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- Sexual Education Of
School Children
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An attempt, made by the Ministry of Education
at introducing programmes for the sexual education of school children,
has provoked a sharp contraversy in the media.
"...As soon as the Ministry of Education
has conceived this idea ... this has turned into an object of filthy political
games. The shortcomings in the experimental project and even the idea of
the sexual education itself have been made use of to fan the political
scandal: it has been stated that the Western special services and pharmaceutical
companies have been out, with the assistance of the contraception and the
sexual education, not only to corrupt, but to physically annihilate the
Russian people. The Russian Orthodox Church Believers and the members of
the Communist wing in the State Duma have joined ranks in this absurd slanderous
campaign, labelling the Russian Family Planning Association, which has
managed to reduce the number of abortions in this country, as "a satanic
institution"
(Igor Kon, Izvestia, December
30, 1997). (Tatiana Bateneva, Izvestia). |
The programmes for the sexual education of the school children are
criticized not only by the Pro-Lifers (the fanatics from the Life - an
Orthodox medical-education centre), by the churchmen and by the people's
patriots, but by the feminists as well - though in a different vein. Thus,
a letter came to the editorial board of the Woman Plus... from one of our
readers with a criticism of the approach towards creating the sexual education
programmes on the part of the compilers, and with proposals for expanding
their content. Below we supply an abridged version of this letter in the
hope that a constructive discussion on this highly important issue will
be continued.
By N. Fedoseyeva
The contraversy surrounding the sexual
education programmes for the school children (Obshchaya Gazette, No. 25,
50) has reminded me of a phrase by an acquaintance of mine, concerning
the representatives of the top authorities in Russia: "It is not
because they don't want to. They just cannot." The goal set by
the authors of the sexual education programmes is all right - to provide
the children with a scientific, rather than a vulgar, knowledge about the
sex. And they have scrupulously shared their own knowledge of sexology
- the science of the sex - with the school children. The result, however,
was in fact surprising: man was portrayed in the image of an animal, and
even of a sillier one than the other animal species - for the latter seem
to be in no need of any explanations on "the copulative behaviour
phases".
The critics of the sexual education believe that by introducing this
subject, Russia will be copying the Western experience. In actual fact,
however, it is the other way round. Judging by the Russian programmes,
the sexual education is a natural science subject, while in the West, it
is rather a humanitarian one, which might rather be called the ethics of
the sexual behaviour. This distinction is due to the reasons, which are
by far more serious than just a different interpretation of the new subject
by the scholars, who have elaborated the programmes - in particular, by
the lag in the development of the humanitarian knowledge in Russia from
that in the West, by the patriarchal character of our culture and by an
underdevelopment of the legal consciousness and of the civil institutions
here.
The Western society and educational system have come under a powerful
impact of the feminist movement and of gender studies. Many principles,
proclaimed by the feminists, have been included into the modern Western
culture as an ethical norm, as a necessary condition for normal relationships
between the sexes, and, alongside with the other humanitarian values, have
been put into the base of the sexual education programmes.
Contemporary western sexologists believe that the anomalies, which
are, on the face of it, rooted in physiology, actually go down to an ethical
and psychological sphere: a lack of the trust, of mutual understanding
and of respect between the partners. Therefore, in the West, the sexual
education is aimed not only, and not so much, at supplying the school children
with the natural science "information for pondering", like in
the Russian programmes, but mostly at the inculcation into them of a conscientious,
responsible, non-discriminated sexual behaviour.
The Russian teenagers also need a civilized programme, which would
be better called the sexual culture rather than the sexual enlightenment.
The programme should be based, in the theoretical and methodological terms,
on the socio-cultural theory of relationships between the sexes and, hence,
the specialists on gender studies must have a direct hand in its elaboration.
The following issues and problems must be included into the programme by
all means:
The concept of the sexual-reproductive sphere.
Biological distinctions in the socio-reproductive functions of the sexes
and their confirmation in culture: the alienation of men from the consequences
of the sexual life - the pregnancy, giving birth to a child and the child
care. The link between the destruction of the institute of fatherhood and
the anomalies in the male behaviour, such as alcoholism, crime, narcomania,
etc.
The sexual behaviour.
The stereotypes of the masculinity and of the femininity, their strict
demarkation in the patriarchal-authoritative culture and their confirmation
on the ground of the biological features. The dichotomic nature of the
socialization of the boys and of the girls, and its results: the male aggression,
individualism and authoritarianism; the female lack of self-confidence
and of the sense of the self-worth, inability to stand up for their rights
and to oppose violence. A double control over the female sexual behaviour:
the cultural normatives and the leading role of man. The problem of freedom
in the choice of the sexual behaviour in the patriarchal-authoritative
society.
Planning the start of the sexual life
a) The cultural, psychological and physiological conditions, necessary
and sufficient for starting the sexual life. The probable consequences
of an early sexual life and their prevention. Should the physical intimacy
directly follow the inception of a spiritual attachment?
b) The masculine model of growing closer together (the impetuousness)
and the feminine one (gradualness). What is love - a striving to achieve
intimacy "no matter what the price", or the care about each other,
respect for the plans and the interests of the other party, up to her/his
rejection of an early sex? The problem of the partners' equal right to
select the model for growing intimate (when? and how?) and of the sexual
bahaviour in general. Discussing the conflict of the positions and a joint
planning for the start of sexual relations.
c) The problem and the discussion of hidden interpretations. Does a
girl's consent to go together to a discotheque, to a restaurant or to a
friendly get-together in the absence of the parents, and to spend the night
there mean that she has agreed to have a sexual act?
d) The accompanying factors, facilitating the start of the sexual life:
an impact of alcohol, of drugs and of the pornography; a striving after
the self-assertion; curiosity, and such like.
Sexual violence: the definition and the kinds
a) The methods of coercion to the sexual relations: physical, economic
and psychological. Lecherous actions on the part of the adults, the relatives
included. The sexual pestering on the part of the peers. The coercion to
the sex and the rape at a date.
b) The personality and bahaviour of a potentional rapist. Dangerous
situations and the signs, testifying to the possibility of the pestering
and of a rape. How to avoid and to stop the sexual violence, and to oppose
it physically and psychologically.
c) What should be done if the rape has happened: protective measures
against the physiological and the psychological consequences. Should you
turn to the militia: the problem of a secondary psychological trauma and
of driving to the suicide in the course of the investigation.
d) The socio-cultural causes of the sexual violence. The stereotype
of masculinity, a double standard in an estimate of the sexual behaviour
of the genders. Preventing the violence: developing in the boys of a sense
of compassion, self-control, care and responsibility for their sexual behaviour.
The factors of a wholesome sexual life:
respect for each other, mutual understanding, an ability to discuss
the sexual problems.
Conscientious parenthood
a) The physiological, economic, psychological and cultural conditions,
necessary for giving birth to a child and for raising it.
b) What does the childbirth mean for the baby, for the mother and for
the father. Birth injuries and their aftermath. How should a baby be assisted
in arriving into this world in the most tender way possible: the part of
the mother and of the father in the traditional childbirth and in the delivery
at home.
c) Motherhood and fatherhood. The rapprochement in the roles of the
mother and of the father, and the alleviation of the patriarchal stereotypes
in the Western culture. Granting a child care leave to any of the parents
in Russia.
Cultural problems:
a) The reduction of the woman's role in the pornography to that of
an object of the "sexual consumption" and the distortion of the
masculine sexuality (a trend for sadism and for violence).
b) A symbolical sexual violence: the foul language as a twisted way
of the self-assertion.
c) The cultural mechanisms for controlling the women's sexual behaviour:
the assignment of the leading role to man, the presumption of the woman's
guilt, the precept of the woman's self-denial. Controlling the feminine
sexuality as a compensation for man's lack of responsibility. The double
standard as a factor of dissonance in the sexual relations.
The culture of partnership: Its valuableness and principles:
the non-coercion, an equal right to an option of the sexual behaviour
and an equal responsibility for it, the mutual understanding and a rapprochement
in the genders' behavioural models.
The studying of the culture of the sexual behaviour should best of
all be started with the teenagers, while such topics as the childbirth,
motherhood and fatherhood presuppose the self-consciousness level, typical
of the graduate form pupils. Yet it is necessary to make the child perceive
his body as a personal and an inviolable (other than with his permission)
entity, and to teach him to distinguish the signs of danger in the behaviour
of the other people, as early as in the juniour forms.
The next question, naturally, is: who is going to implement this programme?
Even if the gender relations departments are launched at the universities
this year, their first graduates will appear at the schools ten years or
so later (according to an optimistic forecast). So today the resolution
of the problem of creating a sexual culture for the growing generation
in fact gets down to amending the position of the media, which have been
assuming the leading role in the educational process. And this is precisely
the line of work, which, in my opinion, must dominate in the feminist movement
of Russia.
