Sex Education Guide: Sex Education For Teenagers, Parents, Married Couples, And Sex Education In Schools
Sex education in schools should include topics like reproduction, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS, abstinence, contraception, pregnancy, abortion and adoption. It is introduced to children in grades 7 to 12, although some of these topics can even be taught to students of grade 4. Various laws have been imposed on how sex education should be taught.
In most of the regions in India, schools ask for parent’s consent about their child’s participation in classes held for sex education. The primary focus of sex education in schools is to make the child aware about teen pregnancy and sexual health issues like STDs. Research suggests that most of the families support the idea of imparting sex education in schools to their child.
Sex education for parents:
Parents do not feel comfortable talking about sex with their children. Answering their kid’s query regarding sex makes them extremely awkward, however, this topic should not be avoided. Parents are responsible for developing healthy feelings about physical changes in their child. It is important to tell your child how their bodies will change as they mature. Topics like erection, puberty, menstruation and masturbation should be discussed with your child.
Parents should be confident while talking about sexual desires, behaviors and orientations with their child. If such topics are discussed without any hesitation, it may help a child to take responsible and healthy decisions when he/she grows up. Parents should also teach their kids about pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and birth control methods.
Sex education for youth:
Young minds need sex education so that they can make more informed decisions in life. They should not be just taught about the biological aspects of sex but the personal, emotional, cultural and social aspects attached to it. If youth have a better understanding of all these aspects, then they can take responsible actions and have control over their desires.
Sexuality is an essential trait of personal identity. Youth must know that it is better to delay sex unless they are older to understand intimacy rather than pleasure. They should be familiar that getting physically involved with multiple partners increases the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Sexual health is another section that should be focussed while considering sex education for youth.
Sex education information:
Sex education enables a person to gather information and motivation required for taking an informed and better decisions in terms of sexuality. The teaching and learning about topics related to sex helps in managing one’s sexual health and relationships. Sex education in general, provides information about human development which includes reproduction, puberty and gender identity.
It also exposes us to topics like sexual behaviour, abstinence, sexual health,STDs, contraception, pregnancy, gender roles and other related key concepts like human sexual anatomy, age of consent, reproductive rights, safe sex, birth control and abstinence. By teaching youth and children about sex, we can make them an aware individual who can handle their emotional relations and responsibilities in a healthy way. One major controversy in the realm of sex education is whether sex education should also involve LGBT and their rights can be included into the school curriculums. LGBT sex education involves safe sex practices among gay, lesbians and transsexual persons and general information on homosexuality.
However, it is an unfortunate story, that only 20% of the LGBT students have heard anything positive about their LGBT community, and so it seems that LGBT students are more likely to hear something positive about LGBT people from social studies and history classes rather than from sex educators as of date.