ANDCurrently, in Argentina there is a debate about whether the teaching of comprehensive sexual education (ESI) in the educational institution. Beyond the legislation for Comprehensive Protection of the rights of girls, boys and adolescents (26,061), the National Comprehensive Sexual Education Program (26,150) and the law of National Education (26.206); which guarantee and obligate the incorporation of ESI in schools; There is a lack of knowledge about the topics that are raised, how they are carried out and the objectives of the practices. To acquire knowledge about it you can see the following.
Expanding the information from this paradigm, sexuality is understood with a comprehensive definition: “a central aspect of the human being, present throughout their life. It covers sex, gender identities and roles, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy, reproduction and sexual orientation. It is experienced and expressed through thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, practices, roles and interpersonal relationships” (WHO, 2000).
So, if it is comprehensive, it means that it develops from childhood to old age and that it is important at each stage to strengthen knowledge in this regard, mainly at school age; to know what situations we should enable or not, to be able to guarantee our well-being and know our rights.
It is very important to be able to deconstruct and criticize the models to which we were exposed, where they explained to us what a girl or a boy should be doing.
In my professional and personal opinion I say Yeah to Comprehensive Sexual Education in school. Developing these contents gives the opportunity to empower children, create free citizens aware of diversity and enable them to live experiences and games without prejudice in the school context.
Part of the criticism of this law is based on ignorance, prejudices and censorship that accompanied our own development. It is very important to be able to deconstruct and criticize the models to which we were exposed, where they explained to us what a girl or boy should be/do and do personal work regarding the development of sexuality and everything that this implies. This process is essential to really understand ESI and be able to apply it.
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But what will they teach these children in early education at school?
Mainly it aims to teach them to be free. But this law is accompanied by a specific and well-founded pedagogical proposal. At this age, the following are proposed as thematic axes (Ministry of Education of the Nation, 2010):
- Knowledge and care of the body: the physical aspects and the socio-emotional aspects. Promotion of healthy habits and correct use of vocabulary to name all organs.
- Development of psychosocial skills and abilities: tools to resolve conflictive situations in social life and face challenges. Expressions about feelings and emotions are enabled, enabling the formation of values of coexistence in relation to others; learning related to one’s own and that of others, cooperative experiences that contribute to the development of trust, freedom and security to express ideas and opinions.
- Development of self-protective behaviors: identification of potential risk situations and tools to defend against them. Learning about which adults they can turn to and trust if they need help. The activities at this point are aimed at preventing situations of abuse and being able to say NO to them. We work on the “secrets” that underlie dangerous situations, and what to do when they feel forced not to talk about something they have experienced or that makes them uncomfortable.
- Knowledge and exploration of the context: propose the learning of ESI with knowledge of the environment. Learn through exploration through interactions with objects, people and animals, without prejudices or obligations regarding sex.
You can see the complete notebook with the guidelines, objectives and activities.
Now I wonder, why would these learnings be dangerous? I feel proud that this law exists in my country. Guaranteeing these teachings as a right contributes to creating more conscious, free citizens without fear of expressing themselves. In the long term, it would contribute to reducing the amount of abuse in the child population and enable children to tell without fear if they go through a risky situation.
And in primary school?
In this instance, the need to promote cognitive, affective and citizen behavior learning appears. Without a doubt, a central point is to provide scientifically valid information according to the stages of development and together with this to work on prejudices and erroneous beliefs about sexuality; which usually contribute to discrimination, bullying, segregation, etc.
Emotional education at school is necessary to instill values such as solidarity, altruism, camaraderie, responsibility and acceptance; In practice it results in a safe environment so that all members of the group can express themselves freely.
In the long term, it would contribute to reducing the amount of abuse in the child population.
As we saw before, these contents are specified in a curriculum along with the objectives and activities, the main topics to be discussed are (Ministry of Education of the Nation, 2010):
- Exercising our rights: above all, it is linked to the rights of respect and interpersonal relationships and to the promotion of tools for the defense of these rights.
- Respect diversity: recognize and value all people regardless of differences. Deconstruct knowledge about what it is to be a woman and to be a man. Understand the different ways of being a woman and being a man. Zero tolerance for discrimination.
- Recognize different ways of life: each individual grows in a social collective; Recognizing the different forms of family, social and cultural organization contributes to better development and greater tolerance for all the differences between human ties.
- Take care of the body and health: educate about the changes that occur in our bodies during development. Report and prevent dangerous situations. Enable dialogue about the beauty models that exist in society, to criticize them and promote personal self-esteem.
- Value affectivity: give greater importance to emotions and feelings, as well as their expression and respect for the speech of others.
To know the specific activities, you can consult the complete manual.
We’ve made it to high school!
Without a doubt, when one talks about sexual education, one tends to think about reproductive education and for the average person in society this stage would be the most appropriate to incorporate this knowledge. But doesn’t it seem a little illogical to talk about reproduction and sex without having learned everything detailed above?
ESI should cross all school subjects, not be something that is occasionally talked about
In addition to this critical point to common thinking with prejudices and ignorance, taking sexual education as comprehensive, there are many things that still remain to be taught in secondary school.
The tools and objectives at this stage are linked to the specific subjects. ESI should run through all school subjects, not be something that is occasionally talked about. The concepts that we observe as main are the following among others (Ministry of Education of the Nation, 2010):
In social sciences:
- Critical analysis of the forms of masculinity and femininity throughout history.
- Understanding changes in interpersonal relationships.
- Construction on the beauty identity of male and female bodies with a critical look.
In language and literature:
- Readings and analysis on diverse emotional worlds.
- Bibliography on the role of relevant women and men in our country and world history.
- Include in the analysis and bibliography texts content that talks about diversity (gender, ethnicities, generations, class differences, etc.)
- Recognition of different forms of families
- Assessment of friendship and couple relationships.
- Discussion about the power of the gaze of others.
- Recognize discrimination as a form of abuse.
- Analyze prejudices in terms of their cognitive and affective components.
- Analysis of the media and its messages about sexuality.
- Understanding of the human being as a whole where social, economic, cultural, psychological, biological, ethical and spiritual factors influence the health – disease process.
In biology:
- Strengthen knowledge about one’s own and others’ bodies. Promote autonomy and responsibility in interpersonal relationships, especially sexual ones.
- Enable discussions regarding myths and beliefs about the body and genitality
- Discuss sexual differences and the myths that underlie them
- Reflections on body changes and their acceptance.
- Critical analysis of the beauty of bodies.
in psychology
- Identification of the different areas of behavior and their motivations
- Establish a direct link between sexuality and identity.
In health education:
- Knowledge about sexual and reproductive health
- Knowledge of all existing contraceptive devices and fertility regulation.
- Explicit information about sexually transmitted diseases and the condom method as the only effective method to prevent HIV/AIDS
To download the activity booklet.
Conclusions
The main idea of the article is to reject any type of comment about the danger of teaching ESI in school, I believe that it is the right place for children to go through development from childhood to puberty with this knowledge. Teaching with respect and without shame about what we go through as humans makes it easier for students to talk about certain issues related to sexuality and understand it in a different way.
Accompanying them from childhood with concepts about sex, gender and identity reduces intolerance of diversity in adulthood; in addition to promoting the incorporation of values that later become more respectful people in interpersonal relationships, resulting in less violence in them.
As an adult woman, I would have liked on more than one occasion to have the appropriate tools in my childhood and adolescence to feel safe and protected. ESI is a way to empower children, so that their rights are assured and protected based on their own knowledge. And I dare say they are much more promising: an agenda…