In lieu of my previous
article on establishing a relationship between sex education and pornography
among educated young adults in urban India, I will discuss why sex education
should be an inevitable phenomenon in a developing country as that of India in
this article.
India is a land of
diversified culture, religious groups, languages and political parties. It has
a rich culture but much to our disdain, in attempts to uphold its culture and
restrict “western intrusions” to seep into it, the people of India and its
various institutions have prohibited progressive thinking to infiltrate into
the system of culture in our country. One such field which is hugely neglected
in our country is the treatment of ‘sex’ whereas extensive social surveys and
statistics point to the fact that India is in dire need of sex education.
According to
statistical surveys, 47% of girls get married before the age of 18 in India.
53% of children between the ages of 5 and 12 are subjected to sexual abuse, out
of which 57.3% are boys while 42.7% are girls. If we read the newspapers, we
see brutal acts of sexual abuse, rape and gruesome treatment towards men and
women alike. The social media, online news portals and magazines are reeking
with malpractice of sex throughout. It is a generic fact that any advertisement
related to HIV/AIDS, condoms, sanitary napkins or any scene depicting acts of
sexuality (even a simple kiss) is inexorably reverted in a ‘family’ situation.
Parents change channels and movies are rated with an adult certificate by the
censor board. What most of us fail to realize is that if we try to uncover the
underlying structures, we would find that each and every instance in our
everyday lives which depict a nonchalance towards ‘sex’ is somewhere creating a
‘curious spot’ in the young and vulnerable minds. This insatiable curiosity in
the young minds leads to the youth resorting to pornography as a means to learn
more about their sexuality. Pornography, however, portrays a ‘larger than life’
sexual experience and in recent times, it has become quite distorted with the
inclusion of masochistic tendencies, forced sex, sodomy, bonded sex and even
rape. Such portrayal of sexual practices through pornography leads to
inappropriate knowledge to satisfy the ‘curious spot’ in the young minds. Therefore,
if we look closely, it is a huge reason as to why the number of sexual abuses
are surging in India.
The solution lies in
introducing sex-education as part of the curriculum in primary schools of urban
as well as rural India. However, recent journalistic articles have reported how
certain schools are perceiving sex education as just an extension to biology
textbooks. It is imperative from the above facts that primary schools in urban
as well as rural India should not only introduce ‘sex education’ as a part of
their curriculum but also ensure that sex-education is not just restricted to
learning the nuances of male and female reproductive system and biology
textbooks but the sociology of sexuality. The parental role also becomes
extremely important in this scenario. Schools should also take initiatives to
provide counselling to parents so that they serve to complete the process of
sex-education in their child’s mind. Sex-education is a sensitive cycle which
cannot be complete without parents and surrounding social circumstances.
The youth of India
are the determinants of its future. Thus, it poses a huge threat to the
nation’s future if ‘sex education’ is not promoted at a primary level because
human minds develop within a certain age, and post a certain age, ideas are
almost implacably ingrained in an individual’s mind. Although, various NGOs,
independent social workers and other organizations are working towards creating
awareness and also introducing ‘sex education’ in various schools, the process
is slow as the Indian government and religious groups are still not open to the
idea of ‘preaching sex’.
Ankita Bose
