By Scholar Elo
I read Mr. Adelowo Adebumiti’s article entitled: ‘‘Why sex education is key to reducing gender-based violence’’ (The Guardian, Thursday, October 29, 2020) with great delight. Great delight because I am a teenager myself and very conversant with the subject matter. First, I must say that the writer’s interest on sex education is quite laudable.
The writer made reference to Mr. Julius Opara’s endorsement of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). He says, “CSE will provide an opportunity to present sexuality with a ‘positive approach emphasizing values such as respect, inclusion, non-discrimination, equality.” I beg to disagree. CSE is not the necessary curriculum for addressing the issue of sexual and gender based violence. Why? Because the word ‘comprehensive’ suggests a very complicated and unnecessary information about sexuality as a whole. In fact, the American College of Paediatricians has said that CSE is one of the greatest assaults on the health and innocence of children.
This is because unlike
traditional sexuality education, CSE is highly explicit and promotes
promiscuity and high-risk sexual behaviours among children and teenagers like
me. CSE programs have an almost obsessive focus on teaching children how to
obtain sexual pleasure in various ways. Yet, ironically, CSE programmes are
anything but less than comprehensive as they fail to teach children about all
of the emotional, psychological and physical health risks of promiscuous sexual
activity. Please visit this site https://youtu.be/6yTvdCHgEHQ view
this 11 minutes video to see evidence of the harmful elements of CSE.
The video is just 15 harmful elements typically found in CSE curricula. Since each of these 15 harmful elements has the potential of causing long-term negative effects on the health and well-being of children, having even one of these elements should be reason enough to disqualify a programme from being taught to children in schools. CSE harms children in the following ways and therefore should be banned in our schools.
Sexualizes children; teaches children to
consent to sex; normalizes anal and oral sex: promotes homosexual / bisexual
behaviour; promotes sexual pleasure; promotes solo and/or mutual masturbation;
promotes condom use in inappropriate ways; promotes early sexual autonomy;
fails to establish abstinence as the expected standard; promotes transgender ideology;
promotes contraception and abortion to children; promotes peer-to-peer sex
education or sexual rights advocacy; undermines traditional values and beliefs;
undermines parents or parental rights; refers children to harmful resources.
These are not invented by me. Please
visit: www.waronchildren.org and www.investigateippf.org)
It is undeniable that the family has a major role in tackling the crisis of sexual violence in Nigeria. As the head teacher of Heritage School Ipaja, Adeyemi Victoria Omolara rightly stated: “The education system is not in need of a new curriculum to address sex education. Rather it must be instilled from a young age through deliberate actions of parents and guardians.” Regrettably in the past few years many rape cases have been reported across Nigeria.
Even our university campuses and institutions of higher
learning which were once singled out as sane institutions for the acquisition
of knowledge and inculcation of character have been turned into hideouts for
gang-raping, sexual gratification and sex hawking. If a lecturer is not
demanding for sex from a hapless female student as a precondition to award her
a pass mark after an exam, some irresponsible male students and cultist are
laying an ambush somewhere to gang rape a female student.
What I deduce from the above is that we now live in a highly-sexualised
society. And one of the negative consequences of this is the sexualisation of
primary school pupils, secondary school pupils and university students. A
female student’s value now comes only from her sexual appeal. The physical
attractiveness of a girl is equated with being sexy.
In commercial adverts,
fashion, video games, movies, modelling and on the Internet, females are
portrayed in a sexual manner with revealing clothes and facial expressions that
imply readiness for sex. Any small boy who calls himself an entertainer can
afford to recruit dozens of female students to mount the stage and dance
half-naked, all in the name of entertainment. Most companies are even marketing
and distributing their products with photographs of skimpy-dressed ladies.
Worst still, some female students of some universities have turned their
hostels into brothels where men from all walks of life could easily gain access
and sexually patronise them. Others prefer to take to the streets in the
evenings to indulge in sex hawking. Besides, our various university campuses
are flooded with pornographic magazines, music, videos and even pornographic
clubs. A few years ago, an alarm was raised that some female students of a
famous university were selling their eggs to willing buyers just to make quick
money for themselves.
These are
caused by unnecessary exposure of young people to sex education.
Consequently, beyond the usual lamentation, we call on all stakeholders to stop
the teaching of CSE in all schools. If sexual immorality is abhorred in many
parts of Nigeria, why teach young children how to ‘enjoy’ sex all in the name
of CSE? We must understand that girls are not sex objects meant for the satisfaction
of the lower instincts. Like boys, girls possess their noble dignities and
rights which must be respected. Under the Nigerian law, the various sexual
perversities and sexual assaults are punishable and in most cases without the
option of a fine.
In today’s society pre-teens, teens, teenagers and young adults
are bombarded with the tragically misguided belief that sex outside marriage
and the resultant abortion hold no dangers for them. At every turn — TV, music,
movies, public education — young people are encouraged to have sex, in all of
its deviant forms, with no fear of anything. And if a pregnancy results from it
they should procure abortion. Abortion is sold as a safe, easy and painless way
to rid them of the unwanted “product of conception. This is not true. Abortion
is the greatest violence against women and girls.
A common error is to think that mere knowledge and information through sex
education are enough, whereas even the best sexual information won’t make
anyone chaste; the powerful sex appetite must be reined in by self-control,
spiritual formation and religious practice.
In conclusion, action speaks louder than voice. Let children grow
with the values inculcated in them by their parents. There is no need for a
complicated/promiscuous sex education curriculum that corrupts the character of
children
*Elo lives in Surulere, Lagos.
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