Sex education

Taboo, Taboo, Taboo! The definition of Taboo is: (an action or word) avoided for religious or social reasons. Unfortunately, that action and word is anything to do with sex.

The statistics

• STI’s - 1.5 million new cases are being diagnosed each year

• 42% of females with gonorrhoea were under 20 years of age

• 38% of females with chlamydia were under 20 years if age

• Teenage pregnancy - 41,951 teenage pregnancies in 2002

• Rape - 6% of rape cases lead to a conviction

• Acpo estimated between 80-90% of cases went unreported

• More than a third of women who reported a rape had drunk alcohol just before the alleged attack

With these sorts of statistics you would think that the Government would be desperate to hear people's opinions on how the rates can be significantly dealt with. One way, which is widely accepted, is to make sex education compulsory and to follow that, a detailed programme where youths are taught about the emotional aspects of sex and relationships, the physical aspects, STI's, contraception, pregnancy, abortion etc. No matter how many charities campaign, no matter how many petitions are signed, no matter how many signatures on these petitions, no matter how much research is done the Government refuse to make sex education a compulsory part of the curriculum.

So why is this?

Well, the Government think that only making sex education compulsory will not have any affect on teenage pregnancy and STI rates, which is true. A very detailed programme needs to follow sex education being made compulsory, but this can only truly happen and be done fairly so everyone gets the chance at a good education, if sex education is made compulsory.

The media, religious groups and parents also contribute to it:

The Government's main source of public opinion is the media, which as we all know can be wrong or they can easily bend the truth. Certain factions of the media are very hypocritical – one day they will be criticising the Government for not doing anything positive in bringing down the rates of teenage pregnancy and STI's and the next day they will be criticising the Government's plans to teach about relationships at 5 years old.

The Government have “a thing” about religious groups. One religious group said to me: “We cannot support your campaign as we do not believe the subject should become compulsory in schools”. Charming isn't it? The Government are willing to risk youths growing up with the knowledge that “You can't get pregnant first time” (which is false by the way!) because most religious groups oppose giving youths sex education because they feel that it will make them more promiscuous.

The Government also have “a thing” about parents. These are parents in general but especially religious parents. I believe that the Government fear making any change to sex education because of the complaints and battering that they may receive. The media is full of vultures and will pounce on any person and/or subject if they think it will make a great headline. The media “hypes up” a lot of parents attitudes and opinions to the point where something is completely untrue.

 
        “A recent opinion poll carried out for Brook found overwhelming public support for better SRE in schools: 94% agreed that sex and relationships education should cover the emotional as well as the sexual aspects of relationships; and 86% agreed that every young person should receive sex and relationships education in school as a compulsory part of the national curriculum.”

Research has shown that a big percentage of parents are in favour of sex education but do the Government listen to this when it is covered in the media for a brief amount of time? Of course they don't! They listen to those factions, which say that parents are scared that their children will be more likely to engage in sex at a younger age... the idea of which comes from the media anyway!

Some people believe that sex education isn't working. Sex is a very big thing in the UK and sex sells very well. Sex and sexuality is quite literally, everywhere you look. It is because of this that some people think the UK is as open as ever about everything to do with sex and the teenage pregnancy and STI rates are still very high. I can see why some people think this but the reality of it is that the UK is very, very quiet on the issue of sex and it is still seen as a taboo.

The Government silently tip-toe around the issue of sex education and contribute to making the issue of sex taboo! When will they learn?