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In Mexico, more than 24 million elementary and middle school students returned to classes on Monday, August 28. For this new school year, the federal government published new free textbooks with content on diverse family models, prevention of sexual abuse, sexual diversity, sexual health care, and other topics. Anti-rights groups used this content to spread misinformation. 

In addition, groups such as the National Front for the Family have called for marches with religious imagery and openly LGBT-hating slogans against school books. 

Here we tell you about misleading narratives. What school textbooks really say and what the challenges are in Mexico for the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). 

It is FALSE that an “LGBT ideology is being imposed” 

The anti-rights organizations National Union of Parents, Conscience and Participation, the National Front for the Family, and bishops have argued that the new textbooks “contain a strong LGBT ideology.” [image with a red line]

“The term ‘gender ideology’ does not exist as a category within the social sciences. It is a construct that seeks to denigrate the demands for the rights of women and sexual diversity,” explains the Glossary for Equality of the National Institute for Women (Inmujeres).

These groups use textbook content about sexual diversity to promote LGBT-hate. One example is the cover of the fourth-grade Community Projects book , which shows an LGBT+ flag and two women showing affection.

Another is a graphic from the first-grade book Multiple Languages , which shows various types of families: the homoparental and lesbomaternal, the single-parent, the adoptive, the childless family, among others.

Far from being an “ideology or indoctrination”, as these anti-rights groups call it, the images only describe the different types of families that exist. 

According to the latest National Household Survey conducted in 2017 by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), in Mexico almost half of the families (46%) are not made up of a "mother and father". 

FALSE that anyone is asking to masturbate a model

Congresswoman América Rangel, from the conservative National Action Party (PAN), who is promoting a law reform that seeks to criminalize and instrumentalize the rights of trans children, falsely claimed on her Twitter account that one of the activities in a textbook asks to "masturbate models of penises."

What the congresswoman said is false because the content "What is happening to my body?" from the fifth grade Classroom Projects book does not mention that in the activity instructions .

The students are asked to make two models: one illustrating the female reproductive system and showing the process of menstruation; and another of the male reproductive system simulating an erection and the process of ejaculation.

The congresswoman takes a model explaining the ejaculation process out of context and falsely argues that: "it's not sex education, it's pedophilia." 

Their argument is misleading because one of the proposals of comprehensive sex education is to provide tools based on scientific evidence and a human rights and gender approach so that children and young people - and their environments - can make informed decisions about their sexuality and well-being, such as consent; pleasure and displeasure; and recognizing and preventing sexual and gender violence. 

This and other benefits of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) are mentioned in the UNESCO report International technical guidelines on evidence-based sexuality education.

Child and adolescent sexual abuse

In Mexico, 1 in 3 children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 17 say they feel exposed to sexual abuse in their environment, according to data from the 2021 Children and Youth Consultation conducted by the National Electoral Institute. 

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also reported that in Mexico, only 100 out of every 1,000 cases of sexual abuse against minors are reported. Of these, only 10% reach a judge, and only 1% of the perpetrator receives a conviction. This means there is a 99.9% impunity rate in reported cases.

Psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Hernán De Arriba states that pedophilia “constitutes a crime that is committed within an unequal power relationship and implies subjugation.” He explained this in the article “ Why Saying Pedophilia Is a Sexual Orientation Is Misinformation,”published by Presentes.

They take an image about basic concepts of sexuality and diversity out of context 

Another misleading image that has spread from TikTok to other social media platforms is an illustration of two women kissing. It's used to explain the concepts of gender, biological sex, gender expression and identity, sexual orientation, and "gender diversity." Anti-rights groups say, "That's what the Ministry of Education is going to teach your children."

While the image is real, it doesn't correspond to any of the books aimed solely at students between 10 and 11 years old. It's from the book "Nuestro Saberes" (Our Knowledge), a book for fifth-grade students, teachers, and families

The educational strategy of the New Mexican School emphasizes the active participation of families in teaching and learning development projects. An activity designed to encourage families to engage in open and unbiased dialogue is included on that page of the book

These types of activities can help reduce levels of discrimination and family exclusion. In Mexico, 9 out of 10 LGBT+ people reported having to hide their sexual orientation and gender identity due to aggression and hostility in their families, schools, and neighborhoods. This is according to the latest survey on discrimination conducted by the National Human Rights Commission and the National Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination.