For parents in 2021 who themselves were students in 1991, there is often a sense of relief—and a touch of envy. The children of today are learning, in a structured and safe environment, what their parents had to piece together from library books and whispered rumors. And in that difference lies progress.
The challenges remain: conservative pushback, teacher training gaps, and the ever-accelerating pace of online life. But the direction is clear. Belgium—both Flanders and Wallonia—has moved toward a model that recognizes that educating boys about girls’ bodies (and vice versa) creates not just healthier individuals, but a more empathetic society. For parents in 2021 who themselves were students
Introduction: Two Generations, Two Worlds the information they receive
Imagine two Belgian teenagers on the eve of their first puberty lesson. The first is Thomas, age 12, in a classroom in Liège in 1991. The second is Lina, also age 12, in a school in Antwerp in 2021. Although they stand on the same soil, the information they receive, the fears they harbor, and the language they use to describe their changing bodies are profoundly different. the fears they harbor
Whether you are a parent, a teacher, or a teenager in Belgium today, the best sexual education is not just about preventing harm. It is about preparing young people for a lifetime of healthy, consensual, and informed relationships. And that lesson—learned across thirty years—is one that Belgium has finally begun to teach.