Let's talk about sex: The reality 'educated' Dr Harsh Vardhan is ignoring

Sex education has been a tricky subject, especially in a country like India where even uttering the word sex is considered a taboo. But despite the reality of a new young India, there is a patent unwillingness to accept, let alone discuss the fact or possibility that people actually have sex for pleasure, not to procreate, and sometimes even out of wedlock. In today’s age of the Internet and information, where accessing porn is as easy as accessing email or news reports on the Internet, it wouldn’t be too much to expect the government to at least to be open to sex education in schools. But Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan delivered a rude blow to these expectations with his comment that, “So-called ‘sex education’ (should) be banned.” After being criticised by opposition and activists, he later backtracked a bit to say, “Crudity and graphic representation of culturally objectionable symbols as manifested in the UPA’s so-called sex education programme cannot be called sex education. Every education system must strive to have an ideal curriculum and to that extent my stand is valid. Sex education that builds societies free of gender discrimination, teenage pregnancy.” [caption id=“attachment_1592771” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Anjali Gopalakrishan of the Naz Foundation declared herself shocked by the minister’s attitude, during a panel discussion on CNN-IBN. “Are we not going to talk about issues with young people? With great difficulty we have some modicum of sex education in place and most schools don’t run them, and here we have a doctor who is the health minister giving us lessons on morality”, she said. “We have to ensure that our young people don’t die of STDs because adults are not comfortable talking about sex,” she added. Psychologist at VIMHANS, Jitendra Nagpal said that sex education and information needed to be considered a right of the youth. “We need empowerment through information for adolescents. Dialogue at the right time on adolescent education, and an age appropriate curriculum keeping in mind the culture is needed. It is not about tutoring them, but a dialogue. It is human rights for teenagers to know about the process of growing up, good touch and bad touch. If we hide it under the carpet it will be chaos.” However he said, “We need to depart from the nomenclature of sex education.” Firstpost entertainment editor Deepanjana Pal wrote about the importance of a healthy discussion on sex, especially given the reality of how many of India’s youth were introduced to it. “Considering the highly sexualised popular entertainment all around us, children don’t need to be introduced to the idea of sex. Plus, whether or not they’re dancing to “Sheila ki Jawaani” or crooning Honey Singh songs, a lot of Indians are having sex, as is obvious from our population statistics. From traumatic instances like when children witness their mother being sexually abused to hearing or glimpsing adults having sex, there are countless ways that the young are introduced to sex and sexuality. Under these circumstances, where sex is all around you but not talked about, it’s more important than ever to make sure children get the right end of the sexual stick. The scope of sex education goes far beyond talking about the mechanics of sex.” Despite this however, Lata Nair of the Parents and Teachers Association said that parents in the country were actually queasy about sex education. “They are still in the 19th century. They don’t mind watching television with the children, but they don’t want to talk about sex.” But, Gopalan points out that things are not that grim. “Parents are apprehensive. But we have worked with parents and we discussed with them what we would be discussing with the children and they become positive.” It is not only the parents in India that are averse to sex education. There are others who bring the question of morality into the equation. Author and activist Rahul Eashwar said, “I believe both sex and ethics are both good words and need to be taught but in the subtext of life and health education. Sex education taught without values will have a disastrous effect.” “Millions of parents who don’t belong to the ’liberal’ category have inhibitions. Don’t sugar coat the words but use the right ones. Relationship fidelity should be also be taugh. IN UK and US people are going out of control. Condoms cannot stop teen pregnancies, culture can,” he said. Questioning Eashwar’s argument, filmmaker Onir said, “What is our culture? We are also the land of Kama Sutra. When one is talking of sex education, such a large number of our children face sexual abuse all the time. Mostly abuse happens at home and no one talks about it. By denying our children the knowledge of sex, we are not acknowledging that so many children get married off without any information about their bodies.”