Boys learned about smegma, foreskin cleaning (circumcision being rare except for Jewish or Muslim minorities), and the importance of washing. But masturbation? Generally ignored or vaguely called "self-discovery." In Catholic schools, a priest might hint it was a "private imperfection."
The Flemish Community had the Besluit van de Vlaamse Executieve (Decree 1991) mandating that secondary schools offer "relationship and sexuality education" ( relatie- en seksualiteitsvorming ) as part of cross-curricular goals. However, no central exam tested it. What the Boys Learned (and Didn’t) For a 12- to 14-year-old boy in a typical Belgian school in 1991: puberty sexual education for boys and girls 1991 belgiumrarl
A diagram of the penis, testes, and vas deferens. The word ejaculatie (Dutch) / éjaculation (French) was mentioned, often with a snicker. Nocturnal emissions ("wet dreams") were explained as "involuntary seminal release." Teachers rarely addressed the anxiety around penis size or spontaneous erections in class. However, no central exam tested it
Imagine the year 1991. A 13-year-old boy in Liège hides a worn copy of a Tintin magazine featuring a surprisingly anatomical diagram of human reproduction. A girl in Antwerp whispers with friends in the schoolyard, comparing notes on the mysterious "period kit" handed out by the school nurse—a small brown paper bag containing a pamphlet and a single pad. For teenagers in Belgium that year, puberty was a secret language spoken through blushes, vague biology textbooks, and hushed conversations in locker rooms. vague biology textbooks
The keyword might be a broken search term, but it accidentally captures the fragmented, archived, barely accessible nature of that knowledge. If you could unpack a .rar file from 1991 Belgium, you wouldn’t find answers – you’d find the question mark that an entire generation carried into adulthood.
By 1991, most Belgian girls received some form of period education. Typically, a female teacher or school nurse separated the girls from the boys in 5th or 6th grade primary already. They watched a film called "Une Fille Devient Femme" (A Girl Becomes Woman) or the Flemish "Van Meisje tot Vrouw." The message: periods are natural, not shameful. But many girls recall being told "don't tell the boys."