Sex Education: The Education We Need And Deserve

Sex Education remains one of the biggest taboos in India. Unfortunately, besides being taboo, it is also highly misunderstood by people. Among others, it is one of the most important topics that is addressed in an incomplete, incompetent, and in most cases, uncomfortable manner by our teachers and parents. In this post, I will try to shed some light on some of the misunderstandings regarding sex education and try to answer some of the frequently answered questions around it.

What is sex education?

Sex education, in simple terms, is teaching and learning about topics related to sex and sexuality, combined with an exploration of belief systems and family values with respect to those topics; and getting the skills and knowledge to manage relationships, and maintain one’s own sexual health. Ultimately, sex education helps people gain the knowledge, skills, and mindsets to make rational and informed decisions about sex, sexuality, and sexual relationships.

Why is sex education important?

Sex education is as vital as any other topic that a student studies in school, whether it is history or mathematics, or science. While we study all the facts and learn all the skills related to subjects like language and mathematics, our own understanding of sexual education is limited because of the discomfort and closed views of the adults surrounding us. It is accepted in multiple countries across the world, that having access to detailed and medically precise sex education is a human right.

The adults surrounding a child in his or her ecosystem must realize that intercourse is an intuitive part of life. Discomfort over conversations about sex does not mean that the concept of sex will cease to exist. It becomes paramount for teenagers to get a holistic overview of sex and sexual health so that they are able to become aware of their own belief systems and understand their values around sex. Ultimately, these beliefs and values serve as the guiding light for sexual decisions. Religion or the conservative nature of family should not be a reason to not give students context about sexual education. Contrary to commonly conceived notions, it has been found sexual education does not catalyze underage sex, it does the opposite. Especially during adolescence, it becomes a powerful and necessary tool for preventive sex, as the awareness prevents reckless exploration of sexuality as the body changes.

India has the largest adolescent population of 243 million. More than half of the adolescent population lives in urban areas. These figures indicate the importance of specifically addressing the subject of sex education, which is considerable important for this demographic.

Public opinion of sex education in India

All of us have often seen how the mention of a topic of a sexual nature elicits uncomfortable laughter or discomfited silence. Any discussion of topics of sexual nature is usually considered taboo in India. The irony is that even though Indians are uncomfortable speaking about sex, it was in India that the sex encyclopedia Kamasutra was written. Furthermore, despite the discomfort of talking about sex, Indians seem to have plenty of unprotected sex, as evidenced by our rapidly rising population.

Sex education in schools: India vs World

Nigeria has the MyQuestion program, which allows students to get their answers to questions about sex through text messages or phone, or social media. NGOs in Nicaragua are educating young boys about sex at an early age. The United Kingdom has an excellent policy for sexual education in schools. Section 34 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017 ensures that the sex education curriculum is taught in all schools across the UK.

Even though we claim to have the brightest minds, with knowledge across various topics, we seem to be criminally ignorant about any education of sex, even in our private schools. Sex Education at the school level has attracted strong objections and criticisms from powerful politicians, teachers, and parents. According to them, it seems to go against our culture and traditions.

Common taboos with sex education

The biggest taboo associated with sex education is that it, apparently, goes against Indian culture and tradition. Indian parents seem to believe that talking about sex at a young age is unnatural. Indian families believe sex education is that ‘unnecessary’ discussion that will disrupt family values and will lead to children taking up the wrong direction and having underage sex. The research evidence points to the opposite of this belief. Sex education leads to lesser sex, but our society does not seem to believe it. Premarital sex is another big taboo with respect to sex education. It is believed that premarital sex leads to the degrading of the family's reputation and values.

Impact of sex education on HIV & other common STDs

School interventions aimed at reducing risky sexual behavior vary greatly from school to school. Some interventions are directly sex-oriented towards the education of sex, and understanding the transfer mechanism of HIV, and other common STDs. Such in-depth interventions also include safe-sex role-plays, and how to overcome pressure from friends to ‘try’ sex. Some other approaches are less direct but derive more from social development models. Overall, sex education falls into four major groups:

1. Knowledge-based education which focuses more on facts such as the risks of pregnancy

2. Curriculum focusing on decision-making and communication with respect to sex

3. Reactionary abstinence-only programs which promote sex avoidance altogether

4. The modern experiential approaches based on the latest social development research

LGBTQ sex education

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth also deserve to be educated in settings without prejudice and get the knowledge needed to stay sexually healthy. Despite having dissolved Section 377 over a year ago in India, there is still a lack of recognition of the issues faced by LGBTQ youth, where many of them sit in classrooms (and in life) while their instructors and the course material that they study fails to even mention the education needed to address their experiences, especially in sex education.

Not only at the level of sex education, but also at a general level, a comprehensive curriculum is needed that is inclusive of the experiences of LGBTQ youth, that gives them the recognition they deserve as human beings with equal rights. It needs to be understood that the aspects of sex education outlined earlier in the article are still applicable to LGBTQ youth, just the experiences are different and excluded from the mainstream currently.

Consent

Consent has become that elephant in the room for all men and women. It has become the word that resolves and confuses relationships in equal measure. It has gained even more attention in the era of #MeToo. According to Professor Lamb, from the counseling psychology department at the University of Massachusetts Boston, “Simply teaching students how to ask for consent isn’t enough.” Students also need to contextually comprehend the why behind the importance of consent.

Awareness of belief systems and empathy are at the heart of understanding consent so that people are able to understand each other from their point of view. Ultimately, the argument in consent is easily resolved if students are taught to operate with strong morality and a code of ethics. Students should be taught to make decisions mutually with a partner, while also addressing their concerns or wishes.

Sex education is an oft-derided topic in India. It is hardly discussed seriously. As previously mentioned, most mainstream discussions on sex education tend to elicit uncomfortable giggling and laughter from participants. I hope, as readers you’ll be able to get an introduction to a topic that most of us failed to study in our childhoods. In other subjects, we always learned the theory first and then did the practicals. Unfortunately, sex education, in our country does not follow the pattern. Over the years, I’ve found several great articles, where one can educate themselves or younger members of their family on sex education. A few of those include Planned Parenthood, TARSHI, Top Online courses on Sex Education, Super School India, Puberty Curriculum, Careerizma