One One Hundred Thousand: 'Sexual-affective education is primary prevention'

The study takes as its starting point the international standards defined by Unesco and Oms - which recognise sexual-affective education as a fundamental right for children and adolescents and an essential tool for the promotion of public health - and systematises four fundamental conditions to make any project of sexual-affective education effective: regulatory obligation, qualified teacher training, involvement of families and health services, constant monitoring of results.

"The research moves on two levels," Costantino emphasises, "The first was a comparison of twelve European countries where sex-affective education already exists, to identify good practices. The second concerns the university and academic training that teachers should have in order to educate on affectivity in schools'. The demand for teacher training is growing because it is violence itself that is evolving: 'Every year we record new forms of online violence,' explains the Foundation's vice-president. 'From what used to be mistakenly called "revenge porn", today we have arrived with artificial intelligence to pornographic "deep fakes". The new forms of violence pass through the web and phones, often inside classrooms: many teachers, like parents, are not digital natives and do not have the tools to deal with these forms of violence'.

For this reason, the study takes the form of operational projects: a high-level training course for teachers - starting in January 2026 - based on European best practices, with online lessons and in-presence workshops; the publication of a scientific-dissemination volume aimed at schools and institutions; seminars and public meetings to create territorial networks; recommendations for a national law so that sexual-affective education is recognised as a tool of citizenship, equality and prevention of violence.

In addition to adequate training tools, it is necessary to continue to break down taboos and make schools a place of real confrontation: 'We do not register concern on the part of parents about the introduction of sexual-affective education in schools,' adds Costantino. 'Faced with concern about violence, parents seek points of reference outside the family to rely on: often because they have difficulty dealing with certain issues. Or because they do not feel they have the appropriate tools to act correctly'.

Not only among adults. Teachers and parents in direct contact with young people know this well: today, among teenagers, violence moves mainly online. That is why the new campaign of the Fondazione Una Nessuna Centomila for 25 November - 'Virtual violence is real' - transforms artificial intelligence from a potential danger into a tool for re-appropriation, using it to show the reality of violence.

The aim is to turn the spotlight on the judgement to which girls are constantly exposed, using fiction to show the reality of violence and reminding that, if a girl can be invented, manipulated or sexualised against her will, then it is necessary to take care of language and looks, not bodies. The responsibility lies with the beholder: 'This campaign was created to invite us to look differently, in a more conscious way. It intends to question the gaze with which women are too often observed and described,' explains Giulia Minoli, president of the Fondazione Una Nessuna Centomila, 'because the way we see and comment on them affects their freedom.

If schools are used to prevent violence, online and offline, anti-violence centres and police stations are used to intercept and combat it. One One Hundred Thousand works alongside them, with training projects that aim to create a dialogue between all parties involved.

'We need to create more and more of a link between the anti-violence centres and the police stations,' Costantino explains. 'The synergy is not a one-way street, but has a substantial value: for example, there are women who do not pass through the anti-violence centres but go directly to the police station. In this case the police must be able to intercept the vulnerability and refer to the anti-violence centre'. The Foundation's protocol with the State Police, presented on 20 November, was created with this objective in mind: to strengthen the joint commitment to preventing and combating gender-based violence, through shared training and dissemination initiatives. The agreement has already led to the launch of an initial cycle of courses for officers in several Italian cities, with the involvement of anti-violence centres to prevent secondary victimisation and improve the ability to recognise the signs of violence, including online.

"The work of anti-violence centres, in order to be effective, needs the collaboration of a series of institutional subjects - medical personnel, law enforcement officers and magistrates - who are trained to be able to carry out the path of 'getting out' of violence in the most correct and effective way," adds Costantino, emphasising: "Women must be certain that, when they go to make a complaint at the police station, there will be on the other side a policewoman or policeman capable of understanding what is happening. The protocol, therefore, becomes fundamental in facilitating confrontation and, says Costantino, 'Making paths together that must serve growth'.

Anti-violence centres, at the heart of the Foundation's commitment, are fundamental references in the area. Nevertheless, Costantino explains, 'Their work is not adequately recognised at an institutional level, or is not sufficiently taken into account with respect to the path to be taken to protect women'.

The first national training school for anti-violence centre operators, launched by the Foundation, responds to the growing need for professionalisation, refresher courses and sharing of good practices among the operators involved on a daily basis in supporting women who suffer violence. It is an articulated programme - built in collaboration with experts in the field, universities, research centres and civil society organisations - open to all Italian anti-violence centres and free of charge for centre workers. The objective, says the vice-president, is 'to systemise the experiences in the different territories, giving the anti-violence centres the right authority and visibility'. In this way, in addition to fostering institutional awareness, a replicable training model is concretely offered that, in its objectives, also wants to be supported and recognised at a political and legislative level.

Culture can also be an educational tool. And Una Nessuna Centomila puts this into practice with the concert-event from which it was born: the first concert at Campovolo in 2022. "We started out with a small core group of female artists who wanted to spend time on the subject, with Fiorella Mannoia as honorary president: in three years we have seen participation triple," Costantino emphasises.

From the ticket sales alone of the last concert in Naples, €500,000 was raised for ten anti-violence centres throughout Italy: the event has over time become a symbolic event, capable of raising awareness on male violence against women and raising funds to support anti-violence centres. "In addition to the funds that we raise through ticket sales, there are those that arrive via text messages to the solidarity number while the concert is broadcast on TV," explains Costantino. "The exceptional interest that it arouses, according to the numbers that it has done in terms of share but also of participation via text messages, testifies to an increasing involvement on the part of people.

A growth that also concerns the artists:"They are increasingly numerous and choose to expose themselves by making their art available," specifies the Foundation's vice-president, who adds: "The kind of effort we are asking for is not simply to be testimonials for the Foundation, but to be part of a training process. If there was interest in wanting to share this project, it means that there is a need to improve their conditions too: because violence also belongs to the cultural and artistic world of which they are part'.

This is the direction in which the artistic workshop is moving, whose objectives include "Trying to build a new paradigm shift by attempting to influence the entire world of Italian culture with paths of contamination, confrontation and alliances": Manuel Agnelli, Malika Ayane, BigMama, Francesca Michielin, Paola Cortellesi, Piero Pelù Anna Foglietta, Chiara Gamberale, Edoardo Leo, Tosca, Paola Turci are just some of the artists who are part of it.

Acting on culture serves to change laws: the Foundation, before the approval of the amendment modifying the crime of sexual violence for which 'without consent it is rape', had supported, through an assembly at the International House of Women in Rome, the confrontation between feminist organisations, the measure's rapporteur Michela Di Biase and the first signatory Laura Boldrini.

'This is a long-awaited and sought-after result that we hope will further strengthen the fight against violence against women,' says Costantino and, referring to the importance of a legislative framework, he continues: 'Everything that has been put in place so far, including the femicide bill, acts mainly after the violence has already happened. Now is the time to work on prevention: in schools, with sexual-affective education. A necessary step to promote the physical and mental health of young people, prevent discrimination and violence, and build more aware, inclusive and respectful school communities'.