About Sex Education

Sex education touches upon the following topics-

• Human anatomy
• Reproduction through sexual intercourse
• Pregnancy
• Safe sex
• Birth control methods
• Sexual orientation
• Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)

The so called information on 'the bees and the birds' should be imparted by a parent or a peer. However most often this information is derived from books, magazines, pornographic websites and various other sources. When this happens it was not dispensed with in a methodical way which lead to misconcepts and does more harm than good.

Recently there has been an effort to incorporate sex education as part of the academic curriculum. This has been successfully implemented in several western countries but continues to face stiff opposition in many Asian countries, like India.

The hue and cry from the conservative societies ‘not to impart’ this type of 'Kam-Sutra' education to our young in the schools is due to the following reasons-

• Parents fear that this type of education would make our children more liberated and they would indulge in sexual intercourse more readily.
• Administration fears backlash that may have some political repercussions’ in implementing such a policy forward.

However the growing incidence of teenage pregnancies and the rise in HIV has made this an important issue that requires urgent global discussion.