Breaking the Culture of Silence in Lebanon: The Power of Comprehensive Sex Education

• In Event: Sociology of Sexualities Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 2: Sexuality, the State, and Religion

Abstract

This article examines the politics of sexuality education in Lebanon, where sectarian power structures and cultural norms have long shaped public debates around youth sexuality. Building on UNESCO’s Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) guidelines, the study critically analyzes the 2009 national sex education curriculum to assess how meanings of sexuality, gender, and morality are negotiated within the Lebanese educational system. Through textual and comparative analysis, it develops what I call a peripheral conceptual framework that maps areas of alignment, divergence, and omission between the UNESCO guidelines and the 2009 curriculum using a visual-based field model in which objectives are positioned as central, mid-peripheral, or peripheral. The analysis demonstrates how religious institutions, state actors, and educational structures negotiate authority over sexuality, reinforcing silence, stigma, and unequal access to information. The article argues that the failure to implement comprehensive sexuality education sustains patriarchal power and limits the possibilities for transformative gender justice in Lebanon. Findings show that the curriculum reinforces a culture of silence, privileging moral regulation and political interests over young people’s lived realities and rights. By situating sexuality education within broader feminist debates on embodiment, rights, and citizenship in the Middle East, this study contributes to understanding how educational policy becomes a site of both regulation and potential resistance.

Author

• Nazih Raychouni, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign