Sexuality and gender identity in contemporary childhood and adolescence: the freedom to doubt (L. Feduchi)

On October 4, 2024, the conference on sexuality and gender identity in childhood and adolescence was held in the auditorium of COTOC Barcelona.

A space for reflection and debate was opened on how, in the current context, we are experiencing a new malaise in culture (different from the Victorian era of sexual repression that Freud referred to), with repercussions that fully affect childhood and adolescence regarding their experience of sexuality and gender identity. The discussion addressed the malaise caused by accelerated changes and the loss of benchmarks in consumer society, planned obsolescence, the trivialization of sexuality, fragile bonds, and liquid love.

Topics such as the impact of new technologies, the confusion between the real and virtual world, and the difficulty of regulating children's and adolescents' access to pornography were also addressed, as were the culture wars between conservatism and progressivism concerning how sex and relationship education should be in childhood and adolescence.

Have we gone from Oedipus to Narcissus as the reference myth? Are children and adolescents encouraged to identify with omnipotent figures who are displayed on the various screens they spend more time with than in face-to-face relationships?

Regarding gender identity, we want to raise and debate together the repercussions and impact of the theory that has permeated the academic and media world, greatly affecting the lives of children, adolescents, and families. We want to foster a debate on the differences between sex and gender, and the complex interaction between the biological, the individual psychological, and the culturally determined. And we want to see how so-called gender identity services are being organized in public and private health systems in recent years, in different countries, with special attention to the most recent novelty: the Cass Review on Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People in England, which puts forward a series of very interesting recommendations to consider.

The conference was proposed based on the reflections, debates, and positions that the FCCSM Children and Adolescents group has worked on within the framework of the now-halted comprehensive bill on the recognition of the right to gender identity and expression. In this bill, we called for prior reflection and debate on its content before it was approved by the Parliament of Catalonia. This conference has been designed as a contribution to this reflection.