It may seem like a strange name - evoking many taboos and negative connotations that today's society associates with the intimacy of two people, but that was really the name of the training I attended. Respectively, its first part, which took place in the small village of Cornus, near Montpellier, between September 20 - 28, 2023. The second part is still waiting for us at the end of October in the Portuguese Azores.
The training was, as the name suggests, on gender and sexuality education. Specifically, it focused on developing knowledge about concepts related to gender and sexuality, as well as their history. To develop the ability of the participants to reflect and develop the given topics among young people as youth workers. It also aimed to create educational tools and a set of methods of education about gender and sexuality, which will subsequently be especially useful in the professional life of the participants. An important part is also the exchange of best practices of each participant on various project topics, and the support of the creation of a network of European youth workers dealing with sex and gender education and the creation of synergy when working on their possible future projects.
From theory to practice
Over the course of seven working days, individual activities were alternated both with regard to everyone understanding the basic terms and the structure of the current discourse on the topic, but also to learn to work with them in a fun way and then be able to use them in our own work with youth.
We found out, for example, what the level of sex education is in our countries that were involved in the project (France, Portugal, Estonia, Spain, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic) and what are the important persons or movements from which we can be inspired.
We tried for ourselves the Skim reading method, thanks to which we absorbed knowledge from the book King-Kong Theory by Virginia Despentes, which is considered one of the basic building blocks of modern feminism.
We also tried to found examples (and discussed them) of how orgasm, rape, exoticism, consent or queer themes are portrayed in the media.
In several tales and fairy tales from our childhood, we looked for archetypes and wondered how they have benefited us and in which way they stop us in our adulthood.
There was also "a fishbowl debate", in which we could solve everything that interests and "burns" us:
How do dating apps serve straight or gay couples?
Should information about our sex or gender be on the ID card?
Are they all able to express a clear "no"?
Should we legalize prostitution?
Is pornography suitable material for teaching sex education?
Free consent
We also addressed the topic of free and unbiased consent, which is not as easy to give or recognize by others, because it can be influenced by many factors (for example, fear of lack of other opportunities, education and upbringing, fear of exclusion or feeling of guilt or confrontation, social status, desire for recognition, etc.). We also tried practically what it's like to accept, not react or reject someone's hug, analyzing both our feelings and our body language.
Like Shakespeare
The training also included two theatrical activities. The first was a scenic representation of local legends and fairy tales for easier identification of the archetypes hidden in them. And the second was one method from the theater of the oppressed - "a forum theater". Both methods were challenging for both the actors and the audience, but they brought many interesting topics and deeper focus in our discussions.
Be'yoncé, a public poll and a demonstration in the garden
It wasn't all about hard work though, we also had a lot of funny moments and resting time. For example, we increased our self-confidence thanks to the Single ladies dance by Beyoncé, which both put us in a pleasant mood in the morning and added an interesting question to the plenary - Does Beyoncé support feminist tendencies in society?
We visited the nearby town of Lodève to ask its citizens at the local market who they think should be responsible for sex education. Most thought of parents, school or other educational institutions. Some thought of the church or doctors. And one voice also mentioned the animal examples, where sex is a normal part of their lives, and that young people should therefore be educated by being in nature and watching programs about the fauna.
After the introduction to the topics of intersectionality and dominance, we also tried to play "a privilege bingo" and thought about the related values and other methods associated with these concepts.
And then, half jokingly, we talked about activism and just for ourselves tried to design a few campaign posters that could support everything that we talked about during the entire training. It was a happy ending to a difficult week full of digging deep in ourselves, but also led us to express a lot of joy, empathy and compassion.
The project was implemented with the financial support of the Erasmus+ program.
