How to teach people about sex when you’re not allowed to talk about sex

Since it launched three years ago, more than 720,000 Thai teenagers have downloaded Judies, a mobile game that lets them save the world from alien invasion with condoms as shields. It’s light-hearted and entertaining - and it’s supposed to be. But it was also created as a serious attempt to impart important facts around safe sex, STDs and pregnancy.

In fact, it’s one of myriad ways that private and public institutions around the world are looking to improve the inclusivity of sex and health education offered to young people.

In Asia digital tools such as apps, websites and social media are fast becoming a popular way to do so. In the same year that Judies launched in Thailand, young people in Indonesia could log onto Unala for the first time, an app that provides articles on sex and reproductive health and helps them make appointments with both doctors and counsellors.

The intention behind all these digital tools was to improve a current lack of education and awareness when it comes to sex, sexual violence, and consent across the continent

Then in 2018, free access website Springster launched in the Philippines. Targeted at marginalised girls in the country it provides information on health, education, and personal safety.

The intention behind all these digital tools was to improve a current lack of education and awareness when it comes to sex, sexual violence, and consent across the continent.

According to UNICEF, though more than 60% of the world’s 1.8 billion young people live in the Asia Pacific, a significant proportion of which are sexually active, the curriculums delivered in schools are often falling short. In Indonesia, a study found that up to 80% of women, between 15 and 24 years old, and 56% of men could not name any STI symptoms. In Thailand meanwhile, 20% of adolescent girls who had sex before the age of 15 reported that the first time they had sex it was forced.

Sex education “is not yet delivered in such a way that children and adolescents have all the answers they need,” said Gerda Binder, UNICEF's regional gender advisor for East Asia and the Pacific.

At the same time, young people in the region are prolific users of online platforms, she points out, and they’re already using it to search for the answers on sex and health they aren’t getting elsewhere. Nearly a quarter of young people in the Philippines, for example, scour sites for health information on a weekly basis, according to the NGO.

The problem is “we don't yet know, when they go online, exactly what they find: what pages they land on, what content they access and what they make of it,” added Binder. And so “there's an opportunity to harness the digital space for content in age-appropriate formats instead, in ways that the youth want it, and make that available as an alternative.”

In May UNICEF launched Oky, a mobile app targeted at young girls in Indonesia and Mongolia that creates culturally tailored information on periods and other aspects of puberty. Though the content is gamified, with animation, avatars and quizzes it’s also 100% evidence-based.

Until now the creation of these digital tools has largely been led by NGOs or local health organisations. But there’s now growing interest from national policymakers in the region looking to roll out the concept. Binder says the organisation has already interest from the government in Malaysia, for example, to develop digital tools that could support teachers in their delivery of comprehensive sex education. “There is collaboration happening, and interest and willingness from government institutions.”

Southeast Asia is far from alone in its efforts to improve inclusivity in sex education though. Even in the UK, where national curriculums already provide comprehensive sex education in schools, there are efforts to improve inclusivity in terms of content, delivery, and the involvement of the wider community.

Since 2000 Brighton and Hove Council has encouraged schools in its district to provide LGBT inclusive relationship and sex education to pupils. “Our principle is that every child walking into a school should be able to see their family represented,” said Sam Beale, partnership advisor for health and wellbeing at the council. “That means the ethnic diversity of our school communities, the range of disabilities but also the diversity of families, including those with same-sex parents.”

Lessons should equip pupils with language related to sexual orientation and gender identity, for example. They’re offered support around coming out, where to go for support if they have questions around sexual orientation and gender identity. Role models used across all subject areas should be diverse in terms of sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and ability and gender identity too. A local LGBT youth project also goes into schools and delivers PHSE lessons on topics such as the impact of homophobic bullying as well as what it means to be trans, lesbian, or gay or bisexual.

“We offer teacher training to support the delivery because it's a far reaching curriculum area that includes FGM, forced marriage, domestic abuse, and sexual violence,” added Beale. “Ultimately though it's up to schools to devise their own policies and curriculum and in best practise that will be informed by the voice of pupils students, and their parents and carers.”

The benefits of truly inclusive sex education are manifold

It’s a position that has caused some concern, particularly among faith schools worried that the work on family diversity promotes lesbian and gay relationships. And so earlier this month the council reiterated its position with a public statement that emphasised the “free thinking, open and inclusive nature” of the city. As well as its intention to work with, and collaborate more closely with faith groups, patients and carers going forward.

"The council was really keen to get across that, both we as a local authority and schools can do better when it comes to having open and transparent conversations with all our parent groups, including parents and carers from faith backgrounds,” said Beale. “When we explain that we're trying to represent the difference in our school communities it mitigates what I think some are fearful of when we're talking about LGBT inclusive education."

The benefits of truly inclusive sex education are manifold, she believes. Research shows that an LGBT person being bullied or who doesn’t feel able to be themselves is less likely to come to school. Then there are the benefits for each child or young person in a school.

"It's about developing a positive sense of identity. If young people can be supported to feel good about themselves that's such a protective factor in terms of keeping people keeping safe and healthy when it comes to adult sexual relationships.” – Megan Tatum

(Photo credit: Charles Deluvio/Unsplash)