Grappling with “That Awkward Sex Stuff”: Encountering themes of sexual violence in the formal curriculum

This qualitative study examines the discourses that 25 preservice secondary social studies teachers create surrounding whether to include themes of sexual violence in the formal curriculum. As part of their first methods course, the participants read Harriet Jacobs's 1861 memoir Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and planned a unit using it as the central text. Using discourse analysis and feminist poststructural theory, the author finds that no singular discourse prevails but that the participants struggled with whether to include or exclude historical accounts of sexual violence in the formal curriculum. Implications for researchers, teacher educators, and teachers are discussed.