Puberty Sexual Education For Boys And Girls 1991 Belgium 'link' -

In 1991, sex education was in Belgian schools. The constitution guaranteed freedom of education, which gave Catholic schools—which educated over 60% of Flemish and Walloon children—broad autonomy over their curricula. As a result, what a 12-year-old girl learned about menstruation in Liège could be radically different from what a boy her age learned in Antwerp.

For boys and girls entering puberty in Belgian schools in 1991, the landscape of sexual education was a patchwork of progressive ideas, stubborn taboos, and a dawning awareness of the AIDS crisis. This article examines the state of puberty and sexual education for Belgian children exactly three decades ago, exploring what they were taught, who taught them, and how their experiences differed by gender and language region. Belgium in 1991 had a reputation for social liberalism. Brussels was the capital of a uniting Europe, the age of consent was 16, and abortion had been partially decriminalized the year prior (the 1990 "Loi sur l’avortement," which caused King Baudouin to temporarily step down). However, social attitudes often lagged behind legislation. puberty sexual education for boys and girls 1991 belgium

By Dr. Elise Martens (Educational Historian) In 1991, sex education was in Belgian schools

But 1991 was also the last year of the old way. The following years saw the rise of non-profit organizations like De Schreeuw van de Stilte (The Cry of Silence) and Centre d’Action Laïque , which finally began to push for education that treated boys and girls not as separate species, but as children sharing the same confusing, beautiful journey through puberty. For boys and girls entering puberty in Belgian

It taught girls to be ashamed of their bodies and boys to be ignorant of their feelings. It ignored the existence of queer youth entirely. And it gave a generation a deeply clinical, fear-based understanding of sex, just as the AIDS crisis reached its terrifying peak.