Thailand still IN DENIAL over teenage sex

[webfact]

EDITORIAL
Thailand still IN DENIAL over teenage sex

AND THAT MEANS OUR STAGGERING TEEN PREGNANCY RATE WILL KEEP CLIMBING

BANGKOK: -- The alarming rate of pregnancy among Thai teenagers has been a serious and growing problem for years and yet it never attracts more than "seasonal" attention from the authorities.

It's time to break our habit of addressing the problem only during festivals such as Valentine's Day and recognise that girls are getting pregnant every day. In 2012 alone, almost 130,000 Thai teens gave birth.

The good news is that the Public Health Ministry has acknowledged this is a major problem and has stepped up efforts to curb the rising pregnancy rate among teens. Alarmed by figures that show 5.38 per cent of those aged between 15 and 19 became pregnant in 2012, the ministry has decided to launch measures to tackle the issue, with a goal to reduce the rate to 5 per cent within two years.

Its three strategies are to provide proper sex education in schools, to set up teen clinics at state-owned hospitals, and to engage local administrative bodies as well as communities to join the effort in preventing unwanted pregnancy among youngsters.

Now that the ministry has taken the lead, we can expect progress in combating this problem. Authorities emphasise that the strategies require an integrated approach among health agencies, schools and communities.

Teenage pregnancy is not merely a health issue. Girls who get pregnant usually have to drop out of school, which effectively ends their chance of a good career and a bright future. Despite the country's overall low birth rate, the number of teenagers becoming pregnant has increased by 43 per cent in the last decade. It's time all of society pulled together to combat the problem - from parents, teachers, educators and policymakers to the teenagers themselves.

The strategies laid out by the ministry are laudable, but executing the plans is another matter. The major obstacle is the entrenched mindset

among the agencies dealing with the problem. Many base their actions on the assumption that teens are not (or should not be) sexually active. That assumption will jeopardise the execution of the plans.

First and foremost, the ministry has to ensure that every party to the plans is in agreement over the way forward. Earlier this year a ministry plan to install condom-vending machines in secondary schools and vocational colleges had to be scrapped after the National Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) rejected the idea. Obec didn't see it as a solution, apparently preferring to believe that teenagers shun sex.

Sex among teenagers is also a taboo subject for many schoolteachers and parents. But denying reality will not help us find solutions. To do so, we must eradicate the division that exists among government agencies and also acknowledge that the problem does exist.

Last but not least, youngsters must be educated on the risks of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. That sex education should be extended to both boys and girls, since teenage pregnancies will not be prevented without genuine understanding of the problem among both. Installing condom machines alone will do little. Youngsters must be made aware of their availability and given advice on how to use them.

The timeframe of two years is a short one, given that the ministry has a hard nut to crack even before the plans can be put into action. It must convince all stakeholders to agree on the nature of the problem they face and lay aside their differences in the effort to solve it. If any party still insists that sex education has no place in school curricula, they should be pointed towards the figures. Thailand had 2.4 million new mothers aged 15 to 19 in 2012, and that number has grown ever since. It's time to face up to this problem and deal with the causes.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Thailand-still-IN-DENIAL-over-teenage-sex-30260974.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-27

[ezzra]

Blame the proliferations of the many social media outlet that leaves very little for imaginations

boasting how easy and meaningless it is, and that if you're not in it, you're not cool...

morality has lost it's values long time ago, lust and greed and I want it now societies are

in vogue now.. not to mentions that the young's are maturing much quicker now days, and

so their sexual urges... no way, no government can put a stop to young people engaging

in unprotected sex....

[BigBadGeordie]

Article 44 req'd, that'll stop the buggers fornicating ;-)

[zakk9]

This is all nonsense. Teenage pregnancies have been the norm in Thailand always, and with the sinking fertility rate (I believe it's around 1.6 nowadays), due to the fact that educated city women get few or no kids, these pregnant girls are also important to keep the population at sustainable levels. It would of course be nice if all those teenagers would wait till after they finished their education before getting children, but with the education level in Thailand, it's hard to see how that would help them. Then one could claim that as they get older, they would become more mature and more suited to take care of children, but in my experience, that is not necessarily the case in this country. Adults and grandmothers are just as guilty when it comes to failed parenting, not to speak about malnutrition, here.

Fix the education system first, and include a few lessons in parenting and nutrition too, then start to worry about the age of the mothers.

[trogers]

"Girls who get pregnant usually have to drop out of school, which effectively ends their chance of a good career and a bright future."

Sex tourism gets a boost. And the bright future is a farang bird looks after the nest.

[jerojero]

Now that Ministry has taken lead, we can expect progress? Hahaha... oh my side is splitting!

[NongKhaiKid]

Now that Ministry has taken lead, we can expect progress? Hahaha... oh my side is splitting!

In a few months we can expect stats proving ' success '.

[EnzoRippo]

"Girls who get pregnant usually have to drop out of school, which effectively ends their chance of a good career and a bright future."

From what I see in the school of my daughters, this is EXACTLY the opposite => 1- Girls drop school 2=> Get pregnant.

Thus you can tell what you want at school, if the girl in danger are NOT at school, this is useless.

​Now, I feel that most of the Thai girls are extremely serious and careful. Far more than in the West.

[eeworldwide]

Hello and welcome to the 21st century.

This is happening worldwide and not just with Thailand. There are multiple factors at play here, culture, religion, education and hormones and the internet, to name just a few.

In terms of Thailand - this is a primarily Buddhist culture, so there's very little in terms of a proper moral compass, pointing the direction clearly in terms of relationships and moral ethic within relationships. This cannot be denied - since it is a well documented and evident fact that sexual immorality is rife within Thai culture, and not just with the unmarried.

This is not to take a religious bent on the issue - but it is a determining factor.

Therefore, there is not teaching that perhaps sex is something to be kept for marriage.

20 years ago, younger Thai girls of the middle class, were far less likely to have pre-marital sex, but that is changing rapidly with the current generation.

Sex is everywhere, and I'm not talking about P4P - I'm talking advertising and media as well as the internet.

The internet has to be brought into the equation, because now everyone has a smart phone at least, and everyone is looking at porn blogs and sexting etc etc and there is far more privacy for teens to engage in stimulation of either a textual or visual nature.

So this piques the sex drive at a younger age, and kids being kids, will always be fascinated and turned on by this.

Personally - I believe there is no real solution to this, because as we know, Thai culture and those in control of government policies and legislation are so terrifically blind, that they just cannot see that basic things like promoting safe sex by installing condom vending machines as a basic, is of course, a logical starting point.

The tidal wave of thought that it would be wrong to teach that sex in a married relationship is the best idea, has long washed away a more tradition moral standpoint, and thus, we are left with this result.

The murky area of age of consent etc, makes things more complicated, and the highly sexualised Thai culture with every conceivable sexuality under the sun thriving here, means you are tackling one of the biggest beasts of this country, and I for one believe it's like going to war with a mammoth, with our wielding only a paper sword as a weapon.

In this case, you would have to change the mindset of adult to actual give a fig about their kids, there would have to be proper sex education taught across the board, and you would have to change the mindset of the establishment.

Considering the fact that many older men have teenage giks, etc, I think it's highly unlikely that any real effort will be put into this, because privately and behind closed doors, they are probably quite happy that everyone is rutting.

[cornishcarlos]

A girl that we know got pregnant at 15, just couple months from taking her high school exams, which would have given her at least the basic quals. The school kicked her out because it looked bad for them !!!

There are many levels to this issue... Lets not even go down the relatives taking advantage of young girls road

[LannaGuy]

Article 44 req'd, that'll stop the buggers fornicating ;-)

if they're 'buggers' then there would be no pregnancies

[alant]

Blame the proliferations of the many social media outlet that leaves very little for imaginations

boasting how easy and meaningless it is, and that if you're not in it, you're not cool...

morality has lost it's values long time ago, lust and greed and I want it now societies are

in vogue now.. not to mentions that the young's are maturing much quicker now days, and

so their sexual urges... no way, no government can put a stop to young people engaging

in unprotected sex....

Blame social media? Still trying to understand ifthis is a joke.

How about "oh the internet has gone off"..." better have a shag then"

[davehowden]

Tell me just one thing that Thailand is NOT in denial about?

[trogers]

Tell me just one thing that Thailand is NOT in denial about?

The present political state is not democractic.

[car720]

Blame the proliferations of the many social media outlet that leaves very little for imaginations

boasting how easy and meaningless it is, and that if you're not in it, you're not cool...

morality has lost it's values long time ago, lust and greed and I want it now societies are

in vogue now.. not to mentions that the young's are maturing much quicker now days, and

so their sexual urges... no way, no government can put a stop to young people engaging

in unprotected sex....

Blame social media? Still trying to understand ifthis is a joke.

How about "oh the internet has gone off"..." better have a shag then"

As much as I hate to agree with ezzra, he is correct this time.

When I studied marketing a million years ago, the first thing we were emphatically taught was...............SEX SELLS.

The kids are victims of the adults. Try McDonalds on for size.

666.

[shaggy851]

It fast tracks many uneducated women into a life of poverty and or prostitution which turns into a reason for the parents to give up work and place the burden of supporting the parents plus the child. The father runs off free of responsibility. Not only thai men do this ive even seen foriegners have multiple kids and run off and do the same. I dont know why its accepted and having a baby is such a joyous thing even tho its basically ruined the girls life.

[buhi]

Blame the proliferations of the many social media outlet that leaves very little for imaginations

boasting how easy and meaningless it is, and that if you're not in it, you're not cool...

morality has lost it's values long time ago, lust and greed and I want it now societies are

in vogue now.. not to mentions that the young's are maturing much quicker now days, and

so their sexual urges... no way, no government can put a stop to young people engaging

in unprotected sex....

Blame social media? Still trying to understand ifthis is a joke.

How about "oh the internet has gone off"..." better have a shag then"

As much as I hate to agree with ezzra, he is correct this time.

When I studied marketing a million years ago, the first thing we were emphatically taught was...............SEX SELLS.

The kids are victims of the adults. Try McDonalds on for size.

666.

I only read this post because sex was in the title, how about you?

[zakk9]

All research I have seen on this indicates strongly that the addiction to smart phones and social media leads to less physical contact and less sex, not more. This is supposed to be one of several reasons why women living in cities with education and money to buy the gadgets, not only in Thailand but at least all over Asia, have less sex and get fewer children.

As for pornography, for most, that's a replacement for real sex, not an inspiration.

Edited May 27, 2015 by zakk9

[FangFerang]

Most of the entire planet , except China and Russia and some few forward-thinking EU countries, are in denial about teenage sex and teenage pregnancy. We even have some lunatic right wingnuts in the US claiming that pregnancy from rape is a gift from God.

Every sperm is sacred.....

[Thaddeus]

Tell me just one thing that Thailand is NOT in denial about?

Being Thai.

Thought about it, and yep, that's it.

Not sure if it's a positive thing though.

[buhi]

Tell me just one thing that Thailand is NOT in denial about?

Being Thai.

Thought about it, and yep, that's it.

Not sure if it's a positive thing though.

Refer back to the skin whitening, nose job thread!

[Toknarok]

How about free or heavily subsidised condoms for starters? This would also help reduce the huge rubber stockpile that the Government has on its hands.

[trogers]

How about free or heavily subsidised condoms for starters? This would also help reduce the huge rubber stockpile that the Government has on its hands.

Latex is cheap, but teflon is expensive.

[Robroona]

Sex education in schools starts too late and is pretty well endured rather than taught. Talking about sex within families appears to be taboo. Many women I have spoken to have never even discussed the basics such as menstruation with their mothers. Usually this info comes from friends.

[empireboy]

Education - the ONLY lasting solution

[jackanapes]

teenage sex has existed for a long time not only in the far east but also in European countries young girls and boys like to experiment unfortunately it gets out of hand resulting in unwanted pregnancies there needs to be

[Lupatria]

Just got news from Isan:

Boy 16 fathers two kids already. Both mothers are 15. None of them finished school, none of them have a job, all of them relying on "grandma's" money who works as erection assistant for an old farrang.

I'm sure all of them feel the "happiness" brought to them by the fact that the Public Health Ministry has acknowledged this is a major problem.

[DM07]

Yeah...it's totally the moral, that is in the gutter and the social media is to blame!

a) Thank God, Thailand has the very effective Ministry of Culture and Moral, so you get these excellent programs like "arrest a funloving dancer on Songkhran" and "wear traditional attire like in the 30's!"

b ) Thank God, other countries don't have this horrible internet, with all the porn and the nudity and those loose morals! Clearly, this is hwy teen- pregnacies are so much on the rise in Thailand and not in...let's say...Germany, because they have never heard of facebook there!

c) it has nothing whatsoever to do, with an archaic school- and ethics system, that simply shuns sex- ed, hands all responsibility for pregnancies to women/ girls...it is all loose morals and the internet!

Sure!

...and that Elvis- guy, with these hips and the dirty dancing...

[razer]

I think teenage sex has been around for a couple of million years. I know my parents never had sex but I am sure teenage sex was going on in their youth. Just not with my parents. Only commenting on the headline.

Teenage sex proliferates in every country where there is poverty and under educated people. There has to be a concerted effort by the government to inform, and educate both parents and teenagers.

[trogers]

teenage sex has existed for a long time not only in the far east but also in European countries young girls and boys like to experiment unfortunately it gets out of hand resulting in unwanted pregnancies there needs to be

European countries generally allow abortions, but not here.