Introduction
In recent decades, the Internet in general and social media in particular (Aichner et al., 2021) have become increasingly important spaces for sex education (short: sex ed.; Döring 2009, Flinn et al. 2023; Gabarron & Wynn 2016). Various characteristics of social media platforms make them attractive for the dissemination of sex education from the perspective of both sex information seekers and sex educators.
Sex information seekersvalue online sex education because they can access educational material or sexual advice anytime anywhere in a discreet manner. For every sexual question or topic imaginable, some form of formal and/or informal online sex education is available. In offline contexts, however, there may not even be one single expert or peer role model available. Also, in anonymous or pseudonymous online contexts, people are more comfortable sharing their sexual questions and experiences because they do not feel as much shame, guilt, or fear. Still, access to sex...
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Döring, N. (2024). Social Media and Sex Education. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Sexuality Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95352-2_131-1
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