The fight for sex education contents: discursive and political repertoires used by actors in Mexico at the beginning of the 21st century

Abstract

In 2006, there was a fight to modify the content of middle school sex education in Mexico. To understand this struggle for secular education, we conducted interviews and reviewed public statements by different actors, documenting the use of discursive repertoires to argue their proposals and the link with businessmen and public officials. The struggle shows how the secular state is constructed through actors’ strategies and reflects the legitimacy of both religious and secular discourse. The secularism of sex education advanced because the secular state is underpinned by a complex legal and political framework which scientific evidence and population, health, gender and human rights priorities regard as being more legitimate than religious values. However, the contents are permeated by Catholic discourse due to the use of power networks and concerns over the loss of sexual order.