Sex Education
Research has demonstrated that the well informed individual possessing accurate sexual knowledge is more tolerant of others, better adjusted, healthier and happier.
During the last two decades there has been a sexual revolution accompanied by much controversy. One thing is certain: there has been too much emphasis placed on pornography, promiscuity and abnormalities of sexual activity, instead of stressing the facts about normal and healthy sexual life!
Sexual ignorance breeds a cycle of:
(1) anxiety,
(2) unwanted pregnancy,
(3) guilt,
(4) venereal diseases,
(5) marital conflicts,
(6) poor adjustment,
(7) hate.
The Three R's Plus S Recently there has been a re-emphasis on the basics in education. We must return to the 3 R's: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Sex education should be one of these basics: 3 R's plus S (Sex Education).
Recent public opinion polls reveal that 77 percent of adults favor school sex education programs. Parents should support sex education in the schools by allowing their children to attend sex education classes. They should also support legislative efforts to mandate sex education in all schools. Once this goal is reached, the increased demand for qualified educators will result in better preparation of these specialized teachers. Young people report that they receive their sexual information from the following sources (in percentages):
Teachers — 10 percent
Parents — 12 percent
Peers — 75 percent
Clergy Counselors & Physicians, less than 13 percent
As can be seen, peers are the source of sexual information for 75 percent of young people. That is bad! We must also face the fact that most parents are not capable of providing accurate sexual information because of their own sexual inadequacies! Sex education is best done by a third party: a properly prepared and licensed sex education teacher! Sex education is already mandatory in Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.
Most parents continue to be naive in the belief that if their youngsters remain ignorant of sex they will lead pure sexual lives. But statistics prove that despite such a belief more than one million teenage girls become pregnant every year. It has been similarly observed that religious devotion (any religion) does not guarantee that the person will not indulge in premarital sex.
The World Health Organization has declared that sexual ignorance continues to have an enormous effect on the economy and health of nations. WHO cites Brazil as the worst example of this tragedy. More than 50 percent (65 million) of the Brazilian population is of illegitimate birth! There is no sex education, no birth control in that country! Brazil is fast becoming the India of South America!
Sex education should be provided on three levels:
(1) Childhood,
(2) Teenage, and
(3) Adulthood.
Childhood (ages 5-12) This is a stage of innocence and curiosity, during which the child asks honest questions. We should give simple and truthful answers. How do we respond to the boy’s questions? Tell him the truth! Tell him that his testicles, now small, will grow to the size of walnuts, and that they will produce seeds, called sperms, which he will need to become a father.
What do you tell a girl of the same age? Tell her the truth! She has inside of her belly, below the line of the navel, two ovaries, one on each side, which will grow to the size of walnuts and produce eggs.
Tell the boy and the girl that while the man has a penis between his legs, the woman has a canal called vagina. For a baby to be formed, the seed from the man has to be placed inside of the vagina by the penis. In this way the sperm will meet the woman’s egg, beginning a baby! “Where do I come from?” You come from the combined sperm of your father and the egg of your mother. In the beginning the baby is very small, smaller that the period at the end of this sentence. All animals, start their lives from eggs like humans.
The birds and fishes have their eggs hatched outside of their mothers’ bodies, but in animals, including humans, the babies are developed inside the mothers’ belly in a place called uterus. The uterus is like a nest where the baby is protected while it grows. This is the reason why, when a mother is pregnant, her belly gets bigger and bigger making her look fat.
“How does the baby eat and breath inside of the mother’s uterus?” The food and the air go from the mother’s blood to the baby’s blood by a tube called the navel cord which is connected at the “belly button” or navel. Then, at the end of nine months, the baby is born, coming out through the vaginal canal, between the mother’s legs, usually head first. Then the navel cord is cut. In the first few months the baby continues to grow, getting food from the milk in the mother’s breasts.
Menstruation (See diagram) Long before the age of 12 a girl should be told about menstruation. Menses means monthly flow of blood. When a girl begins changing into a teenager, her breasts grow, her hips widen and the inside of her uterus begins forming a nest, for a baby to grow, for her to become a mother. But for a baby to be formed it is necessary for the sperm (man’s seed) to meet the mother’s egg. If a baby is not started (pregnancy does not take place), then the nest in the uterus comes apart falling out through the vagina in the form of a blood flow called menstruation. This will last 3-5 days and the girl, during this time, has to use special pads to absorb the flow. The total menstrual flow is about 4 ounces, a small container of milk.
After menstruation another cycle begins and once again another nest forms inside the uterus. The same process is repeated every month if there is no pregnancy. When pregnancy takes place menstruation stops because the baby will be in the nest for nine months. Some sexologists believe that sex education should be given gradually like vaccines, in increasing doses, as the child matures. This “sex education” vaccine will eventually protect the child against unwanted pregnancy, venereal disease and marital conflict.
Teenagers The teenage years are very demanding. Teenagers feel compelled to be strong, intelligent, beautiful and romantic. Quite a burden! Unfortunately, in U.S. we raise boys and girls with incompatible sexually related values.
These striking differences in the way boys and girls are raised in America continue to widen with the influence of TV, violence, noisy music and violent sports. These incompatible values doom many to later conflict and divorce! American youth must slow down otherwise they will not be able to enjoy the electricity of love! Every teenager should be taught birth control methods (Chapter 25) and precautions against venereal diseases (Chapter 27). Teenagers should be told that masturbation is normal and a natural process of growing up.
Adults If we are successful in providing sex education to children and teenagers, then a new well-balanced generation of adults will appear as a natural consequence. When this occurs the cycle will repeat itself in an intelligent manner! If you have been deprived of an adequate sex education in your youth, you are certainly doing the right thing in reading this book.