New study: Young people regret their sexual debut
Have you ever felt like you should do something you're not really ready for – just to fit in? That you have to keep up,…
There are just over 200 so-called NACS-approved sexologists in Norway who are referred to as experts on gender and sex in the prevailing doctrine that is based on sex-positive philosophy, queer theory and sexually liberal sexology.
Today's sexually liberal sexological line now functions as a state-dominated norm. It teaches young people that sex is primarily about rights-based desire, identity, and self-defined truth from emotions, where sex is only regulated by consent. It conveys that the body is easily reduced to a project or instrument for pleasure, gender is treated as a fluid self-experience subordinate to biological reality, and sexual relationships become something you try – not something you commit to. The result is not liberation, but more loneliness, more mental and physical illness.
In public, sexology has increasingly become a field of ideological conflict. Words like «norm criticism,» «queer theory,» and «sexual liberation» are used as a standard framework, while classic perspectives on biology, commitment, family structure, and Christian sexual ethics are often treated as deviations or «morals.» The result is that many parents, youth, and couples find that they can no longer find language—or help—that takes vulnerability, boundaries, and consequences seriously.
It is in this landscape that Tone Lise Gustavsen stands out as a clear and unusual counterbalance: A sexually conservative sexologist, with weight in practice, teaching and dissemination – and with a value base that is as clear as it is unpopular in the present.
What Tone Lise represents is not primarily «another opinion,» but a different direction. Where much of today’s sexological discourse emphasizes identity as self-definition and sexuality as exploration and entitlement, she insists that sexuality is also about purpose, frameworks, relational consequences, and human vulnerability.
Her communication is based on four pillars in particular:
This provides a language and perspective that many have missed: one that does not trivialize shame, addiction, porn damage, or breakups – but also does not lock people into hopelessness.
Tone Lise Gustavsen has over 25 years of experience in sexuality education for young people, and around 20 years of practice in family therapy and marriage counseling. She has taught thousands of young people about puberty, sexuality, relationships and identity – with an emphasis on the truth, faith in love.
At the same time, she does not just teach “from a theory.” She herself has lived a life marked by faithful marriage, family, and commitment, and is the mother of six children. That connection between message and life gives a type of authority that cannot be examined.
In a time when many are tired of abstract theories, Tone Lise has chosen to communicate concretely and practically. She is the author of two books, with over 4,000 copies sold:
In addition, a new book is on the way: You and your choices – about how choices have consequences, also and perhaps especially in the area of sexuality.
Tone Lise is also a communicator with reach. She is the host and director of the TV series The dream of lasting love (12 episodes about sex and relationships, broadcast on Christian media platforms). She regularly participates in podcasts, debates and panel discussions on youth, gender, family and sexual ethics, and has written hundreds of articles and editorials on sexual policy, child protection and the value of marriage.
She communicates with warmth, but without succumbing to the zeitgeist – a combination that both provokes and attracts.
One of the most burning issues in Norwegian sexology is who gets to define what is «professional.» In an era where authority is often measured in approvals and titles, Tone Lise raises an uncomfortable point: there are sexologists with certificates who have never built families, helped couples through crises, or seen the consequences of non-normativity up close.
She does not need to call herself "NACS-authorized" to have substance. Her legitimacy rests on long practice, pastoral wisdom, documented communication skills, and a value base that takes human vulnerability seriously – not just their desires.
Where sexually liberal sexology often ends in relativism, identity confusion and the dissolution of norms, Tone Lise offers a message that wants something clear: to build people, couples and families. She stands for:
When norms break down faster than people can build security, the bill comes: in relationships, in mental health, in families and in children who lose stable frameworks. That is why Tone Lise Gustavsen is not just “a profile”. She represents a necessary corrective – and an alternative that many are now looking for, but rarely find in the public eye.
Sexologist is not a protected title. In Norway, sexologists from the University of Agder are “approved” after a year of sexologist study by so-called “NACS” approval, there are around 200 of them. Below are descriptions of the criteria for NACS sexologists taken from the Norwegian Sexology Association and UiA’s description of the study. These are compared against Tone Lise Gustavsen’s qualifications, experience and competence.
Here is a table that compares the formal NACS requirements with what Tone Lise Gustavsen actually has – and which shows that her lifelong practice and dissemination provide equivalent or higher real competence than the formal authorization scheme for sexologists requires:
Tone Lise Gustavsen satisfies – and in several respects exceeds – the requirements set for NACS-authorized sexologists.
The difference is that her expertise is life-tested, value-based and practical, not just theoretical.
She represents an experience-based sexology with solid academic foundations and a holistic view of humanity – a conservative and Christian alternative to the liberal ideological direction that characterizes today's sexology community.
