Sex education should be compulsory in a progressive open society

IRELAND is finally growing up on the sex education front, with the plan to make sex education classes mandatory for senior cycle students at second level for the first time.

The draft curriculum will be inclusive of LGBTQ+ identities, relationships and families, and will undoubtedly stoke objections from both the far right and conservatives, who would rather our young people muddle on, vague about the facts of life and programmed solely for heterosexual marriage and procreation.

But really, it’s time that we shed ignorance of sexuality (and its traditional stranglehold by the Catholic Church) in favour of openness. We are no longer hidebound by the church, which surely means the nation is overdue a liberated attitude to sexuality that our young people can benefit from.

Schools under the new plans will be expected to provide one hour per week of Social Personal Health Education (SPHE) during fifth and sixth year. How much time will be dedicated to the subject during transition year has yet to be decided.

The draft SPHE for senior cycle will focus on mental health and wellbeing, relationships, sexuality and developing skills needed to plan for the future as well as understanding rights and responsibilities under the law.

According to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), there is widespread support for the plan which, it hopes, will play an important role in promoting self-confidence and preparing students for life beyond the school gates.

Parents will have the right to request that their child opt out of any classes that go against their conscience. Once a student turns 18, they have the right to decide for themselves if they wish to participate in learning about sexuality and relationships.

At the moment, most schools don’t build in sex education to their timetables for senior cycle students.

I can recall the one and only ‘facts of life’ class given to me and my classmates in sixth year. Presumably, it was meant to prepare us for the big bad world. But, in reality, it wouldn’t have made us in the least bit savvy.

We were dependent on school yard disclosures from our peers to learn about sex. Our poor headmistress, who was considered quite progressive in the education field, told us that it was alright to sit on our fiancé’s lap. I don’t think she stipulated that a telephone directory should be placed between both parties, but it wouldn’t have surprised us if she had done so.

‘Daisy’, the name she was known by, may have encouraged her students to study physics and chemistry at a time when science was largely seen as the preserve of males, but when it came to the birds and the bees, she wasn’t even at junior biology level.

The big fear was unwanted pregnancy. Paradoxically, perhaps, early sex education results in less teen pregnancies. That’s according to Dutch foundation, Rutgers, a sexual research unit.

Dutch kids receive sex education earlier and choose to have sex later than other European teenagers, generally at 17. Their sexual encounters are viewed as positive and wanted, whereas in the U.S, nearly two thirds of sexually-active teens surveyed said they wished they had waited longer to have sex.

Research from Rutgers also shows that the majority of young people in the Netherlands use some form of protection when having sex. They have relatively low rates of HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases.

What’s not to like about the Dutch way?

Parents in that country tend to openly discuss sex and their adolescents’ romantic or sexual relationships.

By the age of just four, kids in the Netherlands discuss their bodies in class.

By the time they are teenagers, formal sex education zones in on having positive relationships, negotiating with partners and using contraception.

This is a far cry from Ireland, where discussing sex with parents and teachers is almost taboo.

Since 2012, age-appropriate sex education is compulsory – and it includes gender identity issues. It’s all about helping young people to make well-informed choices.

At age four to five, Rutgers’ curriculum focuses on feelings and being a boy versus a girl. At seven, respect and attraction are discussed and same sex attraction is talked about at eight and nine.

That may seem very young to us, but that’s because much of the discourse around sex here is mired in shame. However, a big part of Rutgers’ message is about feeling positive and having open communication.

At ages 10-11, Dutch kids learn about changes during puberty, love and dating.

Teenagers learn not just about the biological aspects of reproduction but also, values, communication and negotiation skills.

Here, library workers have been harassed by far right protestors objecting to the availability of what they describe as ‘pornographic’ books related to LGBTQ+ issues.

Could we all please grow up?