Are you still ignorant about sex! – A taboo in TeensDr. Avnish Jolly:Indians get their first formal sex education only around 15 years of age as compared to the West where such lessons start from 12, according to report by Face of Global Sex 2008. This could be one of the reasons why Indians had little knowledge of how to avoid pregnancy. Indians scored a mere 70 per cent, even less than Japan at 70.9 per cent. The highest was scored by South Africa (86.5 per cent) and Spain (86 per cent).
Report reviled Indians know how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS, awareness on how to avoid pregnancy is very low. These are the findings of the report and survey conducted among 26,000 people in 26 countries to explore the effectiveness of sex education. The report also highlighted that although parents and guardians were the most successful confidence boosters, they were only listed as the eighth most likely source to be approached for sex education – falling well behind friends, the internet and TV.
"These results highlight the need for good school-based holistic education. Unfortunately, in many countries high quality school-based holistic education is lacking, with reference to sex education" the report stressed.
According to report Asian countries are well behind Western countries when it came to being confident about protecting themselves against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS. It pointed out that in Mexico, a child receives formal sex education at the age of 12 – perhaps the reason why its people scored one of the highest (81.6 per cent) on overall confidence about sex.
"Comprehensive, block wise and inclusive sex education between the ages of 11 and 16 is vital for people to develop sexual confidence in later life. Also, those who have more confidence are better equipped to protect themselves against STIs and unwanted pregnancies," it said.
In Asia with context to India and China are the two countries that start sex education in school when children are 15 years and above. Other countries in the region start education either a little before or a little after a child turns 14. Indians, however, seemed to fare better as far as other Asian countries were concerned on knowing where to go for help and guidance on sex. While India scored 68.8 per cent, Malaysia stood at 67.6 per cent and China scored 66.1 when it came to knowing where to go for help on sex. The other countries were Singapore (66.1 per cent), Hong Kong (63.2 per cent) and Thailand (61.7 per cent).
Report showed that Japan scored less in terms of most criteria – not only in Asia but globally too. Despite Japan starting sex education at 12 years, they are the least confident about sex (58.8 per cent), have no idea whom to turn to for guidance (42.4 per cent) and how to avoid pregnancy (70.9 per cent). People in Japan do not lead a happy and fulfilling sex life, they scored 54.3 per cent, the lowest in the world with the highest scored by Brazil (79.6 per cent), Mexicans (78.4 per cent) and Nigerians (78.2 per cent).
India scored 72.4 per cent as far as having a good sex life was concerned. As compared to other Asian countries, it scored a little less than Malaysia that got 73.5 per cent. In this aspect, India was also better off than Germany, France, Australia, Poland, Russia, Singapore and Thailand, the report said.
The most interesting findings in the era of gender equality, there were also distinct gender differences in terms of where people go for information on sexual issues. Males were more likely to use the media – magazines, the internet, TV and radio or institutional sources. Females, on the other hand, preferred more interpersonal sources, such as parents, partners, family and doctors.