Canada—As a follow-up to the Zoom seminar on November 26, 2022, entitled “60 Years After the Sexual Revolution: Where Do We Stand?,” the UPF Quebec team organized a second Zoom conference on the theme: “Towards a Rich and Fruitful Sexuality Education” on February 16, 2023 with talented input from two experts in the field of family counselling and sexual education. Forty-four people participated and the message has since been widely disseminated, as interest in the topic is very high.
Marie-Christine Odent, a marriage and family counsellor and founder and president of En Amont, explained that the main mistake in sexuality education in schools is to limit itself to the “How” of sexuality without addressing the “Why? Why sexuality?” Her presentation helped clarify the link between love, pleasure, life, and the process of growth to emotional maturity.
Marilyn Evans, founder of Parents Aware, a Canadian organization built to deal with internet and potential online harm toward children, shared with parents the importance of having open and honest conversations with their teens about sexuality, pornography and healthy relationships as part of their maturation process. In this media-saturated world they have access to vastly different information and technology than their parents, especially in the context of how schools approach sexuality.
Both speakers offered many useful ideas that are helpful for parents to find the confidence to become involved in their children’s sexuality education.
It was a very thought-provoking and challenging event.