A set of sexual education materials has been the focus of much public concern recently. In fact, sexual education disseminates not only knowledge, but also a set of values concerning sex. Also, it is not about sexual positions so much as it is about the nature of a healthy relationship between the sexes.
This is precisely why the government prohibits those under 18 years of age from viewing pornographic media, as the sexual relationships portrayed therein are often unhealthy and twisted; featuring rape, incest, irresponsible behavior, exaggerated duration of intercourse and the objectification of women.
Obsession and indulgence in pornography can have unhealthy effects on teens. It can potentially encourage irresponsible sexual acts, instill misguided concepts about rape and disrespectful objectification of women and provide unhealthy stimulus leading to unnaturally intense sexual urges.
However, laws cannot function in isolation, and one-sided, dogmatic forbiddance not only has very limited effect, but also goes against the basic principles of education, contributing little to students’ growth and knowledge.
A survey on the viewing of pornography among teenagers conducted by the Mercy Memorial Foundation commissioned by the Department of Health’s Bureau of Health Promotion found that 65 percent of those aged 11 to 24 have viewed pornography. Of these, 15.3 percent of upper-grade primary school students, 38.1 percent of junior high school students, 69.3 percent of high school students and 79.4 percent of university students have seen pornography.
The Department of Health confronting the problem by commissioning the Mercy Memorial Foundation to develop a sexual education curriculum designed to uncover pornography and to teach students how to make their own sexual decisions uninfluenced by pornography. The course is intended to foster critical thinking about pornography.
The basic design concept of the curriculum begins with the intimate relationship between the sexes and leads students to examine the unhealthy interactions between sexual partners in pornographic material to train their critical faculties. Finally, it allows students to acquire perspective on the nature of intimacy between individuals — that a healthy relationship is based on the expression of love, concern and kindness to one another.
Based on teaching materials designed for German children, the first segment of the curriculum for primary school students answers basic questions such as “where do I come from?” using lovable cartoons to portray the intimate relationship between parents. These cartoons clearly convey that every student is the product of their parents’ love for each other. For this reason, the fact that the cartoons are extremely cute and wholly nude, as reported by the media, does not make it “pornographic.” It is rather a healthy approach to building children’s concept of sex.
In reality, whether something is pornographic has nothing to do with the level of nudity. Full nudity is not necessarily pornographic, while, conversely, much pornography is not entirely nude. The differentiation between pornographic and non-pornographic depends on whether the intimate relationship expressed is founded upon love.
Of course, how sexual education is taught is more important that what is taught. The results of this sexual education curriculum depend on the ability of teachers to make adequate use of resources. Hence the training and cultivation of future educators will be key.
Porn without sex ed can mislead
Curious children and young adults can often be misguided by pornographic material if there is not enough adequate sex education to provide them with accurate information on the topic, speakers at a conference said yesterday.
About 100 teachers from elementary to high school levels and sex education researchers attended the conference jointly hosted by the Mercy Memorial Foundation (MMF) and the Taiwan Association for Sexuality Education (TASE) in Taipei yesterday.
Through a survey of 3,614 children and young adults from elementary school to college age, 65.4 percent said they had viewed or read materials with sexual content, such as pornographic films, pictures, comics, computer games or Web sites, TASE president Kao Sung-ching told the audience.
“Most of the students surveyed cited curiosity as one of the reasons why they viewed such materials,” Kao said. “And that’s where an adequate sex education should intervene.”
Intervention of sex education is necessary because “pornographic materials often present twisted information about sex and about interaction between people of different genders,” Kao said.
Through a detailed survey, Kao found that one of the most dangerous pieces of misinformation that heavy pornographic material users “learned” from such material was the “rape myth.”
“Some young adults think that rapes sometimes occur because victims seduce rapists — they believe that some women actually subconsciously want to be raped,” Kao said. “They think a woman doesn’t really mean it when she says `no.’”
A documentary director, nicknamed Taco, who has filmed and directed Japanese pornographic videos said that everything is planned in such videos.
“The scenarios and the positions in a porno are all pre-arranged. We often use fake semen,” he told the conference.
“The duration of the sexual act can be lengthened through editing and difficult positions usually don’t render any pleasure — actors just have to act as if they’re enjoying it,” he said.
“People can really have twisted views about sex if they `learn’ from pornos,” he said.
To provide curious students with accurate information about sex, the sex education curriculum must be open and honest, he said.
“Sex education is not just teaching about the reproductive organs,” MMF chief executive Yen Han-wen said.
Kao then showed the conference an example of a sex education curriculum that he designed.
In the curriculum, students will be involved in a discussion on how the two genders should treat each other according to social norms, as well as when it would be considered “normal” for people to hold hands, hug or kiss each other.
In the “where did I come from” section of the curriculum, Kao used cartoon strips to show how a man and a woman fall in love, get married, enjoy their married life and have sex, as well as how a child is born.
What is sex education?
Sex education, which is sometimes called sexuality education or sex and relationships education, is the process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, relationships and intimacy. Sex education is also about developing young people’s skills so that they make informed choices about their behaviour, and feel confident and competent about acting on these choices. It is widely accepted that young people have a right to sex education, partly because it is a means by which they are helped to protect themselves against abuse, exploitation, unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.
What are the aims of sex education?
Sex education seeks both to reduce the risks of potentially negative outcomes from sexual behaviour like unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and infection with sexually transmitted diseases, and to enhance the quality of relationships. It is also about developing young people’s ability to make decisions over their entire lifetime. Sex education that works, by which we mean that it is effective, is sex education that contributes to this overall aim.
What skills should sex education develop?
If sex education is going to be effective it needs to include opportunities for young people to develop skills, as it can hard for them to act on the basis of only having information. The kinds of skills young people develop as part of sex education are linked to more general life-skills. For example, being able to communicate, listen, negotiate, ask for and identify sources of help and advice, are useful life-skills and can be applied in terms of sexual relationships. Effective sex education develops young people’s skills in negotiation, decision-making, assertion and listening. Other important skills include being able to recognise pressures from other people and to resist them, deal with and challenge prejudice, seek help from adults - including parents, carers and professionals - through the family, community and health and welfare services. Sex education that works, also helps equip young people with the skills to be able to differentiate between accurate and inaccurate information, discuss a range of moral and social issues and perspectives on sex and sexuality, including different cultural attitudes and sensitive issues like sexuality, abortion and contraception.
Forming attitudes and beliefs
Young people can be exposed to a wide range of attitudes and beliefs in relation to sex and sexuality. These sometimes appear contradictory and confusing. For example, some health messages emphasis the risks and dangers associated with sexual activity and some media coverage promotes the idea that being sexually active makes a person more attractive and mature. Because sex and sexuality are sensitive subjects, young people and sex educators can have strong views on what attitudes people should hold, and what moral framework should govern people’s behaviour - these too can sometimes seem to be at odds. Young people are very interested in the moral and cultural frameworks that binds sex and sexuality. They often welcome opportunities to talk about issues where people have strong views, like abortion, sex before marriage, lesbian and gay issues and contraception and birth control. It is important to remember that talking in a balanced way about differences in opinion does not promote one set of views over another, or mean that one agrees with a particular view. Part of exploring and understanding cultural, religious and moral views is finding out that you can agree to disagree.
People providing sex education have attitudes and beliefs of their own about sex and sexuality and it is important not to let these influence negatively the sex education that they provide. For example, even if a person believes that young people should not have sex until they are married, this does not imply withholding important information about safer sex and contraception. Attempts to impose narrow moralistic views about sex and sexuality on young people through sex education have failed. Rather than trying to deter or frighten young people away from having sex, effective sex education includes work on attitudes and beliefs, coupled with skills development, that enables young people to choose whether or not to have a sexual relationship taking into account the potential risks of any sexual activity.
Effective sex education also provides young people with an opportunity to explore the reasons why people have sex, and to think about how it involves emotions, respect for one self and other people and their feelings, decisions and bodies. Young people should have the chance to explore gender differences and how ethnicity and sexuality can influence people’s feelings and options. They should be able to decide for themselves what the positive qualities of relationships are. It is important that they understand how bullying, stereotyping, abuse and exploitation can negatively influence relationships.
