Building a body of evidence to demonstrate the value and desirability of a pleasure-based approach to sex education

Project:
La Ventana

Location:
San Salvador, El Salvador

Funders:
The Case for Her

Category:
Sexual & Reproductive Health

Challenge

Currently, sex education is not working for young people. When present, it often focuses on shame, disease, and pregnancy prevention, while pleasure, consent, and intimacy are overlooked or ignored. In the absence of comprehensive and positive ways to learn about sex, young people may turn to sexually explicit media, which often promotes violence and harmful gender norms. 

El Salvador is no different - and the country's lack of comprehensive sexual education may be exacerbating existing inequities. Considered one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a young woman, El Salvador has the highest global rate of femicide. More than one-quarter of young women have experienced intimate partner violence and the country has one of the highest rates of child marriage and adolescent pregnancies in the region.

Without a safe space, young women have little knowledge about their bodies and how to have safe, healthy, and pleasurable sexual relationships. A recent study showed that although 85 percent of Salvadoran adolescents reported learning about SRH in school, the information was often insufficient. Young people reported a lack of information about how to use contraception, how to decide when to initiate one’s sex life, and about sexual pleasure.

Innovation

YLabs worked hand-in-hand with The Case for Her to co-design a new gender-transformative approach to talking about sex, pleasure and reproductive health that we hope can improve health outcomes and lead to safer, consensual, and more equitable relationships.

View this video in Spanish

Next Steps

In the second phase of this project, we hope to work with young people to develop compelling solutions that are accessible, relevant, and aim to increase the awareness and demand for sexual & reproductive health services. We believe that the time is right for this kind of work! There is growing global support among UNICEF,  UNESCO, and others to integrate a pleasure-based approach in their sexuality education programming in order to effectively engage youth.

To find out more about this innovative project, please contact our project lead.