Word: spain
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...late October, the regional government of Extremadura in southwestern Spain launched a new sexual-education campaign designed to facilitate the "development of healthy habits, self-esteem and safety." Although the publicly funded campaign includes the publication of pamphlets and an online magazine, the highlight is a series of workshops for 14-to-17-year-olds aimed at educating participants on anatomy, body image, safe-sex practices, gender equality and, in the mildly celebratory words of an early press release (since redacted), "sexual self-exploration and erotic self-knowledge." Or, in other words, masturbation. (See a TIME cover story...
...government officials themselves were giving hands-on lessons. Luis Alfonso Hernández Carrón, spokesman for the opposition Popular Party in Extremadura, said the classes were "an attack on the intelligence of young people" and lamented that the region was becoming "the laughingstock of Spain." (See pictures of Spain's Madcap Tomato Festival...
...fact, Spain is among the minority of European Union member states that do not require sexual education in schools. And in comparison to what gets taught in other Western European nations, the material in the Extremadura program hardly seems radical. In the Netherlands, for instance, teachers at public schools lead discussions in which they ask girls ages 12 to 15 what they would do if their boyfriends refused to wear a condom. In Finland, basic sex education begins in kindergarten, and the curriculum for ninth-graders includes lessons on abortion and masturbation. In Germany, where sex education is mandatory, public...
...controversy sparked by the Extremadura program is a vivid reminder of how new all this sexual openness is in Spain. Which may be why, when asked at a news conference on Nov. 12 why sex toys were included in the lesson, Garrido sounded a little shell-shocked as she replied, "I thought we were in the 21st century...
With runaway costs and labor disputes scuttling plenty of these deals in the past, BA and Iberia - set to keep their separate brands and operating divisions under a new Spain-based holding company - will need to proceed with caution. Sure, rough economic head winds and the business of turning two firms into one can give cost cutting real momentum. The tough trading conditions following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were, after all, a "catalyst for the success of [the Air France-KLM merger] at the time," says Howard Wheeldon, an aviation expert at brokers BGC Partners in London. (Read "British...