Abstract
Launched in 2012 by Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir, Mexico, the animated series Catolicadas has now finished its fifth season. Disseminated both through social networks and a local TV channel, Catolicadas addresses issues such as sexuality and sexual rights, contraception, and reproductive rights including abortion, violence against women, sexual diversity, and the interference of the Catholic Church in public policy. In order to reflect on the impact of new technologies in young people’s sexual education, this chapter will analyze the experience of Catolicadas through statistics drawn from YouTube about the profile and topics of interest for young followers, surveys conducted by Conserved Domain Database through Facebook, which assess any changes in young people’s perceptions of sexual education promoted by the Catholic Church, and semi-structured interviews carried out with sexual educators.
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Notes
- 1.
Standing from a Catholic, feminist, and ethical perspective within the framework of the secular State, the organization Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir promotes and defends women’s and young people’s sexual and reproductive rights, including access to safe and legal abortion. It was founded as a result of activism during the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Conference at Cairo, in 1994, when the Vatican became a fervent opponent and obstacle of sexual and reproductive rights.
- 2.
We understand ‘sexual subjectivity’ as a process that fosters an ‘agent who regulates his/her own sexual life, coping with the complexity of factors competing in his/her life. … In the context of HIV prevention interventions, Paiva stresses that such “sexual subject” is capable of negotiating with the sexual/gender culture and with family and peer group norms. The sexual subject is able to explore—or not—sexuality, regardless of the partner’s initiative, and say “no” and negotiate pleasurable practices—as long as they are consensual—, as well as have access to material conditions in order to make reproductive and sexual choices’ (Paiva 2000: 218). This analysis explores if Catolicadas contributes to such process.
- 3.
All translations from Spanish are ours.
- 4.
Two in three young Mexicans in this age group (15–29) say that religion plays a very important or somewhat important role in their life (67.6 %), whereas one in three (31.8 %) say that religion is of little or no importance in their life (INJUVE/IIJ-UNAM 2012).
- 5.
In Mexico, the population of young people aged between 12 and 29 was 36,200,000 in 2010, 50.8 % of whom were women and 49.2 % were men (INEGI 2010).
- 6.
In 2014, half of the Internet users were women and half were men. They used the Internet mainly to send emails (80 %), access social networks (77 %), and search for information (72 %). As many as 88 % used Facebook and 58 % used YouTube (AMIPCI 2014).
- 7.
The name Sister Juana (Sor Juana in Spanish) refers to Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a nun and poet from seventeenth-century colonial Mexico, considered to be the first feminist of the Americas.
- 8.
Catolicadas has followers in 45 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Several episodes have English and French subtitles.
- 9.
Break-up soap opera.
- 10.
In line with a critical perspective of the theories of reception, we use the concept of reading to characterize the interaction between Catolicadas and its audience on social networks. Of the theories of reception, we understand reading as a process of meaning which implies the existence of codes and diverse languages and stresses the activity of the subject in bringing a text to life (De la Peza 1993: 58).
- 11.
As noted above, the series also discusses a range of other issues where the Church has become involved in public debates, including human rights within the Church, migration, human trafficking, and the secular State.
- 12.
The Survey was available from June 27 to July 18, 2014.
- 13.
After watching the video on Facebook, young people were invited to answer the following question: ‘After watching Moni or Javier, which of the three endings would you choose and why?’ Next, they would watch the three endings, choose one, and justify their choice.
- 14.
The contest ran from September 29 to October 6, 2014.
- 15.
The surveys on Facebook were conducted with Kwik Surveys and the data were analyzed with SPSS.
- 16.
The survey showed that 14 % of the youth were middle school students and 2 % were postgraduate students.
- 17.
To watch the episode on YouTube, go to http://bit.ly/1vRcVEP
- 18.
Youth between 18 and 24 years old make up 43% of the audience and 13 to 17 years olds, 9%.
- 19.
To watch the episode on YouTube, go to http://bit.ly/1scdIyT
- 20.
For more information on the case, go to http://bit.ly/11FbaQ2
- 21.
To watch the episode on YouTube, go to http://bit.ly/1vOSTIZ
- 22.
To watch the episode on YouTube, go to http://bit.ly/1t3bjJc
- 23.
An analysis of the comments on the winning choice revealed that, in general, they were based on arguments heavily influenced by doctrine or repeated messages disseminated by anti-choice conservative groups. The analysis also revealed that many of the responses used language different to that used by young people, which suggests that some adults may have participated in the contest.
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Aldaz, E., Fosado, S., Amuchástegui, A. (2017). Catolicadas: A Sexuality Education Animated Series. In: Allen, L., Rasmussen, M.L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sexuality Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40033-8_23
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