My name is Mika and I’m a student at MIUN. I have chosen sex education as the topic of my essay. I think it’s interesting how sex education differs around the world.
Just like most things, the education of sex among the youth is more extended in industrialized countries. In Africa, the need for sex education and knowledge of how to avoid STI’s, even among adults, has become more and more urgent with the AIDS epidemic.
In many countries, sexual education is a controversial issue that has caused heated discussions. Some believe that teaching kids about sex will encourage them to have an earlier debut and be sexually active. Others believe that teaching kids about STI’s and birth control methods will decrease the rate of teen pregnancy and STI’s.
If you look at the US as an example, there are two different kinds of sex education, the comprehensive and the abstinence-only approach. The comprehensive education sees abstinence until marriage as a positive choice but they also cover things such as safe-sex, birth control methods and STD’s. The abstinence-only approach tells children that they should wait until their married to have sex and does not cover information about contraception and how to avoid STI’s.
The question is how important sex education is and if telling kids that they shouldn’t have premarital sex really is enough in the society we live in today. It’s also important to discuss the emotional and moral aspect of sex and sexual orientation.
...In my opinion, sex education is an important issue to discuss in every society as a primary subject in the preadolescence education.
I'm not sure about what you mean when you say "the education of sex among the youth is more extended in industrialized countries". I come from Colombia and I had the chance to have sex education at school since I was on the middle school. I could see that the conern about sex education is becoming each time more important because of the high percentage of teenager pregnancy and the low use of contraceptives.
Talking with Italian friends I could know that they didn't had any sex education at school and neither on families (they told me that was also because of the high influence of the Roman Catholic Church in the Italian society).
I think that the approach to sex education must not have a religious influence and have to be based on a complete information, self-conscience and individual choice.
I think that sex education is important. It's true, especially in Italy it is a matter that has never been faced and discussed in an extended way, not considering it a part of those integrative subjects at school. The main reason is that some people absolutely don't want it because of their mentality and their beliefs, others probably are simply embarassed by the argument and don't consider themselves able to explain the matter to young boys and girls. However in Italy sex has always been considered a special matter. In this sense there should be a change in the common sense of moral issues and there also should be teachers specialized in this complicated matter - that, as you rightly say, envolves many aspects of life - able to explain this kind of things to adolescents.
Maybe industrialized was not really the best term to use but what I meant was that in many poor countries, it's a huge issue that many people don't know how to practise safe sex. And i do agree with you that religion is an important influence on how sex eduation. I think old morals and traditions are part of why the abstinence only approach is used at all.
I agree with you that it's important to have a practical approach but I also feel it's important to talk about the moral and emotion aspects as well. For young people who are gay, or even transgender, being accepted in the society can be really hard and they might get depressed. I think this could be a really interesting subject to discuss...
Hi guys! It's very interesting to read your discussion.
I agree with you that sex education is very important. It's important both to teach kids about protection and STD's, but also of the moral aspects involved.
The only way to beat aids I think is to educate people about protection, the absence line clearly isn't working. People always have and will always have sex for pleasure, therefore the knowledge of protection is important to prevent STD's as well as unwanted pregnancies.
If you look at countries were Aids is a problem, womens rights are sometimes limited, which I'm sure contributes to the aids problem. If a No isn't accepted and women loses the right to control their bodies it's also difficult to stop the spread of aids.
I think it's also important do discuss moral around sex. Should you wait with sex until you're married or not? Is it bad to have had many partners or is it okay? There are many different aspects of sex and they ought to be discussed so young people have more background information and different arguments when they make decisions concerning their sexuality.
My name is Cristina, I come from Ecuador and I had the opportunity to have sex education at school. At lessons we talked about AIDS, teen pregnancy, premarital sex, use of contraceptives, and also about moral aspects like love, respect, etc. During this lessons we had the opportunity to talk with doctors, psychologist, people who have AIDS and we also visit a help center for young mothers. From my experience I can say that it was really useful for my life because for me was more easy to talk with my teachers than talk with my parents. I think because asking my parents was really embarrassing for me. I can also say that in spite of it, some of my classmates got pregnant at the age of 15. I think that is not enough to have sex education at school if parents doesn’t change their way of thinking about sex. For example, in Ecuador there is a big influence from Catholic Church. Virginity is really important in almost all families. So if we think in a teenager who is living a love story, asking his or her parents for money to buy contraceptives or going to a doctor or just asking about sex is impossible to imagin. It's also impossible to avoid premarital relationships between teenagers just because is normal mainly if they are in love. In my opinion, sex education at schools is useful just if parents are open mind. For me they must help their children to be responsible and the better way to do that is respecting their personal decisions and giving them the tools and the facilities to take care of theirselves.
Hi Frida! We are Gerardo and Gianni from Pisa. We agree with the common opinion that sex education is very important in schools since the age of 11 (In Italy at this age a new study cycle begins). We want to answer your questions "Should you wait with sex until you're married or not?" and "Is it bad to have had many partners or is it okay?". We think that if someone is able to resist the temptation of sex until marriage, he's a hero!!! Also because in Italy wedding age is shifting to the age of 30 or later!!! In contrast with what Cristina said ("Virginity is really important in almost all families" in Ecuador), in Italy Virginity has no longer the same value as i.e. twenty years ago. This is why teenagers already are familiar with sex and so they should be educated during their adolescence. Nowadays it's normal to have several relationships before marriage: I would like to taste many dishes before choosing one!!! In the past people met eachother and got married without having all the relationships that we can have now, and their marriage was more solid and "for life". This is very strange! Everything is connected with sex education, or rather with social education!!!
thanks for all the response, I think this has turned out to be a really interesting discussion. I totally agree with Gerardo and Gianni that what it all comes down to really is social eduvation. Sex is an important part of life, maybe the most important because without sex life wouldn't exist. But then again, many people have sex for pleasure, with no intention of reproduction. Religion has always had a great impact on how sex is viewed in the society. Christianity has treated sex for pleasure as something "dirty" and shameful and homosexuality has only recently been somehow accepted by the church, I think that gay-ministers are accepted in Sweden now but gay-marriage i s still not accepted.
in Sweden, sex education is interpreted more or less, in school almost from the start but "sexualkunskap" (knowledge of sex) as a subject is usually something you have when you are 14-15 years old. An issue is that many teenagers already are sexually active by that time. In Sweden, it's almost like being a virgin is something to be embarresed of rather something to be proud of. At least that's the impression that I got from my friends growing up. I'm nineteen now, and my friends who are the same age or even a couple of years younger and still virgins seems to be stressed to lose their virginity. I think it's sad, I mean, sex is something that should be up to you when you want to "do it" for the first time but I think peer pressure plays a big role. Is it like this in Italy as well? I can imagine that the Catholic church has more influence in the society than the Swedish church has.
I think sex education is a very interesting and important topic to discuss.
Sex is a natural part of being human and wether we are embarassed by it or think it shameful we will have sexual urges. Children will grow up and find their body and mind changing and will be curious. Sex eduction then becomes very important in order for them to understand and ebrace the changes. It is evident that people will have sex in their youths and before marriages and the best thing to do then is to teach them to be safe and prevent STD's and early pregnancies. If we keep an open discussion about sex, maybe people troubled about sex will seek out someone to talk to instead of being to scared or ashamed to ask for help.
Hi Mika! My name is Eleonora and according to me this is a very interesting discussion, especially for me because I’m a scout chief and I look after girls and boys from 11 to 16 years old. In consequence I am very often faced with these problems.
There are many different situations. For example there are some guys that decide to "do it" for the first time even if they aren’t in love with someone, but each of their friends are no more virgin, so they want to do the same thing. Many girls are left by their boyfriends because they don’t want to have sex. Someone prefers to avoid completely any type of relationship because of the fear of hurting. ...
In general I think that before teaching the new generation something about sex or sex education, we would like to educate in feelings. They need to rediscover the importance of love somebody, of be loved and the beauty of fall in love with somebody.
In my opinion in Italy the Catholic Church has a big influence, this is because the speaking of sex is very often a “taboo”. But I don’t know.. what’s the problem if we want to talk about feelings and emotions? Why this subject is very often avoided? ...
11 comments:
Hi everyone!
My name is Mika and I’m a student at MIUN. I have chosen sex education as the topic of my essay. I think it’s interesting how sex education differs around the world.
Just like most things, the education of sex among the youth is more extended in industrialized countries. In Africa, the need for sex education and knowledge of how to avoid STI’s, even among adults, has become more and more urgent with the AIDS epidemic.
In many countries, sexual education is a controversial issue that has caused heated discussions. Some believe that teaching kids about sex will encourage them to have an earlier debut and be sexually active. Others believe that teaching kids about STI’s and birth control methods will decrease the rate of teen pregnancy and STI’s.
If you look at the US as an example, there are two different kinds of sex education, the comprehensive and the abstinence-only approach. The comprehensive education sees abstinence until marriage as a positive choice but they also cover things such as safe-sex, birth control methods and STD’s. The abstinence-only approach tells children that they should wait until their married to have sex and does not cover information about contraception and how to avoid STI’s.
The question is how important sex education is and if telling kids that they shouldn’t have premarital sex really is enough in the society we live in today. It’s also important to discuss the emotional and moral aspect of sex and sexual orientation.
In respond to Mika...
...In my opinion, sex education is an important issue to discuss in every society as a primary subject in the preadolescence education.
I'm not sure about what you mean when you say "the education of sex among the youth is more extended in industrialized countries". I come from Colombia and I had the chance to have sex education at school since I was on the middle school. I could see that the conern about sex education is becoming each time more important because of the high percentage of teenager pregnancy and the low use of contraceptives.
Talking with Italian friends I could know that they didn't had any sex education at school and neither on families (they told me that was also because of the high influence of the Roman Catholic Church in the Italian society).
I think that the approach to sex education must not have a religious influence and have to be based on a complete information, self-conscience and individual choice.
In response to Mika
I think that sex education is important.
It's true, especially in Italy it is a matter that has never been faced and discussed in an extended way, not considering it a part of those integrative subjects at school.
The main reason is that some people absolutely don't want it because of their mentality and their beliefs, others probably are simply embarassed by the argument and don't consider themselves able to explain the matter to young boys and girls. However in Italy sex has always been considered a special matter.
In this sense there should be a change in the common sense of moral issues and there also should be teachers specialized in this complicated matter - that, as you rightly say, envolves many aspects of life - able to explain this kind of things to adolescents.
Hi Clementina and Giancarlo,
Maybe industrialized was not really the best term to use but what I meant was that in many poor countries, it's a huge issue that many people don't know how to practise safe sex. And i do agree with you that religion is an important influence on how sex eduation. I think old morals and traditions are part of why the abstinence only approach is used at all.
I agree with you that it's important to have a practical approach but I also feel it's important to talk about the moral and emotion aspects as well. For young people who are gay, or even transgender, being accepted in the society can be really hard and they might get depressed. I think this could be a really interesting subject to discuss...
/Mika
Hi guys! It's very interesting to read your discussion.
I agree with you that sex education is very important. It's important both to teach kids about protection and STD's, but also of the moral aspects involved.
The only way to beat aids I think is to educate people about protection, the absence line clearly isn't working. People always have and will always have sex for pleasure, therefore the knowledge of protection is important to prevent STD's as well as unwanted pregnancies.
If you look at countries were Aids is a problem, womens rights are sometimes limited, which I'm sure contributes to the aids problem. If a No isn't accepted and women loses the right to control their bodies it's also difficult to stop the spread of aids.
I think it's also important do discuss moral around sex. Should you wait with sex until you're married or not? Is it bad to have had many partners or is it okay? There are many different aspects of sex and they ought to be discussed so young people have more background information and different arguments when they make decisions concerning their sexuality.
Hi everyone,
My name is Cristina, I come from Ecuador and I had the opportunity to have sex education at school. At lessons we talked about AIDS, teen pregnancy, premarital sex, use of contraceptives, and also about moral aspects like love, respect, etc. During this lessons we had the opportunity to talk with doctors, psychologist, people who have AIDS and we also visit a help center for young mothers. From my experience I can say that it was really useful for my life because for me was more easy to talk with my teachers than talk with my parents. I think because asking my parents was really embarrassing for me. I can also say that in spite of it, some of my classmates got pregnant at the age of 15. I think that is not enough to have sex education at school if parents doesn’t change their way of thinking about sex. For example, in Ecuador there is a big influence from Catholic Church. Virginity is really important in almost all families. So if we think in a teenager who is living a love story, asking his or her parents for money to buy contraceptives or going to a doctor or just asking about sex is impossible to imagin. It's also impossible to avoid premarital relationships between teenagers just because is normal mainly if they are in love. In my opinion, sex education at schools is useful just if parents are open mind. For me they must help their children to be responsible and the better way to do that is respecting their personal decisions and giving them the tools and the facilities to take care of theirselves.
Hi Frida!
We are Gerardo and Gianni from Pisa.
We agree with the common opinion that sex education is very important in schools since the age of 11 (In Italy at this age a new study cycle begins).
We want to answer your questions "Should you wait with sex until you're married or not?"
and "Is it bad to have had many partners or is it okay?".
We think that if someone is able to resist the temptation of sex until marriage, he's a hero!!!
Also because in Italy wedding age is shifting to the age of 30 or later!!!
In contrast with what Cristina said ("Virginity is really important in almost all families" in Ecuador), in Italy Virginity has no longer the same value as i.e. twenty years ago.
This is why teenagers already are familiar with sex and so they should be educated during their adolescence.
Nowadays it's normal to have several relationships before marriage: I would like to taste many dishes before choosing one!!!
In the past people met eachother and got married without having all the relationships that we can have now, and their marriage was more solid and "for life".
This is very strange!
Everything is connected with sex education, or rather with social education!!!
Hi again!
thanks for all the response, I think this has turned out to be a really interesting discussion. I totally agree with Gerardo and Gianni that what it all comes down to really is social eduvation. Sex is an important part of life, maybe the most important because without sex life wouldn't exist. But then again, many people have sex for pleasure, with no intention of reproduction. Religion has always had a great impact on how sex is viewed in the society. Christianity has treated sex for pleasure as something "dirty" and shameful and homosexuality has only recently been somehow accepted by the church, I think that gay-ministers are accepted in Sweden now but gay-marriage i s still not accepted.
in Sweden, sex education is interpreted more or less, in school almost from the start but "sexualkunskap" (knowledge of sex) as a subject is usually something you have when you are 14-15 years old. An issue is that many teenagers already are sexually active by that time. In Sweden, it's almost like being a virgin is something to be embarresed of rather something to be proud of. At least that's the impression that I got from my friends growing up. I'm nineteen now, and my friends who are the same age or even a couple of years younger and still virgins seems to be stressed to lose their virginity. I think it's sad, I mean, sex is something that should be up to you when you want to "do it" for the first time but I think peer pressure plays a big role. Is it like this in Italy as well? I can imagine that the Catholic church has more influence in the society than the Swedish church has.
hope you all are well!
Hey everyone!
I think sex education is a very interesting and important topic to discuss.
Sex is a natural part of being human and wether we are embarassed by it or think it shameful we will have sexual urges. Children will grow up and find their body and mind changing and will be curious. Sex eduction then becomes very important in order for them to understand and ebrace the changes. It is evident that people will have sex in their youths and before marriages and the best thing to do then is to teach them to be safe and prevent STD's and early pregnancies. If we keep an open discussion about sex, maybe people troubled about sex will seek out someone to talk to instead of being to scared or ashamed to ask for help.
In response to Mika.
Hi Mika!
My name is Eleonora and according to me this is a very interesting discussion, especially for me because I’m a scout chief and I look after girls and boys from 11 to 16 years old. In consequence I am very often faced with these problems.
There are many different situations.
For example there are some guys that decide to "do it" for the first time even if they aren’t in love with someone, but each of their friends are no more virgin, so they want to do the same thing.
Many girls are left by their boyfriends because they don’t want to have sex.
Someone prefers to avoid completely any type of relationship because of the fear of hurting.
...
In general I think that before teaching the new generation something about sex or sex education, we would like to educate in feelings. They need to rediscover the importance of love somebody, of be loved and the beauty of fall in love with somebody.
In my opinion in Italy the Catholic Church has a big influence, this is because the speaking of sex is very often a “taboo”. But I don’t know.. what’s the problem if we want to talk about feelings and emotions? Why this subject is very often avoided?
...
Eleonora
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