The type of sex education, or the lack of it, is something that exists as a major problem in our society. We’re already taught too little about the things that matter, and when it’s done, it’s never healthy. In cases where sex education is part of curriculum, it comes down to ‘procreating children’. In other cases, there’s a lot of misinformation involved.
Schools and especially our society, never acknowledge the repercussions of not talking about sexual health. They hardly realize that all of it is just as much about our bodies as other concerns around physical health. However, how and what we’re taught in sex education classes is mostly appalling.
Here are some experiences:
1. “That women get periods each month, which is just impure blood being removed. We were not told about menstruation, and the actual biology behind it. Of course, this created wrong impressions in our heads, when it’s just blood, and there’s nothing impure about it.”
– Maanya Minocha
2. “We were told that if we missed our periods, we were definitely pregnant. No one talked about actual health issues that exist – and how there are more reasons to missing our periods.”
– Riya Gill
3. “While talking about condoms, a student asked if doubling the condoms works twice as well, our teacher didn’t deny. It was misleading and scary that we were almost taught this.”
– Naman Issar
4. “We were only taught about reproduction and how the process works. No one talked about sexual health at all, or things we were dealing with, back then.”
– Umang Tyagi
5. “I remember we had one class on one day where we were taught about the reproductive organs of both men and women. When students started asking questions, we were asked to just listen.”
– Harshit Ailawadi
6. “A teacher was talking about STDs and it was told that every time someone had unprotected sex, they’ll catch it. She didn’t say that your partner has to have it, she just said people catch it every time they have sex without condoms.”
– Saloni
7. “We were told about periods in class 4, but the girls were ushered out to a different room. Boys were told not in the same room as us. Later, in class 10, we were taught about reproduction, and nothing about sexual health.”
– Snigdha
8. “I don’t even remember the reproduction chapter that I was taught at an Indian school, because of how futile it seemed.”
– Harshita Singh
9. “We were told that women could get pregnant any time they had unprotected sex. It was incomplete information, because no one talked about the role of menstruation and how there’s a cycle.”
– Gauri Khurana
10. “What we were taught in the name of “sex education” was how condom works. That too badly. The boys were giggling at the back of the class and it was full chaos. If I had sex the way I was taught to, I’d be in deep trouble.”
– Saumya
11. “The girls and boys were taught sex education separately in my school. If you can call it ‘sex education’. We were told about menstruation; and I have no idea what the boys were taught, because it didn’t seem like they learned anything.”
– Anonymous
12. “Weirdly, we were taught more about the penis, than the vagina. It was surprising because women don’t know about their bodies because people are too uncomfortable to talk about it.”
– Anonymous
Clearly, students have their reasons to rely on the internet for information.