August 31, 2000

This article considers the following question: "when should people be told about sex; how much should they be told, who should tell them, and how can they have a healthy sexual life?" Recent studies indicate that 60% of young Indians between the ages of 17 and 19 have had a child or are pregnant. Furthermore, low-income college students in Bombay believe that sex education should begin at an early age (eighth grade). Meanwhile, teachers of these same students worry that this kind of education might lead to increased promiscuity. In light of these findings, as well as figures indicating that gynaecological problems are afflicting increasing numbers of young Indians, the author perceives a need to "provide knowledge; skills; increase availability, quality, and access to sexual reproductive health services; supportive adults; and to test and evaluate a range of interventions".

Indian NGOs are working to address this need, despite the fact that young women surveyed in rural Maharashtra did not identify failure to offer or use reproductive services as problematic. Specifically, these NGOs are working to reach out to young women who are facing decisions about sexual activity, and to bolster communication between these women and their parents. For example, Seva Mandir, a Rajasthan-based NGO, organises camps and competitions involving music and dance to motivate young people and their parents to discuss, among other things, reproductive health problems. The Delhi-based NGO Parivar Seva Sanstha (PSS) provides an abortion clinic and Family Life Education programme centres, where sessions begin with 'body mapping' (naming body parts and their functions) as an ice-breaker.

These efforts are being launched even though "...Indians are raised to believe that sexuality is shameful, masturbation and homosexuality a perversion, and knowledge of sex a guarantee to experiment...".

The article concludes by referring readers to the report Into a New World: Young Women's Sexual and Reproductive Lives, which is available from the The Guttmacher Institute.

Click here to access the full article on the People and Planet site.