Although society is changing, open-mindedness toward homosexuality is not yet widespread. In some Countries homosexuality is still considered a crime. Monotheistic religions deny the possibility of same-sex relationships. In Italy, homosexuals are discriminated both in terms of social policies and civil rights. Within this framework, the first problem we should solve is the psychological acceptance of the homosexual by his/her family, especially his/her parents. When a boy or a girl grows up, his/her point of reference are his/her parents. If parents communicate judjment, intolerance or fear towards homosexuality through the words and behaviours, children wil learn that homosexuals are unworthy and that we must be afraid of them. This will have repecussions in the future sexual orientation of the son or the daughter. In fact, they could develop feelings of guilt and shame in discovering their eventual homosexuality. Educating parents to love their children as they are can create the conditions for a healthier and inclusive society. Homosexuality is neither a choice nor a fault, but a “normal” (in the norm) variant of the human and the animal sexual behaviour.

Sexuality education is implemented as part of the school curriculum in many countries worldwide. In recent years, its focus has increasingly shifted from anatomy and prevention to the idea of “comprehensive” sexuality education (Miedema et al., 2020).

This research explores young people’s perceptions regarding their experience in school-based Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) programs in Italy, addressing the gap regarding implementation challenges as seen by youth. It identifies key elements operating as opportunities or obstacles to the adoption of CSE using a critical pedagogy approach, as well as exploring young people’s views on power relations, diversity, and gender equality. The investigation is guided by the following research question: what are young people’s perceptions regarding their experience undergoing school-based CSE programs in Italy?

Situated in the field of international development and education theory, policy, and practice, it adopts a case study design through qualitative-based methods using photovoice, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews as the primary data-gathering instruments. These methods have been proven to be advantageous and have been broadly used in youth sexuality research (Allen, 2003; De Meyer et al., 2017; Ringrose et al., 2013), with photovoice beingan innovative participant-led visual method which has been advocated for when researching sensitive topics with youth.

Results show a dissonance between the ambitious programs and their empirical application in the classroom, pointing to the centrality of critical, feminist, and queer pedagogies (Britzman, 1995; Freire, 1973; hooks, 1994; Sanjakdar et al., 2015) as well as whole-school approaches (Vanwesenbeeck et al., 2016) for CSE effectiveness. Students perceive insufficient teacher training, which reflects on biases and lack of connection with their concerns, along with extensive adultcentrism and heteronormativity. Youth demand CSE to be grounded in critical thinking with engaging and participatory teaching and learning methods.

Findings from this research also provide valuable insights regarding current limitations and challenges for CSE, where young people assert their want and need for CSE to be sex-positive, inclusive, and relevant for their needs by addressing relationships, consent, and overall well-being from a credible and non-judgmental source. Students want to be considered legitimate sexual subjects (Allen, 2007) with the ability to gain critical thinking skills and make mindful, informed decisions about their well-being. For this to take place, CSE must be taught by sources that inspire credibility and foster the creation and management of safe spaces for learning.

A democratic analytical framework (Biesta, 2011; Dewey, 1916) that focuses not just on individual learning but also on the social experiences and the functioning of the school as a plural institution can help find a possible role of critical pedagogy in shaping CSE programs that can overcome the limitations experienced by students. By amplifying youth voices, this research contributes to the theoretical debate about the pedagogical underpinnings of CSE. It informs curriculum, policy, and program design related to current educational challenges, such as gender issues, SOGIE inequalities, social justice, and sustainable development.

In the last decade issues concerning the nexus among gender, sexuality and education gained growing interest in public discourse. This is partly due to the increasing visibility of claims of equality and diversity in educational contexts carried on by scholars in the field of gender and sexuality studies (Biemmi 2007; Gamberi et.al. 2010; Ghigi 2019), by feminist and queer activists[1], as well as – more recently – by parents and families of LGBT and gender-creative children (Bourelly et.al. 2022). However, this is also due to the growing impact of the so-called anti-gender movement, a conservative right wing transnational movement against gender equality, LGBT+ rights and women’s reproductive rights that emerged across Europe and worldwide (Kuhar, Paternotte 2017; Prearo 2020) and that has targeted schools and educational contexts as key players in their campaigns (Kuhar, Zobec 2017). Moral panic narratives and emancipatory narratives then combine in public discourse.

Aim of this paper is monitoring the quantitative presence and analyzing the qualitative evolution of the public discourse on gender, sexual and queer education over the past decade to tackle the recurrent key words, the key actors and the turning points that increase and decrease the visibility of gender and sexuality-related issues in education. We argue that the way gender and queer education are framed in public discourse – as a ‘threat’ to youth identity, or as ‘savior’ to prevent gender and sexuality-related violence - contribute greatly to define the available space for pedagogical reflections and educational practices, either fostering or hindering innovation and change.

Methodologically, we used the platform TIPS - Technoscientific Issue in the Public Sphere, which collects and archives daily all articles published by the 8 major Italian newspapers between 2011 and 2023 by using the queries genere, educazione, educazione sessuale, bullismo omofobico, LGBT. TIPS is a multidisciplinary project originating from the Pa.STIS - Padua Science Technology and Innovation Studies research unit of the University of Padua, with the aim of developing, testing and implementing automated procedures for the acquisition, classification and analysis of digital content available on the web - mainly from newspapers and social networks.

[1] See among others the Piano femminista contro la violenza maschile contro le donne e la violenza di genere developed by the transfeminist network Non una di meno (http://nonunadimeno.wordpress.com) and the national network of NGOs Educare alle Differenze (www.educarealledifferenze.it)

As transgender studies have successfully pointed out, in the Western World, cisgender people and, above all, clinicians have historically produced mainstream knowledge and narratives about trans* (Halberstam, 2018) and non-binary people (Bettcher, 2014; Höhne, Klein, 2019; Stryker, 2006). Deeply rooted in a cisgenderist framework (Ansara, Hegarty, 2012, 2014), these studies have produced epistemologies and theories about trans* and non-binary people, reducing them to objects of knowing. The force of this epistemological violence is even more intense in research involving gender expansive (Pastel et al., 2019) children and youth (Suess Schwend, 2023), where the cisgenderist framework intersects with adultist (Bell, 2010; Flasher, 1978; Langarita et al., 2023) and adultcentric (Florio et al., 2020) ones.

In this paper, I will focus on adolescence, considering it as a performative and discursive category (Owen, 2017) built through power and hierarchical dynamics based on age (Flasher, 1978; Bell, 2010), gender, and sexuality (Hall, 2021). The entanglement of adultism and cisgenderism makes adolescence readable as a stage of life where gender develops “naturally” in socially defined and acceptable forms, according to a linear, cisheterocentrist and normative temporality (Langarita et al., 2023). In this picture, the existence of trans* and non-binary youth is possible only through a normative gender and developmental model made and guarded by cisgender adults (Hall, 2021). All this has epistemological repercussions (Florio et al., 2020), even in scientific research about trans* and non-binary identity in adolescence. As Vasquez (2013) noted, the adultcentric power act through rationality transforms youth reality into an object that can be measured, controlled, and manipulated. In education research, this can translate into denying voice, power, and self-determination to trans* and non-binary youth, as McBride and Schubotz (2017) and Paechter et al. (2021) warn against.

Aware that the way researchers study a topic and the methodological choices they make function as a pedagogy (Keenan, 2022), in this paper, I will discuss some anti-adult and non-cisgenderist strategies tested during my doctoral research with 13 trans* and non-binary students (ages 18-22). Following methodological cautions suggested by Bertrand et al. (2020), I sought to deconstruct the adult I am and its perception by the youth involved in the research by surrendering power and critically reflecting on my role. Moreover, the choice to conduct biographical interviews (Bichi, 2017) and to adopt an ethic of listening and connection (Finlay, 2002) helped me to open up the research field by welcoming self-determination and embodied experience of trans* and non-binary adolescents, whose life narratives are considered emergent polyvocality (Stone, 2006) of legitimate trans* knowledge.

For educational research, adopting trans-affirmative and anti-adultist methodological attitudes means positioning oneself on the side of marginalized subjectivities, recognizing the entanglement between adultism and cisgenderism (Hall, 2021), queering the ideas of scientific knowledge and validity, questioning and seeking to subvert the social dynamics that create normalcy and diversity, and their hierarchical-oppressive relationships (Stryker, 2006).

This presentation takes an interdisciplinary approach that merges cultural studies, queer theory, and studies of education. Within cultural and museum studies, a rapidly expanding body of literature is examining and advocating for queering practices that challenge the hetero-cis-normativity of heritage institutions, like museums, both in terms of representation and approach (Sullivan and Middleton, 2019; Sandell, 2016). This body of scholarly work, which also corresponds to dedicated professional networks, argues for an increased representation of LGBTQIA+ histories and lives in cultural heritage and for the application of queer pedagogies and methods to knowledge-building in cultural spaces. It is worth noticing that most published articles on these issues focus on either anglophone contexts or European countries where the level of integration and acceptance of LGBTI issues in national legislations and policies is higher compared to Italy (Rowles, 2020). Hence, this presentation will consider the criticalities and opportunities for Italian cultural institutions to create queer and safer spaces where critical and queer pedagogies of gender and sexuality are offered and created with children, teenagers and younger adults.

Methodologically, I will critically analyze the participatory work I undertook with three different museums in Italy: MUDEC – Museo delle Culture di Milano, Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali e Archeologia di Montebelluna, and the network Bologna Musei, in the context of my PhD and consultancy work. The three case studies exemplify different strategies for interpreting gender and sexuality from queer standpoints through culture and heritage, creating spaces where people aged 5-21 can question these topics and express themselves beyond binary epistemologies and oppressive narratives that are often present in school curriculums and society (Denton, 2023). I will highlight the value of art-based and object-based education, both in terms of their potential to foster learning and connections across disciplines and topics (Yang and Kevin, 2020), but also to navigate the complexity of the educational realm through content that is institutionally perceived as reliable. I will discuss the different methodologies (guided visits, workshops, and group discussions) employed to engage various groups, considering their potential and limitations. I will conclude by emphasizing the complexity of building bridges between cultural institutions and formal institutional settings, such as schools, in the current political climate. Additionally, I will offer suggestions to strategically navigate this complex realm.

Five years after the research study conducted in Italy and Spain by Vaccarelli, Fiorenza, Di Genova (2021), aimed at studying the attitudes of future teachers and social workers towards educational issues related to sexual orientation - my proposal intends to deepen and explore through a qualitative methodological approach (Salerni, Lucisano, 2018) how again the social background, the level and quality of the information possessed correlate with attitudes linked to educational issues related to sexual orientation. The research will be based on focus groups aimed at university students from the degree courses in Educational Sciences, Primary Education and Social Services at the University of L'Aquila.

The focus groups will collect qualitative data through comparison and open dialogue between male and female students of the indicated study courses on some specific themes regarding their level of awareness of the LGBTIA+ reality. We will also try to understand whether they are aware of the need for education to absume a queer perspective (Burgio, 2012) that takes the principle of complexity (Borruso, Gallelli, Seveso, 2023) as a shared basis and question ourselves about gender education (Butler, 2014; Nanni, Di Genova, 2023). The results of the analyses, presented through infographics and significant excerpts of text, will form the backdrop for useful reflections for the design of training programs designed to deconstruct stereotypes and prejudices. The deconstruction of binarism occurs through a process of decolonization of the imagination of professionals with the aim of deconditioning education from gender stereotypes and prejudices - even (or above all) implicit ones.