Women groups: Sex education more important than SAVING YOUR VIRGINITY campaigns

KUALA LUMPUR - Campaigns urging girls to abstain from pre-marital sex were ineffective as education was more important, said several groups.

This was in the light of a recent two-day campaign organised to promote sexual abstinence among young girls.

Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) said there was a need to focus on proper sex education.

“It is critical and needs to be done well, as it teaches integrity, self-respect and safe sex,” WAO executive director Sumitra Viswanathan told The Rakyat Post, when contacted.

“That is the only way to ensure there are no unwanted pregnancies and that women and girls are not being misled into having sex.

“There can be as many campaigns as we want, but they need to hit the target,” she added.

She said sex education should also be directed at both girls and boys and started as early as possible in schools, ensuring young children understood their bodies and the changes they go through.

“It also needs to be ensured that they have a full scientific understanding (of their bodies) and, as human beings, they are able to respect themselves and others.

“Another important aspect of sex education is the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STI),” she added.

Echoing Sumitra’s sentiments, Parent Action Group for Education (Page) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said the definition of sex education should also be clearly explained.

“Many don’t agree with it and only think it’s about the reproductive system. But it’s more than that and it definitely needs to include boys as well.

“It’s about mutual respect and much more. It’s even about religion, because most religions don’t allow for pre-marital sex.

“The question then is where have we gone wrong? If we profess the same thing, why has it become the reverse?”

Sex education aside, Noor Azimah said tackling pre-marital sex was a collective effort, starting at home, where parents played the most important role.

“If parents don’t bring up their children properly and if children fail to know what is right and wrong, in any case, the matter just manifests itself.”

National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) President Associate Professor Datuk Mohamed Ali Hassan said the campaign wasn’t effective as its real message was confusing.

He said the effort should be put into teaching boys instead of girls, who were usually the victims.

“The message is not for women alone, but most importantly, it is for men to learn to respect women and know their boundaries.

“The message should be deeper and not just touch the surface. It should be about men learning about identity, spirituality and faith,” Ali Hassan told the The Rakyat Post.

He also said campaigning alone was not enough as education was needed to shape the mindset of men from a young age so that they would do what was right and according to religion.

Ali Hassan questioned the initiative made by a local magazine saying that the campaign seemed to blame women for being the victims when men were actually the ones responsible.

“Men should be the main target here. Women are usually pressured to have sex or they just simply give in to men’s desires.

“So, men are the ones who should learn responsibility and control their lust,” he added. - http://www.therakyatpost.com/