Paraguay's First Sex Education Curriculum Will Promote Traditional Gender Roles And Stereotypes
The sex education curriculum is aimed at tackling the country’s high rates of child pregnancy but instead promotes conservative stereotypes and harmful beliefs about gender and sex.
From promoting abstinence to warning that condoms are ineffective, telling girls to be careful what they wear around boys and claiming that boys can't hear high-pitched voices –this is Paraguay’s first sex ed curriculum.
In 2023, the Paraguayan government announced plans to introduce a sex education curriculum to tackle the country’s high rates of child pregnancy.
In Paraguay, an average of two girls between 10 to 14 give birth every day, according to rights group Amnesty International.
At the same time, Paraguay has one of the world's strictest abortion laws, criminalizing the procedure under all circumstances, including rape and incest.
The curriculum is still being developed as of July 2023,but the ministry of education confirmed that it is based on a book that promotes traditional gender roles and stereotypes such as “boys don’t cry” and “girls don’t like taking risks”.
It warns girls to be careful about what they wear, how they act, and how they move to avoid triggering a reaction from boys.
Instead of teaching students about safe sex and body positivity, it promotes harmful beliefs that masturbation leads to “frustration and isolation”, love in marriage lasts forever, and that sexual relationships are only for “adults committed to each other for life”.
While Christian and conservative organizations have expressed their support for the curriculum, rights groups have criticized it for being non-inclusive, completely neglecting LGBTQ relationships, and ignoring science.
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