Seventy years of sexual-affective education in Sweden: what effects did he have on society? It is the question at the center of the book “The Swedes do it better” by Flavia Restivivo, which analyzes the Scandinavian model to understand how much education can affect social behavior. In Italy, as we know, sexual-affective education does not fall within the compulsory subjects, leaving the country among the few in Europe not to have a regulation on the matter. A choice also confirmed by the bill approved last March 7, which introduces life imprisonment for femicide and exacerbates penalties for crimes such as stalking and revenge porn, but excludes preventive measures on the educational level.
For the minister of equal opportunities, Eugenia Roccella, in fact there is no link between emotional education and reduction of feminicides, a position that has raised criticism from the oppositions. “It is obvious that severe penalties are needed, but history shows that without education, violence does not stop. Punish is not enough “, Stresses Restivivo, who in his book traces the case of Sweden, the first European country to have introduced sexual-affective education already in 1955.
In the book, underline that in fact in Sweden there was no drastic drop in femicides.
“I am a polytologist and my task is to analyze the data, as well as expressing an opinion. Sexual-affective education can face part of the problem: it helps to prevent patriarchal and machist culture at the base of femicide, but does not affect the socio-economic factors that are often at the origin. Social discomfort is the context in which this crime occurs more often, both in Sweden and in Italy. Nine times out of ten, however, the victim is a woman who had left her partner. This is why I don’t agree with Roccella. Furthermore, in Sweden the feminicides still remain less than in Italy “.
What are the greatest results that Sweden has achieved in these seventies?
“In addition to a greater culture of the complaint, fundamental for prevention, there is a lower incidence of unwanted pregnancies among young people: 4 per 1000 girls, against 5pm of the United Kingdom. The use of contraceptives is double compared to Italy, where only 40% of young people use them. Problems that still seem insurmountable here, they have been addressed there. In addition, Sweden is among the countries with greater gender equality, while Italy remains in 87th out of 146 in the Global Gender Gap 2024. The cultural aspect are then accompanied by decisive policies for female employment: in Italy 40% of mothers work, 80% in Sweden. There the leave is wide and paid for both parental figures, the idea of ’mammo’ has long since disappeared “.
“In Sweden, the employment figure doubles in mothers: in Italy 40% of mothers work, 80% in Sweden. There the leave is wide and paid for both parental figures, the idea of ’mamm’ has long since disappeared”
Write that, in Sweden, the education of girls is among the best in the world.
“While in our school books the father still has the briefcase and his mother wears the kitchen apron, they have long overcome these images, de -ostruating them. The theme of gender equality is introduced since early childhood. Growing without rigid divisions between male and female means equalizing behaviors and giving adults of tomorrow greater freedom of choice, without expectations related to the genre “.
In Italy, the enrollments of the girls to the university courses Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) remain very low. Yet, despite equal education, even in Sweden the situation is not very different: few students choose scientific paths.
“Although Swedish girls show greater trust in their abilities than the European average, they still tend to underestimate their qualities in subjects such as mathematics and sciences. Precisely for this reason, initiatives such as the Tekla Festival are born, which is a review dedicated to sciences and girls “.
The Minister of Transport, Matteo Salvini, said he was in favor of sexual education, but only from 14 years upwards.
“I don’t agree. Sexual-affective education must be done right in the first range of childhood. Starting from the three years “.
What teachings should they be given to kindergartens?
“In Sweden, the themes are distributed by age groups and calibrated on children’s understanding skills. It is obvious that young children are not talking about sexual relationships. The maternal instead work on the corporeality, developing a positive image of oneself and learning to recognize emotions, such as affection. Sexual-affective education is not limited to biological dimension, it also includes the emotional aspect “.
And to elementary schools?
“The concept of privacy and respect for the body, just and others and others, helps children to identify inappropriate behaviors and develop awareness in relationships, including friends. Growing with this base means having tools to protect yourself better and greater predisposition to the complaint “.
Write that in Sweden, especially in primary schools, the neutral pronoun ‘Hen’ is used.
“Since 2015, the Swedish vocabulary officially welcomes the pronoun ‘hen’, a term that defines precisely the neutral genre. Teachers are formed to use it when they consider it necessary, to encourage inclusive and equal education “.
What themes are facing from 14 years of age?
“At this age you enter the sphere of sexual relationships: they are sexually transmitted diseases, prevention of pregnancies and emotional responsibility. In Italy on the condom there is still a lot of confusion among the boys: often the girls give up using it because they are pushed to do so by the partners. In Sweden, however, there is a greater awareness of the risks “.
There is little talk about the fact that sexual-affective education also includes personal growth themes, therefore of emotion and its inner balance. It is no coincidence that bullying is less widespread in Sweden.
“Bullying arises from the fear of the different, therefore growing in a society where it is normalized to have a different skin color or not recognize yourself in a specific genre leads you to be a more inclusive adult. In Italy the rate of suicides for bullying is still too high “.
“In Sweden, the themes of sexual-affective education are distributed by age groups and calibrated on children’s understanding skills. It is obvious that young children will not be discussed with sexual relationships. Matterna work on corporeality, developing a positive self-image and learning to recognize emotions, such as affection”.
In the absence of sex education, young people, once adolescence learn, learn sex from pornography.
“But porn is not born with pedagogical purposes, but as a form of entertainment for adults. If not inserted in a context of awareness, pornography can become misleading and harmful: the pornographic contents have a distorted and unrealistic vision of sexuality, sometimes based on gender stereotypes, idealization situations and violence “.
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Why cannot sexual-affective education be given by parents?
“The family does not always have the cognitive tools suitable for forming on such a delicate theme. The same parents have often received partial education, with a focus on purely biological issues and not on emotions; In addition, many of our parents have grown with a moralist concept of sexuality, oriented to prohibit, rather than explaining “.
So what can an Italian parent do, not being able to count on the school?
“It can rely on ad hoc paths that are often proposed by childhood psychologists and experts in the sector, or try to enter their children’s life by inquiring as much as possible and without judgment. In Sweden there is the basic psychologist: this figure could help on many fronts “.
Stories that as a child, to school performances, played Mago Merlino and not the princesses. What kind of education did you receive?
“I certainly owe part of my sensitivity to my mother, who showed me figures of alternative women even in cartoons: my princesses have always been Mulan and Pocahontas, not those who had to be saved by who knows which prince. As a child I said I wanted to be a male: I asked the teacher to make magician Merlin to play, because it seemed to me that women always made trivial roles. This is also why I lived episodes of discrimination. In those cases, a sexual-affective education would have been very useful to me. ”
