Current Issue

Volume 10, Issue 3 (2025)Read More

Featured Content

Journal Article
1 January 2022

Neo-Emancipatory Sex Education in Germany: Sexual Abuse and Gender Confusion

Bernd Ahrbeck, Karla Etschenberg, Marion Felder
This article focuses on two related areas of concern with regard to sex education and implications for children and youth in Germany. The first one is the history of the currently dominant neo-emancipatory sexual education and its implications for today. This direction of sex education is highly influenced by theories of Helmut Kentler who with the help of the German city of Berlin youth protection services department sent homeless and troubled boys to known pedophiles for care. This experiment went on for 30 years, ending in 2001. Only now has the extend of this horrific practice been fully discovered. The authors will outline the fact that Kentler’s central ideas are still manifest in neo-emancipatory sex education in Germany today. The second area of concern is the dramatic increase in youth who question their biological sex and seek medical intervention to change it, even though the evidence base for medical intervention is controversial. The deconstruction of biological sex is also actively supported and fostered by neo-emancipatory sexual education. The authors will describe and demonstrate that both directions of neo-emancipatory sex education break down protective spaces for children and youth and make them more vulnerable for abuse and psychological and physical damage. Methodologically this is a literature review. Documents and books by Helmut Kentler himself are quoted and analysed. In addition, relevant, current literature about the topic of gender dysphoria is reviewed.
Read More
Journal Article
1 February 2021

Pledged into Harm: Sorority and Fraternity Members Face Increased Risk of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment

Melissa Barnes, Alexis Adams-Clark, Marina Rosenthal, Carly Smith, Jennifer Freyd
The purpose of this manuscript is to examine the risk of sexual exploitation (both assault and harassment) associated with sorority and fraternity membership on U.S. college campuses. The results from this study come from data collected through an online survey. Participants (N=883) at a large Pacific Northwestern university provided information related to their sorority or fraternity membership, experiences of sexual violence (i.e., assault and harassment), and alcohol use. We both replicated and extended past research. Corroborating prior research, Greek-affiliated students experienced higher rates of sexual assault than non-affiliated students. We extended past research by focusing on sexual harassment experiences within the Greek life culture. Both male and female Greek-affiliated students reported higher rates of sexual harassment particularly unwanted sexual attention, compared to their non-Greek-affiliated peers. We also found that both sorority membership and alcohol-related problems predicted unique variance in women’s exposure to nonconsensual sexual contact, attempted/completed rape, and unwanted sexual attention. Fraternity membership but not alcohol-related problems predicted unique variance in men’s exposure to nonconsensual sexual contact and unwanted sexual attention. Implications discussed include the short- and long-term consequences of Greek-affiliation, institutional betrayal, and addressing sexual exploitation within this culture. Also identified are limitations of the current study and future directions for research on sexual exploitation within Greek life.
Read More

Current Articles