Volume 8 Issue 8 August, 2017
Adolescence is a phase when the body is on an over drive in terms of hormonal changes. In the growing years, people are particularly vulnerable to attitudes and beliefs. Early sex education helps a child form strong values on the topic well before they have a sexual experience. Even though parents still are shy to discuss sex with their children, here is why it is important.
Sexuality is one of the important facets of human life
Everyone, adults as well as children, should know as much as on the subject of sex education, also sometimes referred
as sexuality education. It can be defined as set of instructions in various psychological, physiological and sociological aspects of sex and reproduction. It enlightens one about sexual orientation, intimacy, values, decision making, dating, relationships, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), birth control and more. Sex education is important on the part of children and adults, to protect them and society as a whole. Sex education can help keep away exploitation, abuse, unplanned pregnancy and STIs.
As per the World Health Organization, sex education in schools must be given to children aged 12 years and above
because about 34% of HIV infected persons fall in the age group of 12-19 years.
There is scarce support to help them develop their understanding, skills and values around healthy sex and relationships. Instead, they are regularly exposed to societal messages and norms that promote bad sex, reduce their chances of happiness in relationships and increase the risk that they will experience, witness harassment and abuse.
Let’s take pornography. By the age of 15, 2/3rds of young people would have viewed it online. A recent study on free
online porn found that 41% of sex scenes feature violence towards women and girls and 56% involve one person dominating another. Women and girls are typically neutral or positive in response to violence. Through subtle and not-so-subtle methods, the porn industry invites its viewers to indulge in sexual arousal around themes of dominance, control and crossing boundaries. It also asks its users to priorities their arousal in sexual situations above and beyond their interest in other people’s (usually women’s) pleasure and wellbeing.
Young people are acutely aware that their education is not preparing them to navigate relationships and sex in a digital
world. Guiding the child adequately will help him or her take the right precaution from getting their partner or themselves pregnant. It is your responsibility to educate male child enough so he can prevent the liability of unwanted teenage pregnancy.
As we educate our child about sex, we should make sure that he or she learns to garner the wisdom to control the impulses.
Sex education helps a child know when it is right to have sex and what should be used to avoid pregnancy.
Sex education is transferred to generations and is likely to differ from one culture to another. While some families discuss sex education with their kids for the sake of the kid’s health, others discuss because of social stigma that may spark by way of teenage pregnancy. Excruciating banter from peers and others can impact one’s personal immensely.
Sex education is quintessential for the fact that children are unaware of the possible consequences of unsafe sex, which
include transmission of STIs, unwanted pregnancy etc. Start your lessons with what sex is and how indulging in it without adequate awareness can hamper the health of the child. Educating a child about sex entails the parents to the responsibility of educating in the appropriate manner. As long as you educate your child appropriately, he or she should perform as taught.
Whether teachers or parents talk to children about sex, they will pick things or seek information. There will be preconceived notions when they pick up things about sex from TV, movies, videogames, peers and online browsing. Sex education reduces the risk that a child will get inaccurate information. Sex education teaches the emotions that adults encounter, and explain how sex can be the experience of fulfillment. Parents and teachers can also discuss the pros and cons of abstinence until marriage.
Cons of Sex-Education in Schools
Ill-informed teachers may impart wrong information to the children, thereby destabilizing their mental make-up when it comes to sex. If not taught properly, sex education in schools may pose as a matter of ridicule for students making them uninterested and ignorant. Sex-education in some schools is introduced as an extracurricular activity, which does not quantify the importance of sex education, but diminishes it. Most teachers given the task of taking sex education classes are themselves not experts in the subject and may therefore, give out wrong information. It is important that authorities appoint experts in the subject to give classes. Sex education must not be taught with any adherence to religious ideologies as that will baffle the children than teach.
Empathy, self-reflection, media literacy and even moral philosophy can help young people work out their desires and
their values and to develop positive identities. Complementing this work would be skills in communication, regulation of emotion and developing self-confidence.
In short, a wealth of evidence shows that good, properly resourced sex and relationship education delivered by
well-trained people is highly effective. It is also most effective when part of a broader life-skills programme dedicated to preparing the young for the world of work and beyond. This holistic approach also avoids children being bombarded with numerous separate topics, as if they existed in silos – “mental health”, “drugs and alcohol”, “online safety”, “cyber bullying”. Instead, the goal is values-based decision-making that helps build resilience. It can help spark conversations between parents and children that both parties want to have but are not sure how to, and one young person’s good-quality sex education affects the wellbeing of the others around them.
Education>Stigma
