Comprehensive sexuality education as a strategy to shift gendered norms among young people in Mexico City

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Monday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: The ALIGN Platform panel: shifting gender norms through education

Proposal

There is evidence that comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) incorporating elements of gender and power dynamics is associated with lower rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among participants. Despite growing consensus about the importance of these elements, there is still much to be studied in terms of how to effectively integrate these topics and the results of such CSE programming. CSE has great potential to address harmful social and gendered norms that are the underlying causes of many negative social and health consequences among young people, such as intimate partner violence (IPV) and homophobia, yet few CSE evaluations examine such a broad set of outcomes. The potential influence of CSE on how young people engage in interpersonal relationships should be examined in light of traditional social norms around sexuality and gender-based violence.
Methods
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR), and Fundación Mexicana para la Planeación Familiar (Mexfam) collaborated on a study evaluating the school-based comprehensive sexuality education intervention developed and implemented by Mexfam in Mexico City. The study, conducted from 2017-2018, examines the experiences of 14- to 17-year-old public school students participants throughout the CSE intervention, with a focus on whether and how CSE contributes to less violent and more equitable interpersonal and romantic relationships among participants. We used a longitudinal quasi-experimental mixed methods design in one intervention and one comparison group to examine the hypotheses articulated in the program theory of change. Data collection methods included a pre-post survey, qualitative interviews and focus groups with intervention participants, and focus groups with teachers and health educators.
Results
Our findings suggest that CSE contributes to young people experiencing less violent and more equitable interpersonal and romantic relationships through four mechanisms: (1) promoting communication about violence, relationships, and sexual and reproductive health; (2) encouraging preventative and protective behaviors within relationships; (3) preparing participants to seek health information and services to mitigate dating violence; and (4) contributing to shifts in the beliefs and behaviors of participants regarding gender and sexuality. We found evidence that CSE participants disseminated the information learned in CSE with their peers, family members and partners; shifted their attitudes related to gender norms and sexuality; described accepting sexual diversity in their classmates or themselves; developed skills to negotiate interpersonal tensions in the classroom context of in their relationships; became more aware of subtle forms of violence in their own relationships; intervened in cases of violence around them; left violent relationships; and sought services to address situations of intimate partner violence or homophobic discrimination that they were experiencing.

Conclusion
CSE in education settings has the potential to support young people to engage with their classmates and partners in safer and more equitable ways. We will describe key programmatic elements found to be fundamental in ensuring CSE encouraged students to shift their beliefs and behaviors related to gender, sexuality and violence, in hopes that these findings will provide insight useful for other CSE programs operating in different contexts.

Authors

• Angelica Garcia, MexFam.org

• Shelly Makleff, PhD candidate, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)