Condoms can’t be trusted and boys don’t cry in Catholic Paraguay’s first sex ed program

Associated Press

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (AP) — In predominantly Catholic Paraguay, with the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in South America, the Ministry of Education has approved the country’s first national sex education curriculum. But it’s not what many activists hoped for. The ultraconservative program actively promotes abstinence, explains sex as “God’s invention for married people,” warns that condoms can’t be trusted, and says nothing of sexual orientation or identity. Experts say it’s a result of Paraguay’s history where Latin America’s longest-ruling dictatorship instilled an enduring tradition of autocracy and social conservatism.