The project is ded­i­cat­ed to the ques­tion of sex­u­al self-deter­mi­na­tion and the enabling of this by oth­ers. The aim of the project is to explore the cur­rent demand and sup­ply sit­u­a­tion for pas­sive and active sex­u­al assis­tance and sex­u­al accom­pa­ni­ment and, in con­nec­tion with this, to record the self-image of those who offer this accom­pa­ni­ment. Guid­ing the project is the assump­tion that in the face of an activist (counter)discourse that increas­ing­ly demands sex­u­al self-deter­mi­na­tion, social work is under pres­sure to act in response to these demands. If social work is con­cerned with improv­ing the qual­i­ty of life of its addressees, what about the qual­i­ty of life with regard to sex­u­al­i­ty? Are social work pro­fes­sion­als equipped with the nec­es­sary knowl­edge and on which nor­ma­tive con­cep­tions of sex­u­al­i­ty do they draw? What about the pro­fes­sion­als who pro­vide active and pas­sive sex­u­al assis­tance? The aim of this project is to ana­lyze the knowl­edge sys­tems of pro­fes­sion­als in social work with regard to sex­u­al­i­ty and, on the basis of this research, to con­tribute to meet­ing the diverse needs of the addressees in the long term.

The project has been fund­ed by the Gen­der and Women’s Research Cen­ter of the Hes­s­ian Uni­ver­si­ties (gffz) since 9/2021.