Sex Education: Why Avoid Conversing About Sex with Children?

One of the major reasons to educate children about sex is the rampant increase in sexual abuse, child rape, molestation, and unwanted pregnancies, argues Sudipta. An exclusive for Different Truths.

Sex education for a kid, pre-teen or teenager means imparting them with knowledge on sex and their sexuality. Teaching a kid about their biological, cognitive, and emotional needs with a light of learning. Sex education is the key to a child’s social, physical, and mental development towards an overall wellbeing. One of the major reasons to educate children about sex is the rampant increase in sexual abuse, child rape, molestation, and unwanted pregnancies.

Ideally, we as a parent depend upon school as a vital source of information, but the child’s home should be the most perfect and safest storehouse of such information. Sex education is not a onetime long conversation with kids, it should be a continuous endeavour on behalf of the parents to build a safe space on all conversations pertaining to sex and sexuality.

From the very beginning, a child should be educated regarding theirs and others sexual organs. Reluctant parents often shrug off conversations on sex, mostly due to societal conditioning. Also, because they were not taught to closely reflect such learning in their own respective families. Even toddlers should be aware of their genitals or private parts, this distinction will provide them with sufficient information about their own sexuality.

Safe and healthy conversation educates kids to differentiate between good touch and bad touch and teaches them consent. Proper and coherent sex education within an informal ambience, usually, the home, makes a kid confident and fearless about the lesser-known facts. They become aware of the dos and the don’ts. There is a silver lining to such conversations which help impart rational learning.

Sex is a natural urge. Due to such lack of knowledge teens start exploring with unreliable hazardous information gathered from social media, friends, internet, and sensational blue films. This type of behaviour might lead to possible sexually transmitted diseases in the future. Comprehensive sex education doesn’t encourage kids to have sex. Just like abstinence, good learning teaches them to prevent STD’s, unwanted pregnancy, and practice safe sex.

Right learning at home or school vanishes ignorance and depletes the darkness that has prevailed since ages regarding the biological phenomenon. An obvious solution to such problems is to initiate conversations as early as possible.

A question arises, how can such safeguards be created in our society? The answer is very lucid, kids have an unusual interest in the birth of a baby, they ask numerous questions and cross-examine their parents about the ‘process’. Modelling instances like the birth of a sibling or through expert educators we can slowly make them aware of the reproductive system.

Teens should be educated about human sexuality, emotions, age of consent, abstinence, should be systematically introduced in school curriculums in an organised manner. Breaking the heteronormativity, homosexuality, the LGBTQ community, other genders, and identities should also be educated upon, also through school curriculums to clear and unveil the vagueness that has been continuing since ages regarding homosexuality to foster positivity.

Sexual and reproductive health education will provide a greater benefit to adolescents from being exploited and manipulated from paedophiles and abusers. It would also make them aware enough before embarking towards a healthy sexual relationship in a consensual and culturally permissible periphery.

Each family has a unique cultural transformation hence, it is necessary to educate and liberate the kids from sexual oppression.

Picture design by Anumita Roy, Different Truths