Importance of sex education

By Anindita

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“Why should we know the anatomy of the opposite gender?” “Periods, sex, birth control, the reproductive system, etc. are so disgusting to talk about.” As much as we may believe this, it just isn’t true. Both reproductive health, issues and sex are a natural result of being human.

In my opinion, parents or family should be the first to introduce sex education to children before they enter puberty. They should also be taught to express their curiosity about sex education too and talk about it with anyone without any hesitation. Unfortunately, not all parents or family members quite do the opposite. For instance, my mom taught me not to talk about periods or other female reproductive health concerns with my father or brother. She also reminded me that “these are female talks and should be secretive.” She never talked about reproductive issues with me because she felt it was unnecessary. 

I learned about sexuality, periods and other reproductive issues from my friends at school. They used to talk about them freely. I used to wonder how they talked about such secretive issues openly. Eventually, I realized that these are not secret topics but rather human nature. We have a chapter about sex education in our biology books for Class 12 (Year 12, Grade 12), but our teachers always skip that chapter. One day, my friends and I decided to read that chapter and we wondered why our teachers skipped such an important lesson. From this experience of my life, I believe that we should talk about not only our reproductive system but also those of the opposite sex, too. Doing so may be beneficial to somebody who doesn’t understand he/she/they may have any reproductive diseases or causes for concern. 

Now, here are some additional reasons as to why we should normalize sexual education: 

1. Sex education doesn’t increase unsafe sexual intercourse or rape cases, rather it helps to prevent various reproductive diseases and unexpected. Since kids will inevitably be curious, normalizing the topic of sex can help encourage them to engage in safe sex and consider abstinence.
   
   
2. Sex education can help destigmatize being open about reproductive health.
   
   
3. Sex education should be compulsory not optional because of its significance in our health. Teens can have informed decisions before having sex. They would know what is right and what is wrong for them before saying yes to sex.
   
   
4. Normally teens have an attitude of not listening to teachers. If the teachers only say that abstaining from sex is the best to remain free from teen pregnancy and STDs, they won't listen to them. But if they themselves get to know from school books about sex, they can easily abstain from having vaginal sex. Sex education doesn’t discourage sex but it teaches them how to have safer sex.

How sex education should be taught, in my opinion,

1. Family or parents should be the first to impart knowledge of sex education to their children. Regardless of gender, no one should be ashamed of talking about their changes in puberty.
2. Sex education should contain information about puberty, reproduction, abstinence, contraception, and relationships. As I said before, it should be compulsory for all -not just for Science students. These students should have the freedom to ask questions  and the teachers should be required to respond.
3. Sex education should talk about the possibility of unexpected issues. 

If sex education is discussed openly, I believe children will feel less awkward about exploring their curiosity in ways other than performance. Should they be in their teenage years, they can also learn from others’ experiences.

In conclusion, we should treat sexuality as both normal and a natural part of human development. Children should be taught about sex education in a non-bias manner before they learn about misinformation, bias opinions and myths from false sources. 

Some book recommendations for sex education:
1. It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health by Robie Harris
2. S.E.X. by Heather Corinna
3. For Goodness Sex: Changing the Way We Talk to Teens About Sexuality, Values, and Health by Al Vernacchio

Some useful websites
1.https://www.scarleteen.com/
2.https://www.advocatesforyouth.org/