Conference Program

In the Italian educational context, sexuality education remains largely marginal or fragmented (Chinelli et al., 2023), despite its crucial relevance for personal development, relational well-being, and democratic coexistence. At the same time, persistent gender stereotypes continue to shape social imaginaries, expectations, and relationships across generations, contributing to the reproduction of unequal gender norms and, in some cases, fostering violent relational dynamics (UNGEI, 2023; Biemmi & Mapelli, 2023). These conditions highlight the need for educational approaches capable of addressing sexuality not merely as a domain of knowledge, but as a complex human experience involving affectivity, embodiment, imagination, and relational capacity (UNESCO, 2018; 2023).

This study presents a pedagogical proposal grounded in the poetic paradigm of education and the theoretical framework of the Pedagogy of Expression (Scaramuzzo, 2013; 2019), which investigates human expressivity and its educability through aesthetic, embodied, and relational processes. Within this perspective, sexuality and affective education are conceived not as the transmission of biomedical information or behavioural norms, but as an educational path that supports the expression, understanding, and relational elaboration of subjective affective and erotic experience.

The proposal is grounded in poetic sexuality education, a pedagogical approach developed by MimesisLab and Roma Tre Mimesis theatre company at the Department of Education, Roma Tre University, within the artistic-educational project Stanze di Eros (Scaramuzzo, 2023). Poetic sexuality education emphasises the formative potential of aesthetic languages, free expression, and narrative sharing. Through artistic stimuli, dialogic reflection, and expressive practices, this approach aims to cultivate poetic participation in relational life: the capacity to recognise one’s own affective experience and understand that of others through empathy, listening, and care (Massullo, 2025a).

The presentation focuses on the workshop “Non spingere, non tirare!” (“Don’t push, don’t pull”), an affective education programme promoted by the anti-violence centre Crisalide and implemented in eleven upper-secondary classes in Spoleto. The project aims to prevent gender-based violence and foster respectful relationships (Massullo, 2025b). The workshop adopts expressive, experiential, and participatory methodologies, combining artistic stimuli, bodily and relational exercises, dialogic practices, and creative narrative production. Through these activities, students explore dominant gender representations, recognise the normative force of stereotypes, and reflect on alternative relational possibilities grounded in expressive freedom, respect, and reciprocity.

The presentation offers a practice-based pedagogical reflection on these educational experiences, drawing on interviews with members of the theatre company, documentation of university and school workshops, and students’ expressive productions. Particular attention is given to aesthetic participation and collective narrative expression in enabling participants to articulate lived experiences and engage with plural perspectives.

The analysis suggests that poetic sexuality education can generate educational spaces characterised by listening, trust, and non-judgement, where the expression and sharing of lived experiences become resources for collective reflection. In this sense, the workshop can be interpreted as a democratic environment where dialogue, recognition of plurality, and the co-construction of meaning become key pedagogical practices. By foregrounding art, expression, and relational encounter, poetic sexuality education emerges as a promising educational pathway for challenging gender stereotypes and fostering more respectful and equitable forms of coexistence.