Glenda Simms, Contributor
THE EDITORIAL in the November 22, 2004 edition of The Gleaner discussed sex education for parents. The editors pointed out to their readers that all the content being taught in the Family Life Education in schools and the efforts in the mass media have not "bridged the gap between parents and children in their knowledge of the attitudes to sex and sexuality."
These observations prompted the "communications officer at the Type Five Health Centre in Montego Bay to identifying the need to educate parents in matters having to do with sex."
This suggestion has resonated with other players in the broad area of public education and information sharing.
At this juncture I am of the opinion that it is important for the relevant authorities to return to the drawing board and develop programmes and educational approaches that will speak to the complex issues of family life and the effective management of human sexuality.
We need to stop dealing in a 'hit and miss' manner with the social problems in the Jamaican society.
It is very obvious that a lot of energy is being expended on dead-end programmes and much of our forests globally are being destroyed to make the reams of paper on which useless projects are written on a yearly basis. It will therefore be a challenging time for the gurus in educational institutions, public policy developers and other brokers of social engineering.
UNDERSTANDING HUMAN SEXUALITY
In an effort to formulate a meaningful programme of sex education for parents and youth, a number of complex issues will have to be confronted in a balanced, honest and intelligent framework.
Parents will have to understand that issues of human sexuality and the confusion faced by young children and adolescents is not about the romance of the 'birds and the bees'.
In fact, birds and bees have their own sexuality well organised and in line with their survival strategy. They do not have the luxury of having sex at any time of the day and at all periods in the process of their development. They have mating seasons and they prepare carefully for their young.
DEVELOPMENTAL BLUEPRINT
Human beings, on the other hand, have forgotten that they also have a developmental blueprint that should signal how they manage their sexuality. This amnesia has been very detrimental to the human condition.
In spite of the major scientific, political and economic changes that have shaped the modern world, in many societies such as Jamaica, we are challenged by teenage pregnancies, sexual violence and the spread of the most deadly sexually transmitted diseases.
Against this background we have to 'wheel and come again' in our curriculum development, teaching methodologies and ideology in the important area of sex education. In this process we will have to answer some fundamental questions.
PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX
Are we prepared to go beyond the physiology of sex?
Are the majority of parents and educators comfortable with their own sexuality?
What percentage of parents is socialised to believe that sex is only for procreation?
What is the role of theology and patriarchy in the denial of the 'pleasure principle' in human sexuality?
Can we continue to argue against this principle when our children are daily exposed to 'sex as recreation' on the numerous TV stations and on the street corners in far too many of our communities?
Other questions must be raised about gender socialisation and cultural values and the relationship of these to sexual behaviours in both boys and girls.
Are we prepared to speak in honest terms to our daughters, sons, granddaughters and grandsons?
Will we tell them how historically and contemporarily female sexuality has been controlled and prescribed by both church and state?
WEALTHY MEN
And will we tell them that many high profile and wealthy men are making large sums of money in business establish-ments that commodify sex in order to tickle the fancies of 'gentlemen'.
Can we move young people and their parents from guilt about their sexual urges to a plain on which they can direct these urges in positive activities?
MIXED MESSAGES
At this juncture all of us need to learn that discussing human sexuality is more difficult than a discussion of the rules of English grammar, principles of mathematics or the causes of rain, fog and snow.
Sexual matters are loaded with emotions, controlled by religious beliefs, constricted by cultural practices and cultural baggage. These factors affect the adults who must teach the young and the young who must face the insecurities of the adult.
What of those parents who are no paragons of virtue, such as the mothers who move from man to man and had sex that produced seven children with the same number of last names? How does such a parent discuss responsible sexual behaviours except to say "Do as I say, not as I did?"
What about the father who sires children outside of the marriage and cause stress to the wife and embarrassment to the children? Does he have the moral authority to explain how his son could contain his testosterone-driven propensity to have a trailer load of girls?
I pose these questions and hope that we can find adequate and honest answers. If we don't, young people will have no stake in listening to our "self-righteous drivel".
Dr. Glenda P. Simms is the executive director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs. You can send your comments to infocus@gleanerjm.com
