Sex Education- Acceptance Or A Taboo?

In the Indian education system, students are made to study as many as 7-10 subjects right from the beginning till the end of the schooling. Every student is ought to pay equal importance to all the subjects with no personal choice. But how many schools take the initiative of educating the students regarding practical and serious issues like Sex or pleasure of one’s being? We did study the following chapters from a biological aspect but never experienced an open-ended conversation about it.

Sly smiles and funny comments do accompany us in those classes. But how do we broaden our mind and understand that it’s complexity is quite difficult to understand and accept. Lack of sex education has not only ended up in creating misconceptions and taboos about it, but also the inability of making informed decisions and choices among the growing teens. A young boy or girl who is just entering teenage phase needs to learn about all aspects of physiological and emotional changes that he/she would be going through these years. If society is a platform that aims to spread awareness about several societal issues, then it is a responsibility to aware and educate the mass about several other important aspects too.

It is due to the lack of appropriate knowledge and understanding that children go through traumatic experiences of sexual or physical abuse. In most cases, the growing teens surrender their bodies with no proper knowledge about their physical or mental maturity, in the name of pleasure or enjoyment. This can lead to traumatic repercussions like being physically assaulted and teenage pregnancies. The problem is whose responsibility is it? Is it the parent’s or the school’s or the peer group’s or a third party, is where the debate becomes controversial?

Can our society afford this unawareness among the future foundations? If no, then how can we deal with this problem and what is it’s root?

Sex education is not only about giving birth or knowing about the preventive measures, it is one of the most important education that needs to be imparted among the growing children. With the onset of puberty, our bodies undergo several physiological as well as behavioural changes. Not having proper knowledge about it can arise conflicts and misconceptions among the different sexes. Sex is an interpersonal activity that affects emotional interaction between two people. If both are not at the same levels of mental maturity or consciousness, then the leading consequences can be harmful or traumatic to both the individuals. Cases of rape where the perpetrator is a minor, violence between sexes who are minor, teenage pregnancy, incest are all manifestations of lack of sexual and moral education in India. And we, as adults are collectively responsible about missing out on this opportunity to impart and correct the system.

No wonder that today, with the help and advancement in the technological sector, the need to address the general audience about several sexual issue and imparting the right education are being discussed. Social media has been doing a lot to contribute in this system. Questions and queries are being answered with the help of researched texts or illustrations. Media can do the needful but at times standardize the subjective understanding too. It depends upon us that how we use it to meet our curiosity and understanding. Initiating public conversations about these sensitive topics, introducing a new school curriculum specially to educate and encourage sex education, reading texts that give us multiple approaches about sex can aid us to resolve the current issue and fill in the uneducated gap.