Alejandra Campollo remembers well what passed for sex education at the prestigious Catholic private school she attended in Guatemala City.
“Have an abortion, and you’ll go to hell. Masturbate, and you’ll go to hell. Have sex before marriage, and you’ll go to hell,” the female teacher would tell her class of eight and nine year-olds.
“They’re all a sin. Do any of them, and you’ll go to hell.”
Alejandra says her palms started to sweat as she was directed to draft a letter to give to a hypothetical ‘gay’ friend informing them that they’re ‘sick’ and need to be cured.
“(My whole life) I’ve liked women, but (thankfully) I could hide it because I also liked men,” the now 27-year-old podcaster told SBS Dateline.
“But I was scared and felt so guilty all the time.”
“I was even convinced my dad passed away because I was masturbating.”
It was this experience that shaped Campollo’s idea to create Guatemala’s first ever sex ed podcast - Insolentes.
She says it is her response to the religious stigmas and machismo culture that can restrict the distribution of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education (CSE) and discussions about sex and sexuality in the Central American country of about 17.5 million people.
About 45 per cent of the population is Catholic and 42 per cent Protestant, according to a 2021 US State Department report on religious freedom that quoted a 2016 survey by ProDatos.
Sex ed podcast ‘could change the very fabric of Guatemalan society’
“People are doing it (sex and masturbation), and they will do it anyway, so I’m just trying to help guide people to do it safely, do it right,” Campollo said.
Insolentes - which in this particular context translates from Spanish to ‘the bold, disruptive - initially started off as a blog called ‘Stop with the bullshit’. But when it went viral, Campollo realised sex ed was her calling.
“When I saw how much people loved it, I became super passionate about the topic and realised, this is it. This is what I wanna do.”
The free podcast provides critical information about sexual and reproductive health, feminism, self-esteem, pleasure, relationships, and additional topics that are still dangerously taboo in Guatemala - such as discussion around LGBTIQ+ rights, sexuality, gender identity, masturbation and abortion.
As one podcast follower wrote in a comment on an Insolentes Instagram account feed post: “How cool they talk about these topics, there's definitely nothing better than enjoying your sexuality without guilt…”
Andrew Raphael, executive director of, an NGO that provides women’s health services to some of the most underserved communities in Guatemala, said the podcast could potentially “change the very fabric of Guatemalan society”, especially in terms of reaching underserved communities.
Guatemala has one of the world's highest rates of child and teen pregnancies, with local NGOs estimating that up to 25 per cent of teen girls are pregnant or parenting, fuelling the cycle of endemic poverty.
The Registry of the Reproductive Health Observatory (OSAR) reported 57,163 babies born from girls and adolescents born between January and October 2022. Of those births, 1,824 were girls between the ages of 10 and 14, with the remaining 55,339 adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19.
People are doing it (sex and masturbation), and they will do it anyway, so I’m just trying to help guide people to do it safely, do it right.Alejandra Campollo
“A counternarrative to what Campollo and countless young people hear day after day would help empower more leaders like her, more models of healthy and safe sexual practices,” he told SBS Dateline.
“The people of Guatemala deserve this most basic right, to understand what’s happening with their bodies, the right to make informed decisions about their future and the future of their families.
“For the millions of people in this country the simple notion that they are in control and have the right to bodily autonomy would be definitively life-changing.”
‘My life is 100 per cent in danger’
Campollo's podcast, however, is not without its challenges.
She has fought censorship battles across several social media platforms, with the first Insolentes Instagram account - which had more than 40-thousand followers - being shut down just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I lost everything and had to start all over again from scratch.”
Reaching rural areas can also be difficult due to internet connectivity issues, lack of access to smartphones due to endemic poverty, and the fact that predominantly-indigenous communities in large swaths of rural Guatemala speak little to no Spanish.
There are also threats to Campollo’s safety. She recently relocated to Mexico City.
Not only has she been subject to smear campaigns, she’s also experienced cyber abuse - including death threats.
“When I launched this podcast and came out as a feminist, bisexual sex educator, I started receiving a lot of hate online and in the media,” she said.
“Guatemala is still very conservative, so for those who are talking about sex and sexuality, people talk a lot of shit about us.
“My life is 100 per cent in danger due to my work, (but) that won’t stop me. I want women to be free. Sexually and economically.”
Risks of delivering CSE in Guatemala
While CSE remains a required part of the national curriculum and schools are obligated by law to impart the information, delivering it can be “a huge challenge” - and rife with risk.
“What’s on the books is often disconnected from reality on the ground,” Raphael said.
“To the extent that it’s feasible, the government can support and protect the people on the front lines in these communities who risk their safety to try to share this kind of education.
“(However), it’s dangerous to visit a community and talk to youth about safe sex practices. Educators’ lives can be at risk.
“(And) when a teacher who is often not native to the area they’re working in broaches the topic - even in a way that’s benign and cautious - they can be threatened with violence, or expelled from the community, with little consequences to the antagonists.”
NGOs also often walk on eggshells and risk having access to vulnerable communities cut off if they broach the topic of sexual education.
“CSE often carries the scent of ‘family planning’, which is a serious taboo in many places given the perception of contraception and the illegality of abortion,” Raphael said.
The people of Guatemala deserve this most basic right, to understand what’s happening with their bodies, the right to make informed decisions about their future and the future of their families.Andrew Raphael
Amy Holly is the director of international humanitarian aid organisation CARE'S Center for Gender Equality in Central America.
"Guatemala has seen a strong regression in human rights in recent years, " she said.
She said a strong conservative movement in the country led to a bill in 2021 that outlawed comprehensive sex education and made parents the only people allowed to deliver sex education to their children.
It also criminalised abortion and protected the right to speak out against homosexuality. The bill was originally approved by congress but later reversed because it contradicted international human rights agreements signed by Guatemala.
Deymi's story
Deymi grew up in Sipacate, a small rural town on Guatemala’s Pacific coast. She recalls playing on the street with friends as a 10-year-old when she found a used sanitary pad with blood on it.
“I’d never seen one before, so I took it to my mother and asked her what it was. She told me that it was cancer,” she said.
When Deymi first discovered blood in her underwear at 13, she was terrified.
“I was so scared. I thought I was going to die,” she said.
“Thankfully, my older friend explained that the blood … was actually my period and meant I was turning into a young woman.
“Honestly, without her guidance, I would have had no idea what to do. Something really bad could have happened to me.”
Deymi is one of her town's only female surf teachers. She also teaches swimming lessons to local children and supports the provision of CSE in schools and at home.
“When I was 15, I was given a CSE booklet at school,” she said.
“When my mother found it, she was very angry. She said that it was for prostitutes, confiscated it, and immediately took me out of school.”
She wishes a podcast like Insolentes existed for her then.
“I wasn’t aware of this podcast, but I would be very interested in listening to Insolentes and I think the community would be too,” she said.
“A lot of women are really shy about this topic, so a podcast would be a great solution because you can just put on your headphones and no one knows you’re listening to it.
“But it’s not just women who should be listening. Both women and men need this education.”
