Project Reference:

 2022-2-IT03-KA220-YOU-000100569

Empowering Youth Through Positive Sexuality Education

Summary

The project was born out of a desire to respond to the changes of the younger generation in the area of sexuality. There is a general move away from cultural conventions in terms of relationships, a propensity for gender differentiation and a greater focus on rights and freedoms in the field of sexuality in its broadest conception.

Even today, the sphere of people’s sexuality remains an underdeveloped topic both publicly and privately, the institutions do not provide practical information, training, integration and support services for young people in this regard.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has set targets and standards for sexuality education through the WHO’s Standards for sexuality education in Europe (released in 2010) specifically for the adaptation of the recommendations of UNESCO in the European context.

Although progress has been made at the regulatory level and interest in the topic has increased, particularly by the younger generation, the forms and content of sexuality education vary considerably from country to country; moreover, in 2022, sex education is mandatory in 19 EU countries and only optional in 8, including Italy, Spain and Lithuania.

Motivations behind the design of the project:

  • The quality of sex education is poor, developed in a purely formal manner and not very inclusive with respect to gender diversity.
  • Sexuality is still a complex topic to deal with young people, who present little openness to dialogue. 
  • Sex education provided by educational institutions and the family nucleus focuses on prohibitions and precautions rather than discovery and knowledge; it is therefore approached with a negative approach to the topic. 
  • Still today there are cases of deprivation of rights related to the sphere of sexuality and freedom of choice, current example is the U.S. ruling banning abortion in 2022, such as the failure to integrate transgender individuals into the world of employment. 

The project was created to create useful resources for education in the area of sexuality, with information tailored to the needs of discovery of young people. These resources will be developed from a positivist view of sexuality, capable of stimulating curiosity and intrapersonal and interpersonal dialogue.

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