Why we need sex education

There’s an online discussion with sex educators in which they find themselves having to clear up plenty of crazy misconceptions. For instance, it seems that there are women in their 20s who don’t even know that sexual intercourse does not involve penetration of the urethra.

Most of the participants in the discussion are Americans. It turns out, though, that Malaysians are just as bad. A recent survey conducted by Perspective Strategies Sdn Bhd found that a great number of female respondents lack sufficient knowledge of their bodily functions to make responsible choices.

The Durex-supported survey involved 1,071 respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 from different racial backgrounds.

It’s logical to assume that children in secondary school know even less about sex. Probably, all they know is what they see in pornographic videos shared on their mobile phones or shown on websites.

Indeed, the survey found that more than a third of Malaysians between the ages of 13 and 14 have been exposed to pornography through the Internet and 4.8% of them have had sexual intercourse.

A respondent said some of her friends were not aware that they could get pregnant by having sex.

“Only 39.5% of respondents have knowledge of how a baby is born and 45.5% know what is a womb,” said Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Chew Mei Fun, who was at the unveiling of the report from the survey.

Even more horrifying is the fact that 19% of young Malaysians thought using two condoms at the same time offers better protection. This is a dangerous misconception, according to Andy See, the Managing Director of Perspective Strategies. He explained that using two condoms could cause both to break due to friction.

We cannot argue against sex education when it is clear that not having it in our schools only increases the risk of teenage pregnancies. We cannot let our only form of sex education to be a message about abstinence when it is clear that it won’t do much against the power of teenage hormones.

Sex education is not, as most conservatives apparently believe, something dirty. On the contrary, it needs to be approached realistically. We’re not going to stop teenagers from being interested in sex; so we should teach them about how to keep it safe.

Which is better: to teach our children how sex works or to let them find out on their own?