Let’s Talk About Sex: The Need for Sex Education in India

‘Sex’ – the mention of this very word causes a series of chemical reactions in the minds of the Indian people, ranging from a sense of alarm to up bursts of forbidden thoughts. And, although we live in the twenty first century, where information about almost everything is in one’s fingertip, the topic of sex is still a taboo in this country. I think this mindset needs to change.

Few days ago, it was reported in the newspapers that our Union Health Minister in his website has asked for a ban of sex education in schools. Well, if he implements this, it will be a very bad decision; because sex education is very much necessary now.  Even though children learn about sex at an early stage today, the curiosity for it never lets them learn the intricacies involved with it. The pleasure aspect takes a front seat instead of the informative aspect. As such imparting the basic sex education to them is a must in today’s context. Taking lessons from western countries may be a good idea here.

As our Union Health Minister also said that imparting values on Indian culture among students is necessary, it is also imperative that the students are given sex education. In today’s global age and increasing penetration of the internet, the incidents of sexual exploits among teenagers may increase; as such the notions of ‘safe sex’ must be imparted to them.

Another aspect that I would like to discuss here is the increasing incidents of rape in India. We talk of moral values and a superior culture but we are unable save our women from these gruesome incidents. This indicate that there is some moral decay among our people and this very issue needs to be addressed, not only by the government, but more importantly  by the general population of the country.

Rape is a medium through which the dominant male tries to subdue a female. In some conflict theatres, especially in the war-ravaged areas of the African continent, rape is used as a weapon of war.  Words cannot explain the brutality of the rebels on the womenfolk there. Even in our country, there have been numerous allegations of rape against the militants as well as security forces.  

So it is high time to introspect as to what we can do to stop this menace. As a society, we need to be able to impart the correct moral values amongst the citizen. As parents, we need to teach our children to respect women. In some areas of our country, women are still not considered at par with men and such areas mostly see cases of sexual exploitation of women. NGOs can make a big difference here by working in the grassroots and spreading awareness to prevent any such future incidents.

The government also has an important role. A proper schematic for imparting sex education needs to be prepared.  And this has to be properly implemented too. It may face initial hiccups and a few protests from fundamentalists but it will surely fall into place once it is properly planned, designed and implemented. We are living in a modern world and certain topics need not be kept in wraps. It is imperative to discuss certain issues now and sex surely is one among them.