Peran Media Sosial dalam Konstruksi Sosial Informasi Pendidikan Seksual di Kalangan Mahasiswa Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik (FISIP) Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU)

Abstract

The phenomenon of sexual education, still considered taboo to discuss openly within the family, has been addressed by the presence of social media as a source of information that provides broader and more interactive access to knowledge, including sexual education for students. Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X are frequently used by students to obtain information related to this topic. Sexual education content presented through social media contributes to shaping new understandings among students through a process of social construction of information that includes the stages of externalization, objectivation, and internalization, as proposed by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann (1991). Students interpret sexual education not only as information about sex or reproduction but also as broader social learning, such as building self-esteem, combating stigma, and preventing sexual violence and sexually transmitted diseases. This study aims to analyze the role of social media in the social construction of sexual education information among students of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of North Sumatra (USU). This study used a descriptive qualitative method with data collection techniques in the form of in-depth interviews and documentation. Data were obtained from interviews with 10 students of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of North Sumatra who actively accessed sexual education content through social media. The results show that the social construction of sexual education information among students of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of North Sumatra, is formed through active interaction with social media content in three stages of Berger and Luckmann's dialectic, and impacts cognitive changes, the formation of new norms, and the expansion of meaning regarding sexual issues.