One youth organisation has come out in support of the contentious Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) being introduced in schools here.
Amid concerns that attempts were being made to slip the CSE agenda into the curriculum – on the heels of the controversial Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) survey that questioned students about their sexuality and gender identity – the Youth Advocacy Movement (YAM) said there were benefits to such a programme, including demystifying taboo topics using age-appropriate methods.
CSE is a curriculum-based process of teaching and learning about the cognitive, emotional, physical, and social aspects of sexuality, but there has been opposition in some quarters locally, regionally and internationally to it, based on the belief that it promotes sexual education in an unhealthy and disruptive manner.
However, in a proposition entitled An Argument for Comprehensive Sexuality Education to Remain in Schools, YAM, which works with the Barbados Family Planning Association (BFA), insisted that young people continued to have sex while the abstinence-only/religion-based sex education programme is “one of the least effective ways to comprehensively educate our youth about sex and sexuality”.
“CSE is in no way pushing socio-political agendas as critics may claim,” YAM stated. “Its purpose is to educate children about their physical, emotional and social development from childhood into adulthood and how they can safely and confidently navigate our ever-changing society.”
The youth group further argued that CSE helps to inform young people about the differences that exist in family structures and gender dynamics beyond what they may see at home.
“This demystifying makes it less of a foreign concept when young people meet other people with completely different home lives or gender/sexual orientations from themselves. CSE appropriately educates youth based on their age ranges, using accurate terminology about their sexual and reproductive development, health and rights,” it contended, adding that this approach starts by educating youth about their developing bodies through the process of
puberty and teaching them about how their reproductive organs work.
“CSE also teaches about the risks, such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and responsibilities, such as the correct use of contraception, of engaging in sexual activity. Doing this is the bare minimum for basic biologic education, let alone sex education, and neglecting to educate young people in this manner would be a great disservice.”
YAM dismissed critics who claim that CSE normalises or condones sexual conduct between minors.
“CSE acknowledges the fact that, yes, minors under the age of 16 – which is the legal age in
Barbados for one to be able to consent without your parent or guardian’s permission to engage in sexual activity – do, at times, engage in sexual activity. Therefore, it seeks to educate young people not just about the physical risks to their bodies but also about the legal risks as well,” the youth organisation added.
“Critics have often used words such as gender and sex interchangeably to push their anti-CSE agenda. However, the two words have completely different meanings and functions. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men and gender-diverse people. Sex, however, refers to a set of biological attributes in humans and animals. Knowing the difference between the two, specifically gender, has played an intricate role in how CSE is taught and approached.”
The young defenders of the CSE argued that reviews of other sexual and reproductive health programmes have shown that a greater focus on gender issues results in better reproductive health outcomes for people of all ages.
“Contrary to what some critics of CSE are saying as it relates to images used to facilitate CSE, in the same manner as realistic pictorial materials solely for educational purposes are utilised in teaching Biology within the general school academic curriculum, so too are realistic pictorial materials used in facilitating some CSE modules, such as puberty and STIs, and are not shown to minors in a pornographic context,” the organisation stated.
It added that CSE properly addresses the issue of consent, and its importance in sexual decision-making.
“Opposers of the CSE curriculum seem to take issue with this particular topic of CSE within a very narrow scope of thinking that consent is only discussed in relation to engaging in sex. But, actually, CSE addresses consent much more broadly from a rights-based perspective of bodily autonomy.
“So, do these CSE opposers not believe that minors should have the right to consent to who touches their bodies, especially in instances of sexual harassment or worse, assault and rape? If minors are not taught that they have the right to say ‘no’ to any unwanted advances, touching, and activities, at any stage of interaction…then what? Are these opposers trying to justify the sexual harassment and assault of children?” the young advocates queried..
Responding to those who argue that sex education should be left up to parents or guardians, YAM asked: “….What about those young people without caregivers? Or with caregivers who are neglectful? What about young people who are uncomfortable asking their caregivers? What about caregivers who don’t know how to approach this topic and may need some assistance? Who is to say the information given to these young people by their caregivers instead of qualified educators who use an approved curriculum is correct?”
The organisation contended that it would be a great disservice to the youth to “miseducate” them about such an essential issue.
YAM insisted that CSE is vital to the health and well-being of young people, not only in their youth but for the duration of their lives.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
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