Historical Evolution from the Medical-Biological Model to the Constructivist ESI Model

Traditional Paradigms and the Medical-Biological Approach

Historically, affective-sexual education has been dominated by traditional frameworks oriented toward the restriction and control of behavior.

Initially, a moral perspective based on abstinence, guilt, and silence prevailed, in which erotic aspects were classified as dangerous elements that had to be repressed.

Later, with advances in the health sciences, this view evolved into the medical-preventive or biological paradigm.

Although this approach introduced technical rigor regarding human anatomy and physiological functioning, it reduced sexuality to a strictly preventive and pathogenic dimension.

Its focus was exclusively on avoiding risks, such as sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies.

Under this premise, education was structured around fear, threat, and clinical prescriptions, completely ignoring affectivity, diversity, relational bonds, and pleasurable experiences as legitimate components of well-being.

The Transition to the Salutogenic and Biographical Paradigm

The inadequacy of restrictive models in addressing students’ real needs prom pted a profound pedagogical overhaul.

Evidence showed that appealing to fear or merely conveying anatomical information did not change attitudes or develop effective relational skills.

In contrast to the hygienist approach, the salutogenic or biographical model emerged, shifting the focus from disease to the comprehensive promotion of health.

This transition represented a radical shift in how students were understood: the individual was no longer conceived as a passive biological organism but rather as a living being with a history, emotions, and everyday concerns.

Instead of focusing teaching on prohibition or the mere avoidance of pathologies, pedagogy began to be structured around personal autonomy, the active construction of identity, and the ethical management of emotions in community settings and shared living spaces.

The Consolidation of the Constructivist and Critical Comprehensive Sex Education (ESI) Model

The consolidation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education represents the most transformative milestone in the pedagogical evolution of this discipline.

Rooted in the constructivist and critical paradigm, this approach recognizes that students do not enter the classroom without knowledge, but rather with prior knowledge shaped by their sociocultural and digital environments.

The role of the educator no longer consists of delivering one-sided lectures, but rather of facilitating processes in which students actively process, reflect on, and restructure their ideas.

This model places pleasure, affection, and affirmative consent at the center of the educational process, linking them to human rights and a gender perspective.

It also promotes critical thinking to dismantle stereotypes and power imbalances, ensuring an inclusive education that empowers young people to make free, informed, ethical, and healthy decisions about their own bodies within a democratic society and to fully exercise each individual’s affective-sexual citizenship.

Summary

Affective-sexual education has evolved from moral and hygienist approaches centered on guilt, fear, and the organic prevention of diseases toward educational frameworks focused on the holistic development of individuals.

The salutogenic and biographical approach transformed the conception of students, recognizing them as active agents with their own experiences, whose education requires prioritizing autonomy, affectivity, and the ethical management of relationships.

Finally, the constructivist model of Comprehensive Sex Education consolidates a participatory, critical, and human rights-based learning process, promoting consensual pleasure, gender equity, and free decision-making.