The most important of these rights is the right of adolescents to access sexual and reproductive health information and services (consulting a specialist, use of condoms, and other rights...).
But what is the relationship between sexual health and sexual education?
It is absolutely clear that sexual education is the backbone of sexual health.
Shocks and misinformation
This is probably reflected in cases that seek solutions from specialists to “problems” accumulated owing to unprotected sexual intercourse with multiple partners or even shocks at reality that is different from what is seen on platforms publishing pornographic content.
In this context, sexologist and intimacy coach, Dr. Lina Atallah, indicated that most of the information comes from the Internet, TV, pornographic films, and the social media. Therefore, they acquire wrong information from an early age, based on the cases she has dealt with involving people in their twenties, thirties, and forties and the problems they suffer from.
Similarly, Suzanne Dlebtany, the head of the intermediate classes at the Besançon School in Kfour Kesrwan, stated that children are exposed to pornographic content on IPADs and other devices, and maintained that this is witnessed even in primary classes where students’ ages range from 6 to 11 years.
Pornographic films can be easily watched!
Regarding websites that publish pornographic content, things are different considering that they make up 4% of the websites. Today, nearly 2.5 million people visit the world’s most popular pornographic sites every 60 seconds.
In 2018, almost 109 billion videos were watched on PornHub alone, at an average of more than 14 videos per person in the world.
These figures illustrate part of the landscape, especially that users can use VPN to watch pornography anonymously, which did not exist previously.
This industry has become widespread in the world, with a number of applications attracting millions or even tens of millions of users as OnlyFans. Many porn actors produce special materials for their followers for subscriptions that increase with the privileges offered.
This is about paid porn websites, but piracy and unauthorized reproduction targeting pornographic sites aggravate the issue as it is now possible to easily watch video clips on various platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) for free. Also, a number of pornographic actors are posting haul videos for their films on this platform without charging any subscription fees.
It should be noted that the platform adopts a policy of reporting any content that is sensitive or possibly harmful to followers, and prevents those under the age of 13 from logging in (misrepresenting the user’s age is not impossible), while those below this age can log in to the application and browse any content.
“A lot of questions” are part of sexual education
With the increasing spread of this content across the globe, the Besançon Catholic School starts to teach Grade 8 students life sciences in a book entitled Reproduction in which all questions on the bodies of girls and boys are discussed. In addition, religious education is provided to raise awareness of the need to respect the bodies of other people and to consider that these are not commodities anyone can touch.
Dlebtany indicated that students have many questions on these topics, especially homosexuality and related details. In this connection, she says, “Of course I update them on these topics with the latest news. For example, several months ago, Pope Francis allowed transgender people and babies of same-sex parents to be baptized, but with the consent of the couple, which I informed Grade 9 students on. I usually choose the classes that can cope with such topics.” She added saying: “I don't know... I think it is part of sexual education, but at least we are discussing topics we did not deal with before.”
On October 31, 2023, the Vatican’s Doctrine Department issued a set of rules that allow the baptism of children of same-sex couples as long as there is a “well-founded hope that he or she will be educated in the Catholic religion”, in addition to allowing children who are considered transgender to be baptized if they are “well prepared and willing.”
“Sexual education” is a need that cannot be met!
Regarding the need to provide sexual education at schools, the head of the intermediate classes said, “It is possible. This has become a need, but it is absolutely impossible. It is not possible to work on it this year. I am thinking of going far in this matter.” She pointed out to the riskiness of such a move if it is not deliberate because, for her, “We could be raising the awareness of people about things they are not informed about, and we should know how we are supposed to deal with such material.”
On the other hand, WHO has pointed out to clear evidence suggesting that abstinence-only programs - which urge young people not to have sex outside marriage - are ineffective in preventing early sexual activity and risk-taking behavior, and may be harmful to their sexual and reproductive health.
In this context, Dr. Atallah emphasizes the main role of parental education in a child’s life. According to her, it is necessary for parents to be ready for a minimum discussion of the basics of sexual health with their children from a young age, specifically between the ages of 7 and 8 years.
Among the topics that are supposed to be discussed, the sexologist lists the following: “What are the body parts for a girl and a boy? What are the differences between them? Consequently, we assure them that they own their bodies. Why is this important? When we start talking about sexual harassment, we do so to make them understand what it means to be subjected to harassment or to have one’s body be looked at in the wrong way.”
She added saying, “Even when someone says this is a secret between you and me, these statements should serve as a warning to be heeded. We raise awareness from these ages and provide guidance until the age of 12, when sexual education becomes necessary.”
As for parents who are not ready for this move or comfortable with it, Dr. Atallah calls on parents to seek out specialists to discuss these basic details with them and their children and raise their awareness.
Is this enough?
In a related matter, these moves are made in the context of awareness raising, while girls face serious cases resulting from either early marriage, occasional sexual intercourse with boys of their age, or even rape (especially by adults, whether as a group or individuals).
This does not only apply to girls, but it also applies to children who are subjected to harassment and even rape, due to its far-reaching consequences. The most prominent example is the case of the retired soldier who perpetrated sexual offences against children in early July 2022 in Al-Qaa village.
Teens experience hormonal surges in early adolescence, knowing that this stage extends from the ages of 8 to 14 years for boys and girls, which prevents them from coping with abuse at a time they have not discovered their bodies yet.
Accordingly, Dr. Atallah says that during an unplanned pregnancy, girls are supposed to consult gynecologists to make sure that their bodies can carry the fetus. They should also do a number of tests to make sure that the fetus is growing well. She also referred to the need to ensure they are not drinking alcohol one to two months before and during pregnancy.
In addition, Atallah favors consulting a psychotherapist because pregnant women in their twenties and thirties suffer from stress in general, especially with all the hormonal and physical changes they undergo.
Prominent roles!
She asked: “What if the teenager was still on a journey of self-discovery? Hence the importance of psychotherapist assistance in helping her at this critical stage cope with feelings and negative thoughts in a society that holds unfavorable views in such situations in particular.” She expressed the same opinion regarding adolescent boys who face similar situations.
Therefore, specialists can play crucial and different roles in the course of sexual education, each of which is focused on a specific stage in the child’s life, starting from the family, school, training by specialists, down to follow-up by those addressing the consequences of children’s sexual activities.