The African culture is one that sees sex education as sacred and a discussion that should not be carried out in the open, especially wherever children are.
It is seen as a taboo whenever the topic is being spoken about. This has led to several wrong orientation as parents find it difficult to educate their kids on sex education, some parents even go as far as not mentioning the actual names of private parts to their wards, rather they use slangs such as; ‘cowtail’ for the male penis, T-junction, bom bom for the female vagina, among others to represent it.
Some people perceive that just mentioning the names of genitals is embarrassing, rude and indecent. This has led to a situation whereby children are abused, however scared, unable to speak out because of the fear attached to mentioning that they have been wrongfully touched in certain parts of their bodies.
Until recently, teaching sex education to children was not a norm in regular African society. Children grow up, having learnt the wrong names for their private parts at home, then go into the society and be taught the real name by an outsider, which generally comes with abuse.
Teaching the right names for penis, vagina, vulva, scrotum, breast, nipple, scrotum is very helpful for children to protect themselves and knowing that there are certain parts of their body that someone else should not be touched. It also helps a child to be confident and open, thus being able to speak out when abused. Early sex education helps to improve the self-protective skills in kids, increase parents-child communication and reduces abuse.
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During conversations with a few male adults, they mentioned that they were raped by their housemaids, who started the act by fondling with their private parts. One of them had noted that since penis is not a word that anyone could mention in the home, he could not report to his mother and this went on for years.
With the advent of technology, the world has become a global village. Information is everywhere on the internet with almost everyone having access to them. There are lots of uncensored ponographic content all over the place. If parents fail to educate their girls and boys early enough, then they might learn from the internet.
Sexual education should not only be taught at home but should also be incorporated into the school curriculum. This does not mean that the act should be taught, but correct body parts be mentioned to the pupils and they should be instructed to report any case of abuse by anyone.
Reports have shown that children who are taught the correct body parts and who have adequate sex education tend to be properly behaved than their other counterparts. Kids need to be told the importance of protecting the body and keeping it safe.
By teaching body safety, kids are conscious of the fact that their bodies are special and should not be abused. Doing this would help them to identify appropriate and inappropriate behaviour.
Giving sexual education to children helps to boost their confidence and take away the shame that comes with talking about the private parts. It helps to promote openness and honesty to parents. A lot of children learn about sex outside their home and usually they learn all the wrong things.
Children should be aware at an early stage that there are sexually transmitted diseases, the girl-child should be told that she could be pregnant, and a lot of times, teenage pregnancy prevents girls from pursuing their education.
There is an urgent call to promote the practice of using correct and accurate language when referring to the private parts. In addition, sexual education should begin from the home, when children are properly trained at home, then the society would have less damaged children.
