[Survey Report] UN Comprehensive Sexuality Guidelines and Cases from Abroad: Sexuality Education for a Better World
Introduction
“1,374 children are victims of sex crimes, the highest in five years...only 14% of perpetrators have been incarcerated”
"8 out of 9 teachers involved in digital sex crimes were related to the Nth room case"
" 'Power' omnipresent like air, gives rise to sexual violence by force."
"Dating violence increased by 41% in 2 years. Despite dating violence, 4 out of 10 such couples end up getting married."
Our society is plagued daily with these kinds of headlines about sex crimes, the failure to bring perpetrators to justice, and the secondary victimization of sexual violence survivors. If we are to end sexual violence, in addition to punishing perpetrators and healing victims, we should address the root causes of sexual violence: gender inequality. Recently, sexuality education has emerged as not simply a means of educating youth about their bodies and contraceptives but also as a way of exploring healthy sexuality and ultimately promoting gender equality. There is a growing movement pushing for a gender sensitive and more open and comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). However, implementation of CSE faces many great challenges, including established gender and sexual norms and those movements perpetuating them.
Currently, Korea mandates sex education once a year in schools, with the 2015 school sexuality education standards announced by the government, containing unrealistic advice such as "to prevent dating violence, don’t be alone in a room with a man" and "men are susceptible to nudity and women are susceptible to moods," deepening gender stereotypes and discrimination. Furthermore, myths that accurate and explicit conversations about sex and sexuality encourages children and teenagers to have premature sex often fuels movements that shape national policies promoting abstinence only until marriage. Yet, simply pressing for abstinence and ignoring the sexual and social realities facing children and teenagers leaves them vulnerable to making uninformed and unhealthy choices. To change this culture and policies, UNESCO published its first International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education in 2009. This guide was revised in 2018 to reflect the changes in society and the results of sexualilty education for those 10 years.
The guide on comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) proposes a curriculum based on cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality. The goal is ensuring children and teenagers have the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to understand and uphold their rights, health, welfare and dignity, their impact on their welfare and that of others, and promote respect-based social and sexual relationships. CSE has been introduced partially and in full in the curriculum of several Asian countries, including India and Nepal; several African countries, including Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Estatini, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Based on their implementation, each country has had varying levels of success with the best cases actively and creatively engaging participants through role playing, theater, discussion, art projects, dance, poetry and storytelling.
To learn from and be inspired by CSE around the world, the ISC studied alternative sexuality education cases abroad: the Dutch program that resulted in a high rate of contraceptives use and delayed first-time-sex among teenageres; the US sexuality education co-developed by two churches that provides life-long sexuality education from kidergarten to old adulthood; a Chilean sex education program that allow schools, parents and students to help improve it; and a Korean CSE program with a US nonviolent communication element with the potential to address increasing dating violence. We also briefly surveyed and extracted lessons from other notable sexuality education cases we encountered in our research.