
  • Diarmaid Ferriter: 2009, Occasions of Sin, 1, Profile Books Ltd, London UK, 640, 9781861979186
  • Cindy Crabb: 2016, Learning Good Consent: On healthy relationships and survivor support, 1, 34, AK Press, Chicago, 163, 9781849352
  • Gerard Rodgers: 2019, Resisting the power of Mea Culpa: the story of twentieth-Century Ireland, 1, 24, Peter Lang, Oxford, 287, 9781788746564
  • E A H Monaco, T Gibbon and D Bateman: 2018, Talking about sex: Sexuality education for learners with Diabilities, 1, 10, Rowman & Littlefield, London, 132, 9781475839845
  • Andrew Maxwell Triska: 2018, Sexuality and Intellectual disabilities, 1, 7, Routledge, New York, 152, 9781138231023
  • Terri Couwenhoven: 2015, Boyfriend + Girlfriend: A guide to dating for people with disabilities, 1, 9, Woodbine House, Bethesda, 118, 9781606132555
  • Kathleen Quinlivan: 2018, Exploring contemporary issues in sexuality education with young people, 1, 5, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 189, 9781137501042
  • A Powell and N Henry: 2017, Sexual violence in a digital age, 1, 10, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 317, 9781349845484
  • Debbie Ging and Eugenia Siapera: 2019, Gender Hate Online: Understanding the New Anti-Feminism, 1, 13, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 281, 9783319962252
  • Jane Ward: 2015, Not gay: sex between straight white men, 1, 6, New York University Press, New York, 238, 9781479825172
  • Zizi Papacharissi: 2011, A Networked Self: Identity, community, and Culture on Social Network sites, 1, 14, Routledge, London, 328, 9780415801812
  • Henrik Bogdan, James R. Lewis: 2014, Sexuality and new religious Movements, 10, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 240, 9781137409
  • Kerryn Darysdale: 2019, Intimate Investments in Drag Kind Cultures, 7, Palgrave Macmillan, Sydney, 203, 978303015
  • Allison Moore and Paul Reynolds: 2018, Childhood and Sexuality: contemporary issues and Debates, 11, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 205, 9781137524
  • Dorottya Redai: 2019, Exploring Sexuality in Schools: the intersectional reproduction of inequality, 7, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 270, 97830302016
  • S.J. Langer: 2019, Theorizing transgender identity for clinical practice: a new model for understanding gender, 6, Jessica Kingsley, Philadelphia, 238, 97817852927
  • Katrina Karkazis: 2008, Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical anthropology and Lived Experience, 8, Duke University Press, Durham and London, 365, 9780822343189


Articles:
None
Other Resources

  • Report: Higgins A., Daly L., de Vries J., Keogh B., McCann E., and Sharek D., 2013, Capacity Building Impact of the Foundation Programme in Sexual Health Promotion: A Multiple Stakeholder Perspective, Dublin, TCD,
  • Report: Margaret Allen & Deirdre Seery, 2007, The Current Status of Sex Education Practice For People with an Intellectual Disability in Ireland, www.isenonline.com
  • Research Report: World Health Organisation, 2010, Developing sexual health programmes A framework for action, www.who.int/reproductivehealth
  • Research Report: Agnes Higgins, Louise Doyle, Carmel Downes, Rebecca Murphy, Danika Sharek, Jan DeVries, Thelma Begley, Edward McCann, Fintan Sheerin, Siobháin Smyth, 2016, The LGBTIreland Report: national study of the mental health and wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in Ireland, Dublin, GLEN and BeLonG To, Dublin,

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