Sex Ed

You know why we are a ‘bursting at the seams with people’ kind of nation when the chief minister of a state cites the withdrawal method during copulation as a safe technique to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Nitish Kumar’s crass gesticulating and inelegant explanation of nocturnal carnal acts between husband and wife had the Bihar assembly in splits and gave his political opponents enough ammo to question everything from his sanity to morality. He did, however, in a most avoidable way, kick off an important discussion — India’s dire need for comprehensive sexuality education. Not only because population control and safe sex are essential matters, but also because our ‘leaders’ confidently encourage unsafe methods of contraception. The brouhaha over Kumar’s ‘sex gyan’ quickly became more about disrespecting women rather than his own ignorance. His remarks also reflected much of Indian society that even today thrusts the entire onus of contraception squarely on women.

While becoming an opportunity for political mudslinging, this incident was truly emblematic of our larger issue. For a country whose population lays testament to the furious levels of activity between the sheets, our approval to sex education however, is massively low. Say what you will about Akshay Kumar, but some of his films have done more in spreading awareness on sexual health (menstruation in ‘Padman’ and sex education in ‘OMG 2’) than the government machinery. The state administration is divided on the topic of sex education with Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh having banned sex education. Can’t ban rapes, child, abuse, and violence against women but by jove will we ban education! Ironically, OMG 2 released with an adult certification and could only recently be watched by under-18-year-olds once it came on Netflix.

An article in Sage Journal, authored by Manoj K Pandey and TS Sathyanarayana Rao, refers to UNESCO global report from 2021 and states, “India lags behind many other underdeveloped and small countries, such as Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, and Sudan to name a few…We lack a uniform policy for conceptualization, planning, and implementation of comprehensive sex education. It is time to ponder upon what is holding us back?”

While much of the world starts learning about the birds and the bees (popularly accepted PG-rated nomenclature for sex-ed) from primary school, Indian kids are officially introduced to it in secondary school, or that’s what we knew. As per publicly cited news reports, the draft version of the National Education Policy (NEP) in 2019 had included “sex education” in secondary school with a view to discussing family planning, consent, respect for women, sexually transmitted diseases, and so on. However, the final version had removed the mention of sex education purportedly after facing pressure from conservative right-wing forces. Kumar’s comments once again opened the floodgates on what is the most acceptable way of disseminating sex education in India? Is demanding sex education un-sanskaari? Currently, while health and wellness are included in school curriculum, the words ‘sex education’ is given a wide berth. In a bid to not seem encouraging of sexual activity among adolescents and teenagers, this opaquely tailored syllabus may offer the basics but will never permit open conversations around sex and sexuality. And if there is to be a pall of silence, who then takes the blame for extremely avoidable sexual mishaps, lack of understanding of female consent, sexual violence, unwanted pregnancies, etc.?

Expert opinions show that understanding the human body, reproduction, ‘good touch, bad touch’, sexuality, and so forth make children more aware, informed, and able to protect against child sexual abuse. Enlightened parents and adults are also, in turn, better equipped to protect themselves and minors. Interestingly, surveys suggest that a majority of Indian kids want sex education and most feel that their teachers are ill-trained to impart it. This is the gap that we must bridge — between what kids want, what is truly essential, and what we as a society are prepared to give.

The writer is an author and media entrepreneur. Views expressed are personal