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.
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) It taught girls to be ashamed of their