Educational psychologist and sexual education expert Mirta Lojo analyzes in this interview why children and young people continue to reproduce sexuality. sexist stereotypes. What drives them to spread or share nude images of their high school classmates, as in Almendralejo (Badajoz) for example? sexually explicit videos Unauthorized murder of a minor, as many Real Madrid youth players have done.
“It is important that interventions in schools take responsibility for attacks against young people in general.”
There is a group of children using it. What does it mean? artificial intelligence To rob your classmates?
It shows the social framework in which we live. On the one hand, we learn about technology, but there is no education about the possibilities and limits of its use. It is the giving of extraordinary powerful tools and equipment into the hands of children and adolescents without the necessary accompaniment.
On the other hand, these attacks are treated as if everything is working reasonably well and these behaviors are abnormal. The truth is that these serious events are an indicator of fully functioning inequality mechanisms. These adolescents see it as legitimate to attack their peers because of structural machismo. As the feminist movement says, they are the healthy children of the patriarch, they are healthy because these attackers are thought to be sick, they are not healthy, they are healthy but they respond to the patriarchal identity construction. Fortunately, the heroes of these events do not represent the whole.
Why do young people continue to reproduce sexist stereotypes after years of campaigns and actions in favor of equality?
If we weigh some institutional campaigns and specific interventions in educational centres, on the one hand, and the indoctrination of gender stereotypes in children from birth on the other, and the patriarchal hegemonic culture that dominates all social spheres, on the other hand, there is of course an extreme imbalance. The timid change initiatives of institutions and educational centers are just cosmetics, there are no concrete actions with transformation capacity.
Why do denialist discourses resonate more with young people? Why do you feel that way? feminism Do you blame them?
When the privileges of certain social groups are questioned, the general reaction of those within that group is to deny inequality. They also say that the best defense is a good attack, that is, if feminism produces a deep criticism of the patriarchal social order, members of the group in a position of power deny and attack those who question it. We live in a time when the vast majority of women are breaking their silence and condemning sexist attacks, at varying intensities and always constantly.
It is therefore important that interventions in education centers de-criminalize attacks against young people in general. Just as no girl, like no adult woman, is comfortable with the disempowering image of the victim, no boy is comfortable with the immobilizing image of the aggressor. We must insist that we have inherited this culture and this way of establishing relationships, but we also have the opportunity to change it.
Campaigns and special interventions against education centers remain mere cosmetics, there is no concrete action
Even though movies and TV series show different patterns now, does the myth of romantic love still have an impact?
Although it has been a timid evolution, most movies, TV series, video games, and advertisements continue to preserve and foster gender stereotypes and the persistence of the myth of romantic love. Sometimes they look like they’re wearing makeup but they’re still there.
So what is the impact of consumption? for charity?
If all the information about sexuality acquired during childhood and adolescence is violent and misogynistic pornography, the imagination of sexual relations is entirely on the axis of domination and submission. The fact that porn mediates the sexual education of young generations deeply questions the responsibility of adult generations.
The fact that porn mediates the sexual education of young generations deeply questions the responsibility of adult generations.
Would you ban minors from accessing porn?
I’m not a fan of bans in general, especially because I find them counterproductive. It is much more interesting to train in critical thinking and emotionally accompany boys and girls in their development. Now the ban is much easier and faster, giving the impression that the risk is already under control. Training requires time, resources, knowledge and is less glamorous.
This has already been achieved sexual education Cross-over content is in the law, but… how should it be put into practice to prevent this backfire effect on children?
First of all, sexual education should be transversal, that is, it should be present in all areas of learning, formal and informal, and should be continued from age 0 to adulthood. Transversality is mentioned in the law, but in real life it is not implemented as the organizing axis of the curriculum and is marginalized if treated as an adjunct. Moreover, one-off interventions can have a counterproductive effect, given that the problem can be taken for granted as gendered inertia continues to govern daily life. Without adequate follow-up, the consequences of the intervention may pose risks; is to open the thunder box and go.
What are the main resistances to sexual education becoming a reality?
The potential of emotional sexual education is so great and its consequences so profound that the ruling powers, the conservative forces, hinder and stop its development. They fear losing their privileges and rely on fundamentalist religious beliefs or family rights to override whatever they fear, even distorting sexual education with slogans such as ‘teaching children to masturbate’.
It is important that well-planned sexual education, adequate training for teachers and all educational institutions, workshops for families, and support that extends beyond the incumbent governor encourage change throughout the entire growth period.
Will there come a day when co-education is holistic, backbone and complete?
Yes, I am fighting for this and I do not lose hope.