Lawmakers should approve an abstinence-plus sex education bill
Inclusivity is hard. No matter how much you try to be inclusive, you cannot listen to one group without enraging other groups that don’t want them to be seen and heard.
Advocates of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) accuse religious people of shoving back the progress of the country. They talk about the detriment of holding onto culture and traditions as if they are making a new on their own. We saw this coming—institutionalizing premarital sex and friendly sex. We’re just not ready it would be this soon. I
I am a young mother with no village. Every day, I try to make decisions about what my children’s upbringing would be. My mind often plots out ways on how I can influence their behavior without controlling them, how can I manage their environment and still allow them to think for themselves, and how can I prepare myself to watch them live their own life and still be whole so that I won’t constantly remind them that their paradise lie beneath my feet. But you cannot make the world safer for your kids; all you can do is make them tough enough to face its harm. I once thought that this meant exposing them to a multitude of ideas and perspectives, including the ones that challenged mine. But as I see the world as it is and the condition of humankind living in it, I’ve finally understood why there are certain concepts you don’t wish your children to encounter before they are grounded at their core, including the danger of their lust.
A majority of Filipinos are Christians. Islam, which I follow, shares the same belief as Christianity about fornication as “gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and human sexuality.” Both believe in the sacredness of sexual intercourse and treat it as more than a physical activity but a spiritual bond between two people who vowed before God. Although masturbation is not explicitly mentioned in the bill, we were alarmed by the term “international standards” because American schools that implement the CSE curriculum, Chicago for instance, teach sexual intercourse as early as Grade 5.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization created CSE in response to the rising number of HIV cases. It teaches students how to make healthy decisions about their bodies, their sexuality, and relationships. The problem with this is it regards premarital sex as a normal activity and that STIs and teen pregnancy are only the unwanted consequences. After teaching about reproductive health, these schools teach sexual technicalities without covering the morality aspect.
I atm not trying to impede anyone’s sexual freedom, but given the prevailing religious beliefs in the Philippines that uphold abstinence, obliging teachers and institutions, both private and public, to teach it despite their personal beliefs might contradict the “cultural sensitivity” the bill claims.
I intend to teach my daughter about her body, too. I intend to teach her to scream and make a scene when someone touches her private body parts even by a family member. With the prevalence of abusers and predators today, the need to educate our children of their sexuality and sexual boundaries is stronger than ever.
In the past weeks, the discussions on sex education have been framed as black and white, as “you are either one of us or against us.” I hope that our legislators would consider abstinence-plus education, the other type of sex education curriculum that teaches sexual abstinence while providing scientific information about condoms and STI prevention. This way, we all can embrace our identity and still be a part of the wider world.
Hasmeyya L. Tiboron
