We need to rethink sex education: Thai editorial

[webfact]

EDITORIAL
We need to rethink sex education
The Nation

Thailand has the second-highest teenage pregnancy rate in Asean; obsolete and hypocritical attitudes are to blame

BANGKOK: -- The new year brought fresh bad news concerning the high number of Thai teenage mothers. With 54 pregnancies for every 100,000 girls under 18, Thailand's ratio of young mothers is second only to Laos in Southeast Asia. Needless to say, the ratio exceeds World Health Organisation guidelines. Did we see it coming? Perhaps. Had we done our best to pre-empt the problem? No.

There is no lack of evidence to suggest teenage pregnancy is a serious issue for Thailand. The 2013 National Statistics Office was just the latest reminder. A 2006 study showed that 43 per cent of young mothers in emergency homes were aged between 14 and 20, with another 34.7 per cent under 14. In 2010 the Health Ministry revealed that an estimated 700 Thais between 15 and 19 were getting pregnant every day, and half of them sought abortions. Despite almost a decade of warnings, the problem seems to be getting worse.

Stories of teen mothers make headlines only occasionally but create "moral panic" every time. The scandalised public soon forgets, though. The discovery of some 2,000 foetuses at Pai Ngern Temple in 2010, for example, made national news that brought an outcry over unwanted pregnancy among teens. Had policymakers and authorities followed up, the situation could have been improved.

The issue requires everyone's attention because it affects not just young mothers and newborns but also society as a whole. To begin, we must stop living in denial. The issue should be discussed openly and thoroughly, not swept under a rug with the "taboos" of abortion and prostitution.

We can learn from neighbours like Malaysia and Indonesia, whose readiness to admit a problem and take action has seen their teen pregnancy rates fall sharply. We must do the same.

Sex is still considered "dirty", something that adults seldom discuss openly with each other, let alone with their kids. Alcohol and drugs are often blamed for causing unwanted pregnancies among teens, but more significant is that youngsters lack basic knowledge about sex. Authorities and the media rarely portray the issue in a positive light, preferring sensationalised and judgmental stories about, for example, teens planning to have sex on St Valentine's Day.

Neither do schools provide much guidance. Thai sex education is either hypocritical or obsolete, left behind in an age when youngsters can see anything they want via the Internet. Guidance offered by campaigns such as Khoo Mue Wai Sai and Yued Ok Pok Tung (Proudly Carrying Condoms) were viewed by many adults as promoting sexual activity.

The fact is that Thai teens have always been sexually active. Our choice is to teach them to take responsibility and protect themselves, or to keep sex a taboo topic and never talk about it. The answer is plain from the alarming statistics.

It is time for our policymakers to rethink sex education. Teenagers deserve better guidance, and related agencies must summon the political will to provide it. Our obsolete and often hypocritical mindset, if anything, worsens the situation. No single sector of society is to blame. It is time we stopped pointing fingers and came up with a comprehensive action plan that tackles this scourge on society.


-- The Nation 2014-01-08

[EricBerg]

"Had we done our best to pre-empt the problem? No."

That about sums it up for most major problems. Be it teen pregnancies, traffic accidents, rice scheme, corruption , education etc.

[Noi657]

Bit more effort Thailand and you can claim another number one spot!

[simple1]

Still quoting the erroneous statistic of 54 pregnancies per 100,000 that should read '54 pregnancies per 1,000'.

[Bullie]

Thailand finally has a chance to become the hub of something.

[JoeThePoster]

Did we see it coming?

Probably not, takes some time and a couple of months till the bump really shows.

[maidee]

Too many horny men that cannot keep it in their pants or use protection

just see how thais love drink and drive

same goes for sex

never think about tomorrow

[Costas2008]

"Sex is still considered "dirty", something that adults seldom discuss openly with each other"

Just do it.....don't talk about it!

[nong38]

Sex education is one subject what about all the rest of the subjects? They spend years learning and come out of the system with an education that is just about useless in life, it does not prepare them for the lives outside of school and any knowledge gained stops at the border. Dont expect any changes any time soon.

[ginjag]

Sex education ??/ this should read Educate the parents on how to bring up children a first priority.

Classes for parents to attend. ???? poor grandmothers have to take the blunt of much of the backlash, as so many parents are just not interested.

[johnburger]

Yes definitely and also for road safety alcoholism corruption ect .....

[willyumiii]

Did we see it coming?

Probably not, takes some time and a couple of months till the bump really shows.

You can only see it coming if you pull it out first.

If you do it this way, there will be no pregnancy!

Now, that's sex education!

[Shancloudy]

Thailand is known as sex tourism which is tourist travel to Thailand to engage in sexual activity particularly with prostitutes. The truth is many Thais parents are selling their daughter into prostitution or they allowed their daughter to do that. The best thing to do is to educate the parents first. The government should have a program to persuade parents not to sell them into prostitution to counsel parents it is wrong to sell their own flesh and blood. Some parents are ashamed to admit they sold their daughter to work as prostitute and insist they thought the girls were going to work as waitresses.

In this scenario the girls are not aware to their virginity they think that its okay to do sex at early age. Sad but true. How they can stop the early pregnancy if they will continue allowing the teenagers to do that.Parents play a vital role in the society. Parents strengths and optimism can be asset for their children. Ultimately, children are mirrored reflection of the life lived by their parents. If parents have a particular set of negative attitude, weaknesses, or negative habitual acts, then the children will develop such negative behaviors are increased. But if parents have developed positive habits, self talk and perceivable strengths, their children are placed in an advantageous position to develop self esteem.

Edited January 8, 2014 by Shancloudy

[kurnell]

Ask any Thai and they will still say they are gaeng maak! At everything.

[recycler]

Not "rethink", start thinking and doing something that works!

[recycler]

Thailand is known as sex tourism which is tourist travel to Thailand to engage in sexual activity particularly with prostitutes. The truth is many Thais parents are selling their daughter into prostitution or they allowed their daughter to do that. The best thing to do is to educate the parents first. The government should have a program to persuade parents not to sell them into prostitution to counsel parents it is wrong to sell their own flesh and blood. Some parents are ashamed to admit they sold their daughter to work as prostitute and insist they thought the girls were going to work as waitresses.

In this scenario the girls are not aware to their virginity they think that its okay to do sex at early age. Sad but true. How they can stop the early pregnancy if they will continue allowing the teenagers to do that.Parents play a vital role in the society. Parents strengths and optimism can be asset for their children. Ultimately, children are mirrored reflection of the life lived by their parents. If parents have a particular set of negative attitude, weaknesses, or negative habitual acts, then the children will develop such negative behaviors are increased. But if parents have developed positive habits, self talk and perceivable strengths, their children are placed in an advantageous position to develop self esteem.

Maybe if the government would pay more than the market price, or did we have such a scheme already?

[willyumiii]

Thais want everything to be fun, or sanook, including education.

How to make sex education fun?

An ex girlfriend of mine, while in college was required to teach sex education to teen age girls as part of her curriculum.

To make it "fun" she passed out condoms and bananas to each girl in class.

She then showed them how to put a condom on using nothing but their mouth.

The girls had a lot of fun practicing with their bananas.

Some of the girls later reported to her that their boyfriends who previously refused to use a condom, let them try this method and liked it!

The Thai government is handing out condoms like candy and there are bananas everywhere in Thailand.

Why not give it a try??

The funny thing to me is that my girlfriend never once asked me to use a condom!

Edited February 8, 2015 by Lite Beer

[DocN]

You don't need to rethink sex-education, if you actually never really thought about it, in the first place...

[Spalpeen]

Still quoting the erroneous statistic of 54 pregnancies per 100,000 that should read '54 pregnancies per 1,000'.

.

That's what I was thinking, although I'd put the true figure closer to 54 per 100. It's not sex education the Thais need. They seem to understand that quite well. It's education in general that's needed.

[Shancloudy]

Thailand is known as sex tourism which is tourist travel to Thailand to engage in sexual activity particularly with prostitutes. The truth is many Thais parents are selling their daughter into prostitution or they allowed their daughter to do that. The best thing to do is to educate the parents first. The government should have a program to persuade parents not to sell them into prostitution to counsel parents it is wrong to sell their own flesh and blood. Some parents are ashamed to admit they sold their daughter to work as prostitute and insist they thought the girls were going to work as waitresses.

In this scenario the girls are not aware to their virginity they think that its okay to do sex at early age. Sad but true. How they can stop the early pregnancy if they will continue allowing the teenagers to do that.Parents play a vital role in the society. Parents strengths and optimism can be asset for their children. Ultimately, children are mirrored reflection of the life lived by their parents. If parents have a particular set of negative attitude, weaknesses, or negative habitual acts, then the children will develop such negative behaviors are increased. But if parents have developed positive habits, self talk and perceivable strengths, their children are placed in an advantageous position to develop self esteem.

Maybe if the government would pay more than the market price, or did we have such a scheme already?

Yeah, I think so.

[DocN]

Thailand is known as sex tourism which is tourist travel to Thailand to engage in sexual activity particularly with prostitutes. The truth is many Thais parents are selling their daughter into prostitution or they allowed their daughter to do that. The best thing to do is to educate the parents first. The government should have a program to persuade parents not to sell them into prostitution to counsel parents it is wrong to sell their own flesh and blood. Some parents are ashamed to admit they sold their daughter to work as prostitute and insist they thought the girls were going to work as waitresses.

In this scenario the girls are not aware to their virginity they think that its okay to do sex at early age. Sad but true. How they can stop the early pregnancy if they will continue allowing the teenagers to do that.Parents play a vital role in the society. Parents strengths and optimism can be asset for their children. Ultimately, children are mirrored reflection of the life lived by their parents. If parents have a particular set of negative attitude, weaknesses, or negative habitual acts, then the children will develop such negative behaviors are increased. But if parents have developed positive habits, self talk and perceivable strengths, their children are placed in an advantageous position to develop self esteem.

The sex-industry that actually caters to sex- tourists, is probably below 5% of the whole sex- industry, which absolutely and mainly caters to Thai- men!

What Thailand needs is to a) accept, that prostitution on all levels is actually happening (I have an elder female colleague, who basically negates the existence of Patpong...although or office is at the corner of Patpong 1) and b ) a concentrated effort of schools and the government to educate children about sex. Which needs c) the general willingness to accept that sex exists, in the real world and that teen pregnancy from neighbors/ uncles/fathers etc bonking your underaged daughter actually is a problem!

Good luck with that!

[Toscano]

In about the last 5 years , in my area of Isaan , every village now has a SEX MOTEL . When I ask who uses them , I am told it is mostly the teenagers .

I have heard tell of a school headmaster who took senior girls to the nearby Sex Motel . I understand that high school girls and university students earn

extra money having sex at anything from bt300 to bt1000 . It is true that many mature parents in their 40s don't discuss sex or really monitor what their

children are doing . Years ago before the pill , when condoms were not on the shop cash counter , it was a taboo and family disgrace for a daughter to get pregnant . Today , I believe that girls and boys know too much about sex at an early age , modern sex education is as much to blame for unwanted

pregnancies .

[thousandpercent]

You misread the article. It's about "sex education", not "sexist education". Your post is degrading to women because you think they don't have agency or responsibility for their own actions. You make woman sound like infants. It also degeading to men because you see them as ignorant sexual predators. Given that women have many more and better choices for family planning, and far more control over pregnancy and children, they have at least as much responsibilty to "keep it in their pants or use protection". Given your attitude, you have probably never experienced a horny woman, but with men who respect them, women are just as horny as men. And while you have probably never respected them, most men do.

Too many horny men that cannot keep it in their pants or use protection

just see how thais love drink and drive

same goes for sex

never think about tomorrow

Sent from my GT-N5120 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[seajae]

when older thai men can rape an underage girl then "buy" her from her parents for bugger all so they are not charged with rape it is simply unmanageable. There are too many families that teach their sons that they can do as they please with no consequences, its time for the law to be upheld and parents made responsible for what they do regarding their children.

[expat888]

This is just one out of many problems that Thailand has that is seeded within their culture.

Change the culture? Never happen. Maybe when pigs fly.

[Shancloudy]

Thailand is known as sex tourism which is tourist travel to Thailand to engage in sexual activity particularly with prostitutes. The truth is many Thais parents are selling their daughter into prostitution or they allowed their daughter to do that. The best thing to do is to educate the parents first. The government should have a program to persuade parents not to sell them into prostitution to counsel parents it is wrong to sell their own flesh and blood. Some parents are ashamed to admit they sold their daughter to work as prostitute and insist they thought the girls were going to work as waitresses.

In this scenario the girls are not aware to their virginity they think that its okay to do sex at early age. Sad but true. How they can stop the early pregnancy if they will continue allowing the teenagers to do that.Parents play a vital role in the society. Parents strengths and optimism can be asset for their children. Ultimately, children are mirrored reflection of the life lived by their parents. If parents have a particular set of negative attitude, weaknesses, or negative habitual acts, then the children will develop such negative behaviors are increased. But if parents have developed positive habits, self talk and perceivable strengths, their children are placed in an advantageous position to develop self esteem.

The sex-industry that actually caters to sex- tourists, is probably below 5% of the whole sex- industry, which absolutely and mainly caters to Thai- men!

What Thailand needs is to a) accept, that prostitution on all levels is actually happening (I have an elder female colleague, who basically negates the existence of Patpong...although or office is at the corner of Patpong 1) and b ) a concentrated effort of schools and the government to educate children about sex. Which needs c) the general willingness to accept that sex exists, in the real world and that teen pregnancy from neighbors/ uncles/fathers etc bonking your underaged daughter actually is a problem!

Good luck with that!

Of course sex exists, but women here should understand that they can't do sex to all men what I'm trying to emphasize is try to reserve themselves to the right man or for the man they love. The problem here is their attitude most teenagers are very eager to do sex without thinking the outcome. Many students don't even know how to sit properly or they don't care even their classmates (boys) can touch their body. The most shocking is after talking sex they will not attend the class in the afternoon and they will go to motel. That's why I said earlier that parents should teach their children how to act properly and how to take care themselves.

[DocN]

Thailand is known as sex tourism which is tourist travel to Thailand to engage in sexual activity particularly with prostitutes. The truth is many Thais parents are selling their daughter into prostitution or they allowed their daughter to do that. The best thing to do is to educate the parents first. The government should have a program to persuade parents not to sell them into prostitution to counsel parents it is wrong to sell their own flesh and blood. Some parents are ashamed to admit they sold their daughter to work as prostitute and insist they thought the girls were going to work as waitresses.

In this scenario the girls are not aware to their virginity they think that its okay to do sex at early age. Sad but true. How they can stop the early pregnancy if they will continue allowing the teenagers to do that.Parents play a vital role in the society. Parents strengths and optimism can be asset for their children. Ultimately, children are mirrored reflection of the life lived by their parents. If parents have a particular set of negative attitude, weaknesses, or negative habitual acts, then the children will develop such negative behaviors are increased. But if parents have developed positive habits, self talk and perceivable strengths, their children are placed in an advantageous position to develop self esteem.

The sex-industry that actually caters to sex- tourists, is probably below 5% of the whole sex- industry, which absolutely and mainly caters to Thai- men!

What Thailand needs is to a) accept, that prostitution on all levels is actually happening (I have an elder female colleague, who basically negates the existence of Patpong...although or office is at the corner of Patpong 1) and b ) a concentrated effort of schools and the government to educate children about sex. Which needs c) the general willingness to accept that sex exists, in the real world and that teen pregnancy from neighbors/ uncles/fathers etc bonking your underaged daughter actually is a problem!

Good luck with that!

Of course sex exists, but women here should understand that they can't do sex to all men what I'm trying to emphasize is try to reserve themselves to the right man or for the man they love. The problem here is their attitude most teenagers are very eager to do sex without thinking the outcome. Many students don't even know how to sit properly or they don't care even their classmates (boys) can touch their body. The most shocking is after talking sex they will not attend the class in the afternoon and they will go to motel. That's why I said earlier that parents should teach their children how to act properly and how to take care themselves.

...ahm...yeah...and some don't even say prayers before having a meal!

[marcusd]

I think it already is well know for this..

[marcusd]

"Sex is still considered "dirty", something that adults seldom discuss openly with each other"

Just do it.....don't talk about it!

don't show any parts.., just let anyone olay

Sent from my RM-892_apac_laos_thailand_219 using Tapatalk

[Emster23]

I seem to recall an article about sex ed test they gave students here. Something like "You feel the urge to have sex. What should you do?" and the correct answer (multiple choice) was "Go play some basketball". Not kidding.

A major issue with education and mind set is that so many can not think more than 20 minutes into the future. They don't think "What will I do if I get pregnant?", etc. I taught at High School with teen clinic. In a basket by the door were lots of condoms, no questions asked and even encouraged. "Better to have and not need than need and not have".