This is an unpublished draft, to cite the full article, use
Maria Moulin-Stozek (2021): Why should intimate partner violence prevention be integrated in sex education? Journal of Moral Education 50(3) 317-329.
DOI: 10.1080/03057240.2020.1837751 To link to this article:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057240.2020.1837751?journalCode=cjme20
Why should intimate partner violence prevention be integrated in sex education?
Maria Moulin-Stozek
Abstract
In the last half-century the primary aim of sex education has centred on sexual health and reducing the number of sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancies. However, this focus on the biological aspects of sex under the premise of the ‘value neutral’ transfer of knowledge has been criticised. Scholars have instead suggested integrating aspects of moral education into the sex education curriculum which should focus on the well-being of romantic partners and of society as a whole. Using the example of intimate partner violence (IPV) this article adds to ethical sex education scholarship by justifying the placing of moral and interdisciplinary content about IPV in curricula. It argues that as IPV is impossible to eradicate solely by the use of law, sex education is one of the best ways to tackle it.
Keywords: ethics; sex education; adolescents; intimate partner violence; human rights.
Introduction
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2019) has exposed that over a third (30,000) of the women intentionally killed in 2017, more than any other murder, were killed by intimate partner violence (IPV). But ‘IPV’ is not just murder of this kind. It embraces all types of violence that may occur within a romantic relationship, including sexual (Hamby, 2014). This could be intimate partner rape by physical coercion, but it also includes all forms of non- consensual sex e.g. under duress, blackmail or by exploiting victim intoxication. Young girls might become victims of violence at the hands of their partners – be they boys of their age or older men. IPV can take a variety of other forms and exploitative behaviours. Besides sexual abuse, girls might experience psychological abuse (Overstreet et al., 2015) i.e. threats, verbal abuse, manipulation, coercion, ridicule, humiliation, bullying, or revenge porn. Economic abuse (Postmus et al., 2012), such as intercepting money or possessions of a romantic partner, persuasion to enter into prostitution and/or porn may be used in order to exercise control. In younger girls harassment at school, or interfering with school activities or studying can also be forms of this type of abuse. There is good reason, therefore, to include IPV education in public schooling, and I argue that sex education is the best place for it.
Public health-oriented sex education is established worldwide. Historically, in some countries, e.g. in the USA, this approach has been developed as a response to the Abstinence Only Until Marriage sex education curricula, rendering them unscientific, unhealthy and therefore potentially dangerous for young people (Lamb & Plochta, 2011). However, today there is renewed criticism of sex education which argues that in aiming to be value-neutral, sex education has become too focused on individual health goals rather than the moral and personal dimensions of
healthy relationships (e.g. Heyes, 2019; Ponzetti, 2016). According to this view, the well-being of the other person and the society as a whole is at heart of an ethical approach to sex education, which is more than just biological function. As one key proponent of this movement, Sharon Lamb, explains ethical education as a part of sex education aims to ‘educate the whole teen as a decision maker, a sexual citizen, and an ethical human being’ (Lamb, 2010, p. 82). As a response to the problem of deficiency of ethical values in contemporary curricula, scholars working in this field have proposed curriculum content that places sexual choices in a relational and social context. Feminist scholars have explored topics such as pleasure, desire, and subjectivity in order to respond to historically problematic issues for women (Fine, 1988; Lamb, Lustig & Graling, 2013; Allen, 2007; Carmody, 2005). These, and the critique of the patriarchal character of society both today and in the past, form the basis of a feminist model of sex education (Lees, 1993).
Sharon Lamb is a good example of a scholar who, besides advocating a feminist stance on sex education, also argued for incorporating other interdisciplinary content into the curriculum, such as societal values. For example, she argued that discussion of rights, justice, religious perspectives and equity is necessary to develop students as sexual citizens (Lamb, 2010). Elia, who was another proponent of including societal principles, called this undertaking
‘democratic sexuality education’ (2000). Values related to society are especially important, as Thompson (1997) observed, considering the societal changes and growing uncertainty about moral standards in a pluralist society. As also noted by Mckay (1997) embracing ideological pluralism and accommodating freedom of belief in sex education does not have to be exclusive in providing accurate information about sexual and reproductive health.
Other scholars have argued that an important part of an ethical sex education curriculum is to educate against abuse and exploitation. Teaching about consent is considered to be fundamental for ethical sex education and forms a basis of a ‘liberal sexual ethics for adolescents’ (Steutel, 2009a, 2009b; Tellings, 2009). Nevertheless, as observed by Heyes (2019), who argued for a ‘virtue ethical’ approach to sex education, a liberal approach that focuses only on obtaining consent does not acknowledge the moral complexities of romantic relationships among teens. Moreover, as observed by McAvoy (2013) and Lamb (2013), under conditions of inequality just obtaining consent is not enough when thinking through sexual ethics, as there are further ethical obligations. In one of her earlier works Lamb (1997) suggested that sex education involves emotional development as well as the development of moral behaviour, and as such could contribute to reducing the amount of violent sexual behaviour. That means that in ethical sex education the responsibility for preventing sexual violence is no longer considered mostly relevant to girls, but boys should become equally involved (Flood, 2006).
Responding to this ethical call, curricula incorporate education around moral issues, including such topics as education against sexism and exploitation (see e.g. Lamb & Randazzo, 2016a) and IPV is included in some sex education policy reports (see e.g. Long, 2020). However, it is still an issue that per se has seldom been considered fully by moral educators and is one that practitioners may find difficult to address. This article therefore responds to a gap in the moral education literature on the subject – which is, no doubt, of urgent need. I make this argument from an interdisciplinary perspective, including insights from criminal justice, public health and human rights. In the next three sections I argue why sex education is the right setting to teach about IPV. It is widely believed that IPV is a criminological problem that should be responded to with criminal justice interventions (Peterson, 2008). In the first section I show that primary IPV
prevention, i.e. aiming to prevent violence before it occurs, e.g. through education, is more effective than preventing recurrence through the criminal justice system (tertiary IPV prevention). Secondly, I demonstrate why sex education is the best setting to tackle IPV compared with other primary prevention methods. Further, in the third section, I argue that IPV prevention through sex education is mandated in the human rights framework. This section shows that incorporating IPV content is a human rights issue, and governments are committed to follow binding conventions, as well as human rights standards in this regard.
The need to prioritise primary IPV prevention
Although it is difficult to ascertain the estimates of the prevalence of IPV, the evidence suggests that it is widespread all over the world (WHO, 2013). Its prevention tends to be dominated by arrests, prosecution and batterers’ intervention programmes (Peterson, 2008). However, IPV is also a risk among adolescents, and there has been a constant appeal in the scientific literature that IPV prevention efforts should be targeted on younger age groups (Whitaker et al., 2013; WHO/LSHTM, 2010). In this section I show why the criminal justice approach to preventing IPV is failing and why there is a need to refocus IPV prevention efforts towards education.
First, the criminal justice system is not the most appropriate response to IPV among underaged perpetrators. They are limited in their ability to fully understand their actions, while criminal law is coercive in nature and can only be used in extreme circumstances after establishing that significant harm has occurred. As a result, the data of IPV incidence, especially among adolescents, is complex and difficult to assess. What we do know about this phenomenon is that the vast majority of cases are hidden. Globally, reporting of incidents varies between different cultures and legal systems. A comparison by Pereda et al (2009) of studies from 21
countries found that almost 30% of them report childhood sexual abuse prevalence rates above 30%. In the World Health Organization’s (WHO, 2005) ‘ten country study’ 15-71% of women reported having experienced sexual or physical violence by an intimate partner; even up to 45%
in some regions reported that their first sexual experience was forced, and for a majority of those respondents this occurred during adolescence. Partner violence is generally underreported, but young girls, compared to older women, might be even more reluctant to speak about it. They might misinterpret IPV symptoms (controlling sexual jealousy could be regarded as expression of romantic feelings, for example); they may not report violence for fear of not being believed, not wanting people to find out about the abuse, or they might have concerns about confidentiality and feelings of shame, guilt or embarrassment (Sable et al., 2006). The criminal justice system cannot respond to cases that have not been reported, and this is another reason for having recourse to primary prevention.
Moreover, criminal justice systems, even in countries most prominent for gender equality, are not efficient enough in handling IPV. Also in those countries IPV is still socially tolerated (Gracia & Herrero, 2006), and when committed among immigrants these crimes may even be sometimes considered, as Menjívar and Salcido note (2002), a part of ‘culture.’ Justice systems around the world obviously differ significantly in their responses, but the problem of not reacting properly to violence against women has been observed globally. For example, there is a universally recognised high degree of rape tolerance within criminal justice systems if a case is not demonstrably a ‘pure’ rape case (see e.g. Schaefer, Morabito, Pattavina & Williams, 2019).
Criminal lawyers sometimes mockingly summarise a ‘pure’ rape case as a case where a virgin- victim was attacked in a dark alley by a stranger, and bravely fought back (see e.g. Spohn & Horney, 2013). However, most rapes are actually by people known to the victim and ‘greyer’ rape cases are
more difficult to prove. Previous romantic or sexual contacts with the offender such as kissing, certain nonverbal signs or even failure to stand up to the aggressor or silence (e.g. as a result from a shock or fear) might be viewed by criminal justice organs as a ‘consent’ (Dowds, 2020). There are efforts to challenge these defective laws with the help of international bodies, but criminal justice systems still face serious challenges with their responses towards rape (see e.g. European Court of Human Rights case M.C. v. Bulgaria, Application no. 39272/98, where the Court found that Bulgarian law violated the European Convention of Human Rights because it had not prosecuted non-consensual sex where the victim had not physically resisted).
If prosecutions are allowed to proceed, survivors must face the fact that criminal justice systems are usually focused on adherence to the rights of the defendant and offender rehabilitation, which in the case of IPV may result in overlooking necessary victim protection.
The court proceedings may have a negative impact on survivors’ mental health and may even result in ‘secondary victimization’. Trials can turn into trials against the victim. The defending attorney’s questions are designed to present inconsistencies in the victim’s story and present her as a person who is not credible. Intimate and embarrassing details of her life may be disclosed in public such as details of her sexual life, drug and alcohol use etc.
The problem of IPV coexists with sexist and hostile attitudes towards women in society in general and prevalence of these attitudes makes it even easier for perpetrators of violence to avoid criminal responsibility (Belknap, 1995). There is also an intense expert discussion about the potential negative consequences of violent media content on teens and perceptions of IPV victims’ culpability (APA, 2007; Johnson et al., 2020). The fact that IPV is underreported, widespread, and to some degree socially or legally tolerated, is not the only reason why prevention of violence against women cannot be limited to the criminal justice system.
Borderline cases and cases where both partners are equally violent towards each other can be difficult to address with criminal law. There is also a wide spectrum of minor cruelties that may be present in teen relationships that completely fall outside of the boundaries of criminal law, but could be challenged with education. Education could also help to encourage bystanders to intervene and raise social awareness of IPV. It is certain that criminal justice reforms are required urgently, but this is not enough to successfully counteract these crimes and encourage violence-free relationships. More efforts are needed in the field of primary prevention of IPV, in particular through education.
Sex education as the most appropriate curriculum subject to address intimate partner violence
In the previous section I argued that primary IPV prevention is needed because IPV is a global problem, widespread also among younger people, and because criminal justice prevention is insufficient. In this section I argue that, among primary IPV prevention methods, sex education is the most appropriate way to respond to violence in teen relationships. However, as sex education is commonly associated with delivering other types of knowledge i.e. providing accurate information about sexual health, it could be convincingly argued that content relating to IPV is better suited to be a part of another curriculum subject. For example, classes that discuss issues related to human rights, democracy and government could be seen as more appropriate settings to learn about IPV. In this section I show why sex education is without doubt the most suitable curriculum subject to educate about IPV and the benefits of adding the ethical dimension to teaching about IPV.
First, sex education is a place to teach the skills and understanding needed to think about the matters arising in relationships, such as consenting to sex, refraining from sex or obtaining consent.
The implementation of those skills in contemporary curricula tends to rely on the principles of informed consent and individual autonomy (Lamb & Randazzo, 2016b). However, as it was demonstrated in the previous section, defining what is consent and subsequently what is rape, is problematic even to criminal law judges. Common real-life problems like unequal power dynamics in relationships, naivety, substance use or societal myths might affect the ability of a teen to give a voluntary and well-informed consent. In extreme cases implicit or explicit consent might be treated as a ‘green light’ and a justification for coercive or even criminal conduct.
Obviously, teaching about consent is essential, but it is insufficient if issues of respect and empathy for the other person are overlooked. By focusing on the well-being of, and caring for, the other person, ethical sex education facilitates making mature decisions about relationships and judgments of what IPV is, and why it is wrong. It consequently helps to prevent IPV perpetration.
Individual autonomy is another problematic guiding principle in sex education if the wellbeing of the intimate partner is left out (McAvoy, 2013; Lamb, 2013; Heyes, 2019).
Focusing only on one’s own goals might affect the wellbeing of the other person, as well as the functioning of the relationship. Strict reliance on the principle of individual autonomy can reinforce not only rape myths (Lamb & Randazzo, 2016b), but also IPV myths by making the victims responsible for not preventing the violence by leaving or denouncing the perpetrator.
Young girls might not know how to end a dangerous relationship. Adolescents come from different backgrounds and might not always understand what an exploitative relationship is, nor what is a good relationship. Sex education could teach how to be a respectful boyfriend or
girlfriend in dilemmatic situations instead overemphasising individual choices. Including ethical content in curricula helps students to develop a higher level of ethical discernment underpinned by virtues such as compassion, justice and humanity. These virtues help not only to build healthy, violence-free relationships, but also to educate young people to become virtuous citizens.
The overemphasis on choice might be not only detrimental to the relationship, but also to society as a whole. It does not take into account that in unequal societies those with assigned lower social status do not have the same potency to enforce respect for their choices (Lamb &
Randazzo, 2016b). Using hypotheticals, ethics-based sex education curricula today challenge social norms by teaching students to ethically discern inequalities within romantic relationships, and thus introduce the perspectives of critical thinking, self-reflection and social justice (see e.g.
Lamb & Randazzo, 2016a). Teaching about IPV from an ethical perspective will not only help to detect IPV, but also enable students to understand that IPV is morally wrong, and that it affects both the victim, and society as a whole. Including content on IPV, empathy, fidelity and trust in a relationship might challenge the association of masculinity with power and anger (Archer, 2003), and mitigate the negative consequences of individual autonomy.
Besides relying on the principle of individual autonomy, the scientific field of sex education might also sometimes overstress the importance of the public health impact of a curriculum. It is also believed, within the more didactic sexual health promotion approach, that a good curriculum should be scientific, ‘value-neutral’ (Heyes, 2019), and the evidence of its effectiveness on health should have been measured within a given population. It might be argued that including any moral content in sex education curricula would be a departure from its neutral position. Although it is generally agreed that IPV is immoral and should be prevented, there
could be a concern among public health-oriented sex education experts of adding a moral element to scientific and evidence-based contemporary curricula. Responding to this concern it is worth pointing out that there is empirical public health evidence that primary IPV prevention is also well-researched and scientific.
The majority of higher quality public health evaluations of the effectiveness of IPV primary prevention are derived primarily from North America, but less rigorous evidence is also available from other countries. Systematic reviews indicate that the effectiveness of these programmes looks promising (Foshee, McNaughton Reyes & Wyckoff, 2009). Safe Dates is the most thoroughly studied violence prevention programme. Adolescents exposed to the programme reported less physical and sexual dating violence perpetration and victimization four years after the programme compared to controls (Foshee et al., 2004). The students had better anger management skills, were more willing to stand up for themselves, were less accepting of stereotypical and traditional gender roles, and had developed communication skills to discuss their needs and emotions (Forsee, McNaughton Reyes & Wyckoff, 2009). An evaluation of the Canadian Fourth R: Skills for Youth Relationships programme found that there was a difference of 2.4% in the rates of physical IPV between the programme group and the control group (Wolfe et al., 2009). A review of programmes working with men and boys by Barker, Ricardo and Nascimento (2007) showed that even participation in short-term programmes was enough to change the behaviour and attitudes of participants regarding their use of violence against women. However, it is worth acknowledging that methodological problems may arise from evaluating the impact of interventions on IPV from a public health perspective, which again makes the ethical approach so valuable.
Besides being effective in reducing violence, IPV prevention in sex education has also a high potential to improve the impact on sexual and reproductive health outcomes. IPV is not just
a problem of the criminal justice system, but also a public health concern, because it contributes to other public health problems. Adolescent girls who experience IPV are more likely to exhibit high-risk behaviours (Decker, Silverman & Raj, 2005). According to studies, compared to their non- abused peers, abused women have higher rates of substance abuse, mental disorders and problems with access to medical care (Plichta & Falik, 2001). When violence occurs during pregnancy, it may be associated with adverse pregnancy events such as miscarriage, pre-term births and stillbirths (Boy
& Salihu, 2004). Although a study from 2010 in ten developing countries in the Americas, Africa and Asia found no consistent association between reported HIV and IPV (Harling, Msisha and Subramanian, 2010), there are fears supported by scientific research, that violent behaviour may have an impact on the spread of STIs, as women who are exposed to IPV do not have enough power in relationships to discuss consent (which may lead to multiple sexual partners), negotiate condom use, and therefore are more at risk of acquiring HIV (e.g. Maman et al., 2000). In addition, a study by Haberland (2015) indicated that programmes which addressed gender and power relations were five times more likely to be effective in preventing STIs or unintended pregnancy than those that did not, which provides further evidence that linking IPV prevention programmes with sex education will be more beneficial for young people, and that sex education is clearly a suitable curriculum subject to address IPV.
Integration of IPV prevention in sex education and the human rights framework
In this section, using international human rights documents, I argue that sex education is not only appropriate to discuss IPV, but this integration is also mandated in the human rights framework.
While individual states usually shape their laws and policies regarding sex education and IPV prevention according to their political goals, I show that IPV prevention should be a part of sex
education as there is a political, legal and ethical obligation to follow international human rights law in this regard. Although the human rights field needs more enforcement mechanisms (Collingsworth, 2002), states have a duty to promote human rights and respect them, while the international community may in some instances even interfere in the domestic order to defend them. International human rights laws consist of binding and non-binding documents. Binding laws (covenants, conventions, treaties) have a legal value, because of the voluntary commitment of states to respect these agreements. Non-binding laws called ‘soft laws’ do not have implementation mechanisms, but there exists a political commitment to obey them (d’Aspremont, 2008; Ellis, 2012). I will first refer to important international agreements showing that IPV prevention, also among teens, is mandated. Next, I will show that education is considered one of the most important measures against IPV within the framework. Finally, I will refer to international documents that explicitly call for integrating IPV prevention in sex education.
Although at first sight it may be considered a fait accompli that IPV prevention is mandated as a human rights issue, it has only been included in the international human rights agenda relatively recently. For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 did not recognise violence against women as a separate human rights violation, although a step forward was an explicit reference to ‘equal rights of men and women’ in the Preamble to this Declaration.
It was only in 1994 the first UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women was appointed, and in 1995 at the Beijing Conference a document ‘Platform for Action’ was adopted, in which violence against women was recognised as a violation of human rights, and violence against women ‘an obstacle to the achievement of the objectives of equality, development and peace’ (D, par. 112).
The necessity of preventing IPV is not only now stipulated in the women’s rights conventions, but girls’ rights are also protected through international mechanisms that relate to children’s rights. For example, Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) obliges states to take appropriate measures to protect children from all forms of violence. The Convention defines a child as ‘every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.’ Similarly, in the case of UNCRC, the ‘child’ is defined by the Council of Europe (CoE) ‘Lanzarote Convention’
(Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse) as ‘any person under the age of 18 years.’ It does not matter whether the acts of violence against women are public or private, states are required to prevent them (point 23 of the General Recommendation No. 19 (1992) by UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)). Moreover, even when the human rights provisions do not explicitly mention violence, IPV still breaches human rights and freedoms such as: the right to life, the right not to be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to equality in the family and other rights.
Preventing IPV is therefore mandated in the human rights framework and the measures the states are required to take against IPV can take various forms. Besides prosecution, according to international documents, education seems to be one of the most important measures. On the international level the enforcement of the obligation of states to prevent IPV through education is secured by committees such as CEDAW, the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, or the Committee of Parties to the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. On the European level the CoE Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence
(‘Istanbul Convention’), the most important regional agreement for the prevention of IPV, requires states not only to protect victims and prosecute crimes against girls and women, but also to prevent them through primary prevention programmes. Article 14 of this Convention clearly states that prevention of IPV needs to be carried out within education. The EU guidelines on prevention of violence against women from 2006 in section 3.2.7.2.b provide that one of the priorities of support from the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights is for projects that aim to prevent IPV through ‘education in the fundamental rights and empowerment of women and girls.’
To effectively prevent IPV some documents specifically refer to sex education. For instance, on the right to sexual and reproductive health, General comment No. 22 (2016) of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/C.12/GC/22) stipulates that the realisation of that right requires that states also meet their obligations under other provisions of the Covenant, which include prevention of IPV. Similarly, the ‘Lanzarote Convention’ in Article 6 specifies that children, during primary and secondary education, need to be taught about the risks of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, how to defend themselves, and that this education shall be provided within ‘a more general context of information on sexuality.’ Among Comprehensive Sexuality Education key topics the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA, 2014, pp. 11-12) lists ‘intimate partner (and gender-based) violence, including unwanted and forced sex’ and ‘sexuality and sexual behaviour, including issues of consent and decision- making, sexual coercion and sexual diversity.’ As suggested by WHO (2005; 2010) sexual rights should be free of coercion, discrimination and violence and they need to consider all rights and freedoms stipulated in national laws and international human rights laws. Similarly, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2013, pp. 47-48) named
‘gender equality and gender roles’ and ‘sexual abuse/resisting unwanted or coerced sex’ as core global indicators for monitoring and evaluation of education sector response to HIV and AIDS.
UNFPA (2015) and UNESCO (2011) even created a special tool that determines i.a. whether a curriculum of a programme covers issues of gender and rights, and found an insufficient focus on gender in all countries where the tool was used to assess national sex education programmes.
States are committed to prevent IPV through sex education by documents such as General comment No. 22 (2016) on the right to sexual and reproductive health of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/C.12/GC/22) or guidelines issued by the CEDAW, EU, CoE, WHO, UNFPA and UNESCO. Moreover, these international documents provide legal basis for a claim that, besides the health aspects and IPV, teaching about sex should also include content about the dignity and rights of the other person as well as respond to social inequalities. References to human rights, their history and discrimination in sex education curricula can improve students’ understanding of violence-free relationships and the importance of caring for the rights of others.
Conclusion
STIs and unwanted pregnancies are the problems that sex education traditionally attempts to counter. However, different types of violence and cruelty from romantic partners are also critical, but often more hidden, problems, and these should also be prioritized. In this article I have presented three arguments for integrating IPV content with sex education. IPV is commonly regarded as a criminological problem (Peterson, 2008), rather than a problem that needs to be tackled by the schooling system. I first argued that IPV primary prevention through education might be more effective than preventing recurrence. Criminal justice systems are necessary to
bring offenders to justice. However, by themselves they cannot fully confront the problem, because IPV is an insidious phenomenon, deeply rooted in social structures. Therefore, prevention through sex education could contribute to building not only healthy, but also safe and ethical relationships. Secondly, I argued that sex education is the most suitable curriculum subject to address IPV, as IPV is closely related to sexual and reproductive health. To convince even those most sceptical of moral content in sex education, I provided examples of higher- quality evaluations of the effectiveness of primary IPV prevention programmes. Moreover, as the evidence shows, teaching against IPV and empowering young girls will contribute to preventing STIs, unintended pregnancies and other public health problems that sex education responds to.
Thirdly, I argued that the integration of IPV prevention in sex education is mandated in the human rights framework by referring to human rights conventions, as well as the non-binding declarations, recommendations, guidelines, comments and standards of various international bodies. The human rights approach to sex education, besides responding to IPV, includes also the rights and dignity of the other person and aims to address social inequalities related to the lower status often assigned to women.
The arguments presented here, supported by evidence from public health, criminal justice and human rights fields, may hopefully convince sex educators to incorporate interdisciplinary content within curricula and join the global efforts to eradicate violence against women.
Implementing content on IPV in sex education curricula may require teachers to adopt a new attitude to their field and the development of varied methods. Perhaps they will be challenged by a political context that is not favourable to the discussion of IPV or addressing this problem may seem to be less important than other, more urgent, issues. Education against IPV could also be carried outside the bounds of ethics, and young people could be given the information, the skills
to identify a potentially dangerous relationship and a list of organizations from which they can individually ask for help. However, placing teaching about IPV within an ethical framework will do more. It will broaden understanding of human sexuality and relations, help young people to make judgements, think critically, and disapprove IPV as morally wrong. By focusing on the well-being of the romantic partner and society as a whole, ethical content in the curricula could facilitate positive societal changes and help young people to become caring and responsible citizens. It is critical to stress that the valuable agenda of moral education will contribute to a society in which more healthy and informed decisions about sex and relationships will be made.
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