SEXUALITY,
EDUCATION AND EMPOWERMENT A PERSPECTIVE --Mallica,
India
“AGE
OF INNOCENCE? OVER IN GRADE VIII..Forget the sex-on-mms
controversy. Forget sex surveys too. We bring you the real
truth on teenage sex in Delhi. Straight from the teenagers
themselves…” proclaims an article in a leading daily.
The
article further goes on to chronicle the sexual experiences
of viii STD students in Delhi as under “Who wants to be
loser-like?”; “Limits? Each to his own”; “More about
guts than age”; “Pressure to be with-it is immense”;
“Limits? Don’t think there are any..”; “Girls are as
bold as boys”;”Dunnit? UR a hero!”; “Sex, just for
the heck of it..”
The
above views of students of class 8 in Delhi sum up the scene
as far as the sexual experiences of teenagers in the capital
are concerned. These views seem to suggest that a high
degree of sexual activity is indulged in with reckless
abandon by today’s adolescents in metro cities. This fact,
is not surprising, particularly in today’s age when
adolescents are bombarded with images of sex and easy access
to pornography; where the media portrays sex as a sleazy
thing, especially music channels (which is what children
watch the most and relate to sex in that manner) and where
they are unable to discuss sex, sexuality and related issues
with their parents and teachers. Adolescents indulge in it,
if nothing else, than to ‘fit in’ with the
‘happening’ crowd at school.
The
question that needs to be posed, however, is as to whether
indulgence in the said activity means that these students
are aware of basic information on maintenance of sexual
health and hygiene; of maintaining safe and responsible
sexual health and activity and making informed choices?
Whether they have the right information, not just of the
functions of different parts of their anatomy and that of
the opposite sex but also, more importantly, as to whether
they have the sagacity that enables them to realize as to
when these functions can be put into practice in an
informed, mature and responsible manner?
Facts
suggest that there are over 300 million sexually active 12
to 24 year olds in India today and there is no education to
back their needs. The Outlook-Synovate Survey (2004) of
13-17 year old school children in Chennai, Delhi, Calcutta
and Bombay has also thrown up alarming results about the
state of sexual health education in the country, the extent
of sexual activity, and most worrying, the level of
ignorance of the nature, safety and consequences of such
activity.
What should the ideal response to the situation as it exists
now, be and how should it be addressed by the two major
agencies of socialization i.e. the family and the school?
Should the response be:
To
ignore the issue and to let adolescents behave the way they
want to? Or To increase the content of value education/moral
science lessons and to what is referred to as ‘moral
policing’in the school curriculum? Or To work towards the
creation of a conducive healthy and mature environment in
the school campus and it’s environs by combining moral
education alongwith sex education in the school curriculum?
Some of the other questions which come up in this regard
are:
Can
the concept of ‘sex education’ be broadened to include
not only information on sex, sexuality but also issues
involving gender, identity, relationships which structure
and mould the lives of adolescents?
Can it also include holding of interactive sessions with
trained educators, psychiatrists and counselors to handle,
in a confidential, professional yet friendly manner the
queries and dilemmas that adolescents face?
Can these activities be combined with training programmes
for teachers to strengthen their capacities to manage the
subject of gender and sexuality at personal &
professional levels; to enhance awareness amongst teachers
about the importance of gender and sexuality in the school
curriculum?
Can training programmes also empower them to become apt role
models for adolescents, encouraging them to become
responsible adults who are able to treat themselves and
their fellow beings with mutual respect and responsibility?
Can the onus of responsibility of imparting sexual health
education and the ability to grow up as mature and
responsible human beings lie both on teachers as also
parents?
Can separate counseling sessions also be held for parents by
specialized doctors, psychiatrists and counselors on how to
deal with problems related to their children’s sexuality
and other such issues?
Can sexuality be interpreted not as a ‘dirty’ word but
as a “function of one’s whole personality that is
lifelong from birth. That includes how one feel about
oneself as a person, how one feels about being a man or a
woman, how one gets alongwith members of either gender, as
the way one thinks, feels and behaves..?”
(Source of definition: University Talks Aids, a publication
of the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports, 1994).
These
are some of the basic questions which come up when one looks
at the scenario of sexuality, education and empowerment of
students, parents as also the teaching community. Given the
sensitivity and importance of the said issue, it needs to be
addressed and debated upon by all sections of civil society
in the present scenario so that requisite action might be
taken to deal with the same.
