Gender: a Theory That Does Not Exist

Could it also be partly our fault?

Those of us who share a scientific approach to the world, who believe in the truth of evidence (yes, with all its limits and the aspects that can be questioned and are debated), who try to promote decisions based on data, using every rational and reasonable tool at our disposal—are we the ones who allowed that non-existent “gender theory” to grow and spread? The very one that, even in Italy, has now become the bogeyman evoked every time the topic of sexuality among young people needs to be addressed?

We simply smiled, maybe shook our heads during a dinner with friends, while that kind of foul-smelling gas seeped into the open spaces of education and the growth paths of young people. “We don’t want our children to be exposed to gender theory” has become the rallying cry—perhaps in homage to the ancient miasma theories of contagion. Thus, without any data or scientific evidence whatsoever, a kind of narrative has consolidated a twofold equation: that discussing sexuality in school is nothing more than a shortcut to sow doubts about gender identity, and that just talking about it is enough to make adolescents (and heaven forbid, children) plunge into a vortex of uncertainty.

To the draft law prepared by Minister Valditara—requiring families to authorize their children’s participation in sexual education activities (and it remains unclear whether a single opposing parent could block everything)—the Lega has now added an amendment that excludes not only primary schools but also lower secondary schools from any such programme.

Denied evidence

Introducing sexual and affective education into the Italian school curriculum has never been easy. Italy is still one of the few EU member states where it is not mandatory, alongside Bulgaria, Cyprus, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. This remains true despite the many legislative proposals over the years, the earliest of which dates back to 1975.

Almost twenty years later, in 1994, the UN International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo saw 179 states agree on the need to establish early, age-appropriate sexual education programmes in schools. Yet even this near-universal position did nothing to shake Italy’s reluctance. This is not to say that nothing has ever been done, but initiatives have tended to be numerous yet sporadic.

In May of last year, a new attempt emerged: the Working Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Adolescent (CRC Group) published the document “Education for affection and sexuality: why it is important to introduce Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Italian schools”, urging Parliament to finally approve a law that is up-to-date and aligned with UNESCO guidelines and WHO standards. “There are four pillars of the sexual and affective education model proposed by UNESCO: a holistic approach to sexuality, encompassing the physical, emotional, cognitive and social dimensions; early interventions, beginning in the first years of life, which leave a deep imprint on us; the involvement of the entire educational community and the network of territorial services; and, finally, universalism—an inclusive context that provides everyone with the resources to grow, fulfil themselves and develop,” the CRC experts emphasise.

Once again, nothing has come of it. In fact, the Valditara draft law moves in exactly the opposite direction: under the pretext of resisting “attempts to indoctrinate children with gender theories” (!), it completely empties of meaning any attempt to offer an educational pathway towards a joyful, conscious, and respectful sexuality – between people and between genders.

Commitment and self-protection

“I have two teenage children: at home they ask me questions about bodies, emotions, relationships, consent. I wish school were a place where these issues were addressed with competence and sensitivity. Instead, they are still taboo.” This is one of the testimonies collected by the network Educare alle differenze and reported by Maria Cristina Valsecchi on Scienza in rete. The association has produced a self-protection manual for teachers who nevertheless intend to resist—fully within the law—the increasingly obscurantist drift against sexual and affective education in schools. Teachers who, among other things, feel humiliated by the requirement in the Valditara draft law to obtain parental approval for what should, in practice, be their job. “Schools should not have to ask permission to educate,” wrote Viola Ardone in La Stampa on 18 October.

Back to current events: the approval of the Lega amendment excluding lower-secondary students from sexual and affective education programmes coincided with yet another femicide. The resulting outcry now seems likely to push the governing majority to reject it. Whatever the outcome, it is clear that decisions taken in disregard of the recommendations of international agencies and of scientific evidence can cause harm—especially to girls and boys at perhaps the most delicate stage of their lives. As with Law 40, as with debates on end-of-life issues, a right that ignores people’s lives is a dangerous right.

Faced with ignorance elevated to ideological choice—ignorance both in substance and in method—we must all rediscover our militant spirit.