Condom Proposal Shows We're At A Social Crossroad: Thai Editorial

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EDITORIAL

Condom proposal shows we're at a social crossroad

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Underage sex, unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease: education and enlightened attitudes are the only answer to these problems

After watching an evening TV soap opera with her family, a teenage girl tweeted, "It was quite awkward watching that scene with Mum and Grandma."

"That scene", in which a male character was apparently masturbating, was a rare one in Thai soap operas, but few eyebrows were raised.

What was shown on TV and the girl's reaction only confirm what we already know - that the world has drastically changed since the days when her mother was the same age. There is probably nothing we can do about this, apart from helping our youngsters go best with the flow.

Nowadays, parents cannot effectively prevent their children from being exposed to sexual content in the all-pervasive media. A few decades ago even "naughty" boys had to wait their turn to get their hands on the only Playboy magazine circulating around the classroom. Today, if you censor your kids' access to the home computer, they will switch to their smart-phone or tablet. If you censor their smart-phone or tablet, they will turn to their friends' gadgets. In the past, pornography was smuggled into homes or schools like drugs. Today it lies waiting in a mobile phone, just a metre away from a teacher in class, or on the dinner table at home.

This week many parents gaped at health officials who said they want to encourage female teens to carry condoms. It's another daring proposal for conservative Thai society, and the reaction is understandable. The thought of girls who have just stopped playing with dolls being advised to carry condoms in their pockets is simply too much for a lot of fathers and mothers. They think, as most parents do, that their children are well behaved, and that "bad things" only happen to someone else's daughters.

Promoting condom use among young people in Thailand has always been controversial. Many parents remain confident that good upbringing can prevent premature sexual relations. The truth is that teaching safe sex is the safest bet, no matter how well behaved one's son or daughter appears to be.

Just as you didn't smoke in front of your parents when you were young, today's kids don't kiss their boyfriends or girlfriends in front of you either. Like it or not, condoms are the equivalent of the automobile safety belt. You'd better fasten your belt, no matter how fast your car goes.

But why focus on girls and not boys? To the advocates of the idea, the answer is simple: even if eight out of ten boys are carrying condoms, unlucky girls will end up in bed with the ones who don't have them. Advising girls to carry condoms is the same concept as educating them about contraceptive pills. Aside from preventing unwanted pregnancy, condom users will have better protection against sexually transmitted diseases.

The idea of teenage girls carrying condoms, though, still flies in the face of the fact that only a small percentage of adult women regularly carry condoms in their pockets or purses. On one hand, one can argue that female adults are more sexually discreet. On the other hand, conservative Thais can't get over the thought that girls who carry condoms are "bad girls".

The dilemma is underlined by various posts on the Internet, like the one entitled "Will I be safe or just a slut?"

Conservatives deplore this "slippery slope". Teaching girls at an early age to use contraceptive pills is hard enough for them to accept, but encouraging them to carry condoms is pushing things too far.

At the end of the day, it should be about individual choice. Like seatbelts, condoms can prevent something "bad" from happening. Also like seatbelts, condoms might tempt those who have them to go a little farther and faster. But unlike seatbelts, condoms do not give young users a total sense of security - because much of society still frowns upon the idea. Perhaps it's time we did give younger people that sense of security.

The condom proposal, however, confirms that Thailand is at a social crossroads, whether we like it or not.

-- The Nation 2012-11-17

[BookMan]

The wearing of a seatbelt in Thailand as an analogy seemed a bit odd

[endure]

While the fact that the middle classes are stuck in that time warp where the writer of the article mentions Playboy magazine as some sort of moral boundary makes you wonder just which planet they live on?

[tominbkk]

Genitals are making contact, whether you allow their owners access to condoms or not.

[jerrysteve]

There is no question that condoms are necessary especially for the femaile gender. The fact of the matter which is not mentioned in the ariticle is there are SEVERAL VENEREAL DISEASES a woman can have and not even know they have it, where as the male gender knows when he has a Venerial Disease and feels the discomfort

either within a matter of hours or a few days...and of course with syphilis & there a sore which appears within a couple days which is visible and painful. Gonorrhea which comes on within hours for a man and we as men feel it, but no so for a woman. There are others as well. Herpes is easy to detect for on man, and so forth and so forth.

I am suprised there isn't a manditory course on sex education in all Thai High Schools. If therl e isn't one, there

should as heck should be one.

[mike123ca]

As long as Thai men or boys who are not married

having zero responsibility towards the upkeep of the child.

Then why will they want to take extra precautions.

An unwanted child is not legally their problem, so why

bother to man up and take responsibility.

I think things will not change unfortunately anytime

soon.

[DocN]

It doesn't show, that Thailand is at a crossroad!

It shows that Thailand is in the slow lane (or even parking lot) why everybody else is moving!

[jaltsc]

"I am surprised there isn't a mandatory course on sex education in all Thai High Schools. If there isn't one, there should as heck should be one."

And...Who do you propose teaches these courses? It's not just having knowledge of the subject. It's being trained to teach it to young students. I doubt that there is any university which trains teachers in this subject.

Also, as in the U.S., there will be the idiot parents who will fight against schools teaching about this subject and insist that the home is the only place where sex education should be taught..And their idea of sex education consists of: "Don't do it until you are married".

Add this to a culture that equates accepting dinner and a drink followed by rape, to consensual sex, and one can see the barriers facing this proposal.

[Payboy]

So, all that IP blocking is not working?

[asiawatcher]

Condoms for girls are a far better option than the pill. Education is far better again. My wife (bless her) has no idea of the physiology or her own body yet holds a BA in education. Something is drastically wrong when an adult and a mother does not even understand the basics of the body. So what do they actually teach in Thai schools when they claim their science pass?

[hanuman2543]

The handout of condoms should stop the spreading of HIV and other STD's also. If the government then is able to make even unmarried fathers taking their responsiblities serious, and paying alimony for their children and creating more job opportunities there will be a chance to stop the neverending flow of young Thai women entering the "industry".

[fareastguy]

General education is at an all time low for the majority of kids in Thailand, so why do you expect sex education to be high on the agenda if at all.

As someone posted earlier, Thaialnds not at a crossroads, it's just reaching a position where the rest of the developing world was 30 years ago.

They just need to do some research on what other countries did, look at what the effects were over these last 30 odd years & choose the best option.

At least they have the benefit of hindsight in other countries trials & tribulations.

[somtampet]

Genitals are making contact, whether you allow their owners access to condoms or not.

what a short sighted statement,i bet u dont use condoms

[somtampet]

Condoms for girls are a far better option than the pill. Education is far better again. My wife (bless her) has no idea of the physiology or her own body yet holds a BA in education. Something is drastically wrong when an adult and a mother does not even understand the basics of the body. So what do they actually teach in Thai schools when they claim their science pass?

So what does she need to know,surely she knows about the advantages of using a condom,thats all that matters

[creck]

Genitals are making contact, whether you allow their owners access to condoms or not.

what a short sighted statement,i bet u dont use condoms

Nothing short sighted about that! It is clear sight for sure.

Some "Genitals are making contact" and access to condoms will help to prevent every contact being so hazardous.

[Payboy]

The only way out is to make Thailand the hub of oral sex.

[PoodMaiDai]

The wearing of a seatbelt in Thailand as an analogy seemed a bit odd

I'm a "ride in the back of a pick-up truck, full speed down the wrong way, with a drunk driver" type of guy myself.

But if we crash and I die, I have no one to blame but myself.