2024-01-02 16:28:16
In France, the legalization of contraception in 1967 is considered a major achievement for women. It allows for chosen motherhood (to have a child or not and to decide when to give birth) and to dissociate sexuality and motherhood (to be able to experience sexuality without having the weight of an unwanted pregnancy).
In case of “failure” of contraception, women held responsible
However, the use of contraception does not prevent the occurrence of an unwanted and/or unplanned pregnancy. Women, and the youngest among them, are often held solely responsible for the “failure” of contraception. Indeed, in common representations, what social science specialists describe as real contraceptive and sexuality work falls within the skills of women.
This state of affairs raises the question of contraceptive and sexual responsibility between sexual partners or within the couple, and more specifically that of boys. This responsibility is the product of a learning process that begins at a young age and questions the place occupied by boys. Contraceptive and sexual responsibility is constructed differently among girls and boys in different private and public spaces. Therefore, girls and boys approach these issues differently.
Contraceptive and sexual learning supported by public authorities and the family
Two forms of socialization inform young people’s contraceptive and sexual learning. One is driven by public action. The other is “private” and takes place within the family.
Note that socialization is a process that begins at birth. It continues throughout life during which people internalize a set of ways of being in the world, of thinking, of acting, etc. We are therefore talking regarding family, school, professional socialization, socialization by the spouse, activist, associative socialization, etc.
In national campaigns, injunctions targeting girls
At the institutional level, contraceptive work and the sexuality of young people constitute a “concern” for public authorities. Public action is, in fact, multiplying the tools to inform, prevent and educate young people, in particular national campaigns (posters, television spots, websites such as filsantejeunes.com, onsexpress.fr, etc.).
Dedicated to sexuality education, the Onsexpress.fr website offers content validated by experts as well as a chat to talk to psychologists and educators specializing in adolescence. It was designed under the aegis of Santé publique France, a public establishment under the supervision of the ministry responsible for health.
The objective of the campaigns is sexuality education and the prevention of unwanted pregnancies among minor girls and boys. However, the preventive message does not reach the boys.
This is the observation that emerges from my doctoral thesis, “Unwanted pregnancies among minors. : prevention and juvenile male socialization” (University of Poitiers, 2022). In this context, I carried out a survey by interviews with young boys aged 15 to 18, educated in schools in Vienne, and with midwives involved in sexuality education at school. . I also observed around sixty hours of sessions.
The poster for the 2002 national campaign to promote contraception with the slogan “In real life, you’re the one who experiences what’s next…”. Author provided (no reuse)
A careful analysis of these campaigns shows that they are aimed almost exclusively at young girls. In most cases, the preventive message addressed to women, and the youngest among them, takes the form of injunctions which ultimately result in the obligation for girls to take contraception.
Examples include the slogan from the 2002 campaign poster “In life, you are the one who experiences what happens next” or the 2012 slogan “What to do if you forget? »
At school, sessions that avoid involving boys
The other aspect of state prevention, and the most emblematic of the actions of the public authorities, remains the sexuality and emotional life education sessions (EVAS). Law No. 2001-588 of July 4, 2001 relating to the voluntary termination of pregnancy and contraception makes sexual information and education compulsory in schools, colleges and high schools, at least three times annual sessions.
However, not all educational establishments comply with this obligation, which pushed several associations, in March 2023 (SOS Homophobia, Sidaction and Family Planning) to take the State to court.
The staff who intervene during these sessions are heterogeneous (school nurses, doctors, midwives, family planning activists, marriage counselors and many others, etc.) and may lack the necessary training. To remedy the difficulties encountered by staff involved in talking regarding contraception and sexuality in front of a young audience, the national education system also offers, on a voluntary basis, an eight-day training course.
But here once more, my thesis, like numerous works in sociology, as well as reports from government organizations, such as that of the High Council for Equality between Women and Men, have underlined the fact that these sessions of Education directs the preventive message almost systematically towards girls, de facto avoiding the involvement of boys.
The argument that women have power over their bodies
Very rare are therefore the sessions during which the speakers attempt to speak directly to the boys. Indeed, attempts to draw young men’s attention to their contraceptive and sexual responsibilities remain timid.
The speakers explain this reluctance with different arguments, notably the importance of contraception as an achievement in the history of women’s struggles which has put a certain power over their bodies in their hands. Consequently, according to their explanations, since it is women who bear the children, it is ultimately up to them to take responsibility for contraceptive work.
Furthermore, as specified in the report (2016) of the High Council for Equality between Women and Men, sexuality education within schools must not be limited to education sessions, but must be integrated into all subjects (French, mathematics, history-geography, etc.).
In the family, learning that begins with menstruation for girls
The second place of learning regarding contraception and sexuality takes place within the family. The latter is considered the primary basis on which individuals, in interactions with different members of the family, build their relationship with the outside world. The relationship with contraception and sexuality is part of this family learning.
While young girls’ contraceptive and sexual learning begins with the appearance of the first menstruation through visits to the gynecologist and taking the contraceptive pill, that of young boys takes on other modalities and other temporalities. It is, in fact, dependent on the young man entering into a sexual relationship with a partner.
At home, gentle awareness raising for boys
This time-limited learning is distinguished by its tone which can be described as “gentle” and whose implementation seems to be left to the boy’s discretion. According to the expressions of the young boys I interviewed as part of my doctoral thesis, most parents discuss contraception and sexuality with their boys in the form of an “anecdote” or a “joke” by giving instructions such as as: “protect yourself” or “are you protecting yourself?” »
Some parents do things other than talking by leaving condoms lying around in their boy’s room, or by simply giving him condoms.
In the same flexible and “pleasant” tone, some exchanges between parents and boy around sexuality can take place. For example: “we know you didn’t sleep here” or “how did it go?” » or “where are you with your girlfriend? » Which also means that only boys who engage in sexual activity with a partner can access family contraceptive and sexual training. However, this learning remains very limited in time and in interactions.
The role of public authorities and the family in the non-responsibility of boys
Everything suggests that contraceptive and sexual learning, through public action or within the family sphere, contributes to the sidelining of boys regarding their responsibility in these two areas.
As a result, many boys do not feel concerned regarding contraception.
This consolidates for them the optional nature of their responsibility in the occurrence of an unwanted and/or unplanned pregnancy. This places the burden of contraception on girls, thereby accentuating the social perception of guilt when contraception fails and resorting to termination of pregnancy.
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