Sex education: Is it an urgent matter or a shameful act of Satan? [Archives:2004/755/Community]

By Salem Al-Majedi
For the Yemen Times
Certainly everyone of us occasionally has a strong desire towards anything that is vague, especially things are prohibited or labeled as “Dangerous Do not come closer” because for some, they are secrets that must be kept deep inside closed boxes.
We refer here to sex education, which ought to constitute an essential part of our cultural awareness in our social lives. Sexual organs planted in our bodies could not be simply ignored permanently, despite our endeavors. These organs, sometimes referred to as sexual genitals for both sex genders (male and female) were created by God for a reason He knows and we do not. God has called upon us to ask and to inquire about the things we are unfamiliar with related to our religion and life from those who may have learned or have been inspired, as it says in Quran, ” You may ask those who know if you do not know”.
Despite that, we have deprived ourselves and our children of the rights of searching for appropriate answers to unclear questions and mysteries and investigate things that we ourselves have labeled as prohibited. Ironically, we have permitted the prohibited and have prohibited the permitted. Ironically, many of us get overwhelmingly excited when we hear of stories of people practicing adultery, depravity and molestation and illegitimate sex, while many parents get shocks when their son or daughter asks about hard to understand but yet very still permissible issues related to sex education.
When a student asks his teacher, or when somebody asks an intellectual or religious cleric, about the physical changes he or she is going through before reaching puberty, they are deprived of the right to know the reasons behind that or to receive an appropriate but true explanation of such development.
Literate and illiterate individuals continue to look upon such issues as issues that must not be discussed and for many of us even approaching or attempting to refer to such issues is considered by itself a deviation from normal behavior, ethics and the values of religion. This is primarily due to the lack of awareness in Yemeni society in particular and Arab societies in general.
When a student surprisingly asks his or her teacher about verses in the Holy Qur'an referring to the penis, testicles or their jobs, what would be the teacher's reply to such questions? What would be a teacher's explanation of what the definitions are of “specimen and sperm”, as referred to in a verse of the Holy Quran? What would be the teacher's explanation of a girl's question about menstruation or childbirth?
These are some of issues that are directly connected to the physical body changes for both boys and girls during the teenage years. They must know fully what these changes are before they fall into a trap filled with dangerous consequences when they grow to the age of getting married and they still do not know anything, simply because we are supposed to be a very conservative society. However, in the modern world they could fall under bad influences, considering the number of satellite channels that do not have any boundaries and do not bear any responsibility to give our children a proper education that coincides with our values, ethics and norms.
Sex education, as part of childhood policy, must be direct and clear whether it begins at home or at schools. Denying our children the answers to important questions must contribute to their deviation.

The lesson that generated a crisis at school
One day during my primary schooling, it was very unclear and unusual that our Islamic subject teacher who never missed any school day prior to the class was absent the day she was supposed to explain the subject involving sexual genitals. When the class was almost over, the principal came and told us just to read the subject at home. Of course, we did not understand anything of it. My own interpretation of subject (based on translation from Arabic) ” a pool filled with water to wash human souls”. As we later grew up, we found that that class was not actually fit for our age.

The opinion of some teachers
There were obvious disparities in opinions from one teacher to another. Mahyoub Al-Kamaly, a school principal, said there is no benefit of talking about this subject because we are a conservative society and not a western society. While Mr. Abdullah Saeed said that sex education is one of the important issues that need to be explained and taught at schools.
Some sociologists said that sex education should be approached more explicitly than implicitly for students at a certain critical age period.
Dr. Ezat Kareem, a sociologist in Egypt, said that explanation falls on the hand of teachers who must be persuasive in conveying the message without having to be embarrassed since it is a social issue that is mentioned in the Quran. The teachers, however, must to convey the lesson scientifically. She thinks that there must be coordination between teachers and parents in order to make sure the children have understood fully and correctly the subject.
Sex education will always remain an issue of disparity. It will vary depending on level of awareness of the society.
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