Greece: The lesson of sexuality with the film “Boys in the showers” that ended in a scandal

The initiative of the teacher in a primary school in Athens, the reaction of the principal and the goal of the director of the film

The issue of what is beneficial and what is not age children about 10 years oldespecially in relation to sex education them, comes with a wave in the news because of an already much-discussed incident in a primary school school her of Athens.

A teacher he took her initiative to introduce the students of a 5th grade class to Swedish film of short length “Boys in the Showers” (“Shower boys”).

Someone pupil he got upsethis parents became alarmed and took legal action against all involved on behalf of public education.

According to Mr. Charalambos Katsivarda, him lawyer to whom the said parents entrusted the handling her case, “This is obscene and vulgar propaganda in favor of homosexuality between minors by the school teacher. The movie ‘Boys in the Showers’ reinforces homosexuality between males. The students who watched the film were shocked, while some children were behaving strangely when they returned home. In fact, one child was very nervous, he was confused, he even vomited.”

THE advocate of parents of the aforementioned child states that “the teacher who showed the film in class, so far has only accepted recommendations from school. In our opinion, the teacher tried to make propaganda at the age of 10. In the film the coach of the 12-year-olds emphasizes that they must ‘become men’ At the end of the screening, the students asked their teacher about the ‘moral lesson’ of the film. She answered them that the meaning is that ‘the coach is a fascist'”.

In their appeal, the parents included the school principal, the relevant office of Primary Education, and the Ministry of Education itself. They also demand that they be informed whether the film “becomes educationally approved and pedagogically compatible by the Ministry of Education”. At the same time, the parents demand that the teacher’s choice to show the children a film of this content be subject to disciplinary control.

Alpha’s reporter for the TLIVE show reported on Wednesday that the short film “Boys in the Showers” is approved by the Ministry of Education and is included in the relevant audiovisual educational material platform. But not for elementary school children, but for high school students and above.

In a communication that a partner of the above program had with the principal of the elementary school where the incident happened, he seemed unaware, while he ended the telephone conversation with the journalist, when she pressed him to admit that more than two weeks had passed since the broadcast film, the director interrupted the conference call.

“I haven’t had time today – now I was also talking to the Ministry of Education, now they took me, I hadn’t seen anything since the morning I was here” said the director, adding that “now they took me from the ministry. We have received an extra court from certain parents of a student which because it has been communicated to a higher authority so we are also awaiting the actions of that higher authority. The Ministry of Education will send an order to us, to the school management. I can’t tell you anything else.”

The movie

As for the film itself, Boys in the Showers, its creator is a 30-year-old Swedish actor, director and filmmaker named Christian Zetterberg. Together with his team at the production company Gråklippan, they produce material focused on children, teenagers and young people in general. Seeking to highlight stories that are typically overlooked or silenced.

In a short presentation of the film “Boys in the Showers” Zetterberg says that “‘are you a man or a mouse?’ This is the question the coach asks 12-year-old Viggo after an indoor hockey double, a practice game but with a lot of intensity. This question preoccupies Viggo, who begins to become more competitive, pushes himself to his limits and explores his masculinity with his sidekick, Noel. But something happens that abruptly interrupts this process of self-awareness and their innocent play. Now raising the question around what friendship between males means, what that friendship is allowed to be, etc.’

Zetterberg also points out that “growing up I too found myself in a situation where my own standard of masculinity made me an outcast or made me wonder if I wasn’t good enough. But what makes you a man? How big are you? How strong? How fast? Or is it something else’?

As its title suggests, the film includes some “bold” scenes, with the two boy-protagonists exchanging flirtations, kisses, etc. in the context of the search for answers about the limits of friendship, love and, indirectly, homosexuality. Of course, the catalyst is the age of the two children. At the age of 12, although in real life the questions surrounding sexuality are of intense concern to children, for society at large the whole subject remains a taboo. However, morals are to some extent subject to a social and cultural relativity. In other words, for Swedish society a film like “Boys in the Showers” is tolerable, while in Greece it is characterized as unimaginably scandalous.

In any case, Christian Zetterberg’s film, since 2021 when it was completed, has been screened at numerous festivals around the world and, in fact, has won several awards, such as the following: BUFF Film Festival Malmö – Winner of the nordic star award, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen – ECFA Award, Cinemira – Best Film, Flickerfest – Best European Short Film, ECFA – Best European Short Film for Children, San Diego International Film Festival – Best Short Story, Pixel Film Festival – Pixel Talent Award Winner.

Source: First Theme