Straight talk and thick desire in erotica noir: reworking the textures of sex education in and out of the classroom

Drawing on data from two focus groups with US urban high school students and utilising the theoretical lens of the Affective Turn, this paper seeks to explore the role of erotica noir, a genre of erotic fiction depicting predominantly African American female protagonists, as an unofficial form of sex education circulating in and outside of school. With an intent focus on health, the medicalisation of the body and risk, particularly in relation to minority and queer students, the majority of sexualities education in the USA has denied the complex affects circulating within and around learning about sex and sexualities. This absence is perhaps even more acutely felt in the intensely affect-laden work of sexualities education. Looking away from the dominant ways of teaching and researching sex education and instead attending to affective intensities - excitement, disgust, shame and pleasure - I argue that students' use of erotica activates the double imperative that inheres in affect - to be affected and to affect - opening up a space for them to push back on official sexualities curricula. Attention to affect may also offer promising potential for those who seek to push methodological boundaries in sexualities education.