In 2018, before Articolo12’s foundation, we developed together a qualitative participatory research project to understand if and how Italian teenagers wanted to learn about sexuality at school. We interviewed adolescents from three regions – Veneto, Lombardy, and Apulia – to listen to their views, experiences and opinions.
The results were clear: students wanted comprehensive sexuality education classes at school, starting from primary education. They pointed out that current programmes focus too much on preventing diseases while ignoring important topics like emotions and relationships. While many students displayed traditional views about gender roles, some actively challenged these stereotypes. When asked about their preferences, students said they would rather learn from young, well-trained external educators who could cover all aspects of sexuality, not just biology.
For more details, you can read our published research “Yes to Sexuality Education at School: Exploring the Voices of Italian Adolescents” in the journal “Social Work Review.”
