FROM SILENCE TO STRENGTH: RECLAIMING BODY LITERACY THROUGH INCLUSIVE SEX EDUCATION
- Charlie Rokoko
- Jun 8
- 2 min read
SPEECH
WHEN: 31 MAY 2025
WHERE: KULTURHUSET, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN EVENT: Empowering a Woman is Empowering a Nation / emPOWER womÆn NGO LAUNCH EVENT
SPEECH:
At the emPOWER womÆn event, designer and educator Domka Spytek delivered a compelling talk on the urgent need for inclusive sex education — and how silence around our bodies creates harm that education can heal.
“In Sweden, only 19% of people feel their school-based sex education was enough to manage their sexual health,” she shared. “Over 60% of middle school students report experiencing sexual harassment. And LGBTQ+ youth often say their needs are ignored entirely.”
These statistics are more than numbers — they represent lives lived in confusion, shame, and silence.
Spytek argues that this silence isn’t neutral. It isolates and disempowers — especially girls, queer youth, and those from migrant or conservative communities. “When we aren’t taught to speak about our bodies, someone else speaks for us — and they often misrepresent us.”
At the heart of her message is body literacy — the ability to understand one’s body, boundaries, rights, and choices. True sex education should offer more than facts. It should give language, agency, and self-respect.
This belief led her to create EROEDU, a tactile, inclusive toolkit for teaching anatomy, identity, consent, and diversity without shame. Designed as a rebellious student project in Poland, EROEDU is now used in Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, and South Africa. Educators and therapists call it “groundbreaking” — because it’s hands-on, intuitive, and inclusive of all bodies and experiences.
While EROEDU has not yet officially launched, its pilot use has already reached thousands. The toolkit invites conversations traditional education avoids. It doesn’t just teach biology — it teaches recognition.
Spytek’s dream is to see EROEDU in every Nordic school and to offer open-source versions in underserved communities. “Taboo is a choice,” she said. “So is change".
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