Friday, December 09, 2005
Contraception Equals Abstinence??
Remember the post from two days ago? The one about abortion? Yeah. I just can't get my mind off it. It just enrages me that most traditional Asian mindset is this: Contraception = Abstinence. Ok. So, how exactly did I come to this conclusion? Easy. It's exactly what most old-fashioned Asian parents think.
Abortion is a big problem. It shouldn't be a solution to unwanted pregnancies, but it often is... especially among Asians. And I'm not being stereotypical. It's true. While I was doing some research on the pro-choice/pro-life stances on abortion on the Internet, I came across this on The New Zealand Medical Journal:
So, I'll leave you with this: Don't be afraid to learn about sex and contraception, and don't be afraid to teach your children about "the birds and the bees". After all, it's better to be safe than sorry.
(note: The NZ Medical Journal was written in 2003; while Dr. Choong's article was written in 1997 - yes, it's very old, but the issues are still very true!)
(p/s: I sorta heard about a change in the sex education policy in Malaysia... but I'm not sure of its details. Please let me know if there are changes.)
Abortion is a big problem. It shouldn't be a solution to unwanted pregnancies, but it often is... especially among Asians. And I'm not being stereotypical. It's true. While I was doing some research on the pro-choice/pro-life stances on abortion on the Internet, I came across this on The New Zealand Medical Journal:
Most Asian women who have terminated their pregnancies are young, usually students. As seen in the quote above, they lack adequate contraceptive education. Why am I not surprised? The thing is, most Asians probably never got their "birds and bees" talk from their parents. Most learn about sex through school. For Malaysians, we have sex education at the age of 15. And even then, not much can be learned about responsible sexual behavior or contraception. It is so much of a taboo topic that even (some) teachers are reluctant to teach it in detail. According to Dr. Choong Sim Poey in his article, End the Ignorance on Sex, traditional arguments against sex education in schools include:"It is speculated that ethnic Chinese women lack adequate contraceptive education, demonstrate distrust of non-barrier methods, believe men should provide the prophylactic, and mistakenly believe contraception unnecessary for the first week following menstruation."
There are two problems with this argument, as pointed out by Dr. Choong:"Teaching school children about sex encourages irresponsible behavior and sexual promiscuity; and only parents should be allowed to teach sex to children."
I can understand why some parents are so reluctant in discussing the topic of SEX. It is a topic most aren't comfortable with, especially with their children. In fact, most parents would hope naively that their children would not have sex... not until after they're married, that is. However, it is important that they have THE TALK with their children. Most kids aren't interested in actually having sex, but they are curious about it. And one way to satisfy your curiosity? To do it. I know this might sound ridiculous, but there are some teenagers who decided to have sex in order to know what it's all about. After all, the more taboo and forbidden something is, the more the allure. In fact, considering most teenagers are in a rebellious stage, they are likely to do something they're forbidden to do, ie. sex, just in spite of their parents. I, for one, never had THE TALK with my parents. I even confronted my parents about it, but they were so blasé about it. "Aiyah, you learnt it in school already what!" Luckily for them (and for me!), I did learnt about sex in school... in New Zealand, that is. To be honest, I knew practically nothing about sex in Malaysia, even after learning about it at school. As pointed out in Dr. Choong's article:"Such views have been totally discredited by all known studies, which have shown that sex education, properly taught, encourages responsible sexual behavior, and that parents as a group are poor providers of sex education. Few children receive reliable sexual information from their parents."
What I'm trying to say is this: sex education is important. For most old-fashioned Asians, the only contraception is abstinence. Too bad it doesn't work. It's important for teenagers to learn about responsible sexual behavior and sexual diseases. Avoiding the topic doesn't mean teenagers won't have sex, and approaching the topic doesn't mean you're encouraging teenagers to have sex. Oh yeah, and sex education at Form Three? Change it, please. Puberty for children starts earlier and earlier nowadays. For me, it started at 13. But for many of my friends, it started as early as 10. Sex education at Form Three seems to be a little late to me, don't you think? I mean, look at my cousin. She was pregnant at 13. By the time she learnt about sex in school during Form Three, she already had a 2-year-old daughter."Surveys and studies on students and school-leavers show an alarming gap in essential sexual knowledge together with clear evidence of increasingly early sexual experience."
So, I'll leave you with this: Don't be afraid to learn about sex and contraception, and don't be afraid to teach your children about "the birds and the bees". After all, it's better to be safe than sorry.
(note: The NZ Medical Journal was written in 2003; while Dr. Choong's article was written in 1997 - yes, it's very old, but the issues are still very true!)
(p/s: I sorta heard about a change in the sex education policy in Malaysia... but I'm not sure of its details. Please let me know if there are changes.)
i know that i have loved you ... at 6:34 PM
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