G.10. Gender and Sexuality Education as Democratic Practice: Bodies, Relations, and Intimate Citizenship

This panel examines how gender and sexuality education can contribute to democratic learning, social justice, and active citizenship in contemporary educational contexts. In a moment marked by anti-gender polarisation and misinformation, gender-inclusive and intersectional approaches emerge not only as pedagogical strategies but as democratic commitments. Sexuality and gender education provide a key lens for understanding how rights, diversity, and relational ethics are negotiated in school life and how young people learn to inhabit plural, equitable communities.

Drawing on democratic education traditions, sociological perspectives on inequalities, and feminist and queer critiques of epistemic injustice, this panel investigates how practices of bodies, relationships, and care can sustain democratic coexistence grounded in agency and mutual respect. The notion of intimate citizenship (Plummer, 2001) highlights how identity, embodiment, and relationality are intertwined with democratic processes and the capacity to participate fully in social life.

Rather than conceiving sexuality and gender education as mere transmission of normative knowledge, we understand it as a democratic practice that shapes interactions, imaginaries, and modes of living together. From this perspective, Comprehensive Sexuality Education (UNESCO, 2018) constitutes a transformative approach and a vantage point for interrogating and transforming the norms and power relations that determine who is recognised, listened to, and able to participate meaningfully in collective life.

The ambition of the panel is to reposition gender and sexuality education as a critical lens for renewing pedagogical practices and addressing the challenges posed by complex, polarised societies, while sustaining democratic cultures capable of embracing diversity and equitable coexistence.