A New Way of LIVING

Sexuality: What children should learn and when.

- Shalini Bhardwaj

Virgin is also a kind of vegetation and the word sex relates to ratio too.’’, asserted my friend and a fleeting, troubled look crossed her face. As a perfectionist geography teacher in a senior secondary school, she was apprehensive that furtive glances and awkward giggles of students while teaching these topics can be a real threat to classroom discipline.

Ironically, in the land which is known for the most ancient manuscript on human sexuality, Kamasutra and unique Khajuraho temples, open discussion on issues related to sexuality and sexual health is still taboo. Our children grow up in an environment where they are brainwashed from very young age that words related to human sexuality are censored ones and discussion on these issues are nothing less than a transgression.

As a parental tendency, we normally switch off T.V. when an intimate scene appears on the screen or keep a close eye on what our children watch on the internet and whom they befriend with. But what is done beyond that?

We subconsciously accept the age-old stigma that letting children know about sexuality will destroy their innocence while the fact is that discussion and open talk is the best way to safeguard innocence not to destroy it.