The Sexuality Connect mobility in Italy was not only an opportunity to explore new educational approaches, but also a space for participants from different countries to exchange perspectives, question everyday assumptions and reflect on how gender stereotypes influence our society.
Among the participants was Alessia Lorens, representing Luxembourg, who shared her impressions of the experience and highlighted one activity that particularly caught her attention: the workshop led by the KEHSIA team on gender representation in advertising.
“The thing which I liked the most about this mobility was the lecture from the KEHSIA team about how different genders are represented in advertisements nowadays.”
During the workshop, participants explored how women, men and different gender identities are portrayed through advertising and reflected on the stereotypes that can be reproduced through images, language and commercial messages.
For Alessia, one of the most interesting aspects was becoming more aware of the influence that these messages can have on the way we perceive gender and the world around us.
“It was very interesting to understand how we react and how our perspectives can also be influenced by the advertisements we see.”
Her reflection highlights one of the key objectives of the activity: encouraging participants to look beyond the surface of everyday media messages and develop a more critical understanding of the content they encounter.
Advertising is part of our daily lives, and the representations it promotes can contribute to shaping expectations about gender roles, behaviours, appearance and relationships. Learning to identify these mechanisms is therefore an important element of media literacy and gender education, particularly for educators and youth workers supporting young people in developing critical thinking skills.
During the Sexuality Connect mobility, participants were encouraged not only to identify stereotypes but also to discuss their potential impact and consider how education can contribute to challenging harmful or limiting representations.
Alessia’s experience shows how international mobility can create opportunities to reconsider something as familiar as an advertisement from a new perspective. By combining practical activities, discussion and intercultural exchange, participants were able to connect the topics addressed during the programme with situations and messages they encounter in their everyday lives.
This approach reflects the wider purpose of Sexuality Connect: providing youth workers and educators with knowledge, methodologies and practical tools to address sexuality education, gender equality, consent, healthy relationships, digital awareness and the prevention of gender-based violence.
By giving participants an active role in the learning process and creating space for their voices and experiences, the mobility demonstrated how European cooperation can foster critical thinking, mutual learning and new perspectives that continue well beyond the training itself.
Sexuality Connect is a KA210 project co-funded by Anefore through the Erasmus+ Programme. It is coordinated by KEHSIA asbl (Luxembourg) together with Associazione DonneXStrada – Ente del Terzo Settore (Italy) and EUducate (Spain).