Why age-appropriate sex education now is a must for minors

Rapes and sexual harrassments were all very heartbreaking and shocking, but what's recently turning into worse is that in many recent cases, minors are perpetrators too. The innocent souls are turning into rapists just as well. Where is the society even going?

With the new technology and more open-mindedness with the passing time, it was expected that rape rates would go down. But what's disheartening is that not only adults, but now even minors are raping others. What's the use of all the education if this is where the minors of our country are heading towards?

With early access to social media and absence of age appropriate sex education at our homes and school, the children are now getting easy access to adult contents on social media sites, which are unfortunately majority of the times sexually objectifying, misogynist or phobic towards LGBTQIA+ community. The more content we consume of, we subconsciously start thinking on similar lines. If a minor gets access to memes and any content that are even subtly objectifying, they would possibly start normalising it after a point of time. Bollywood and porn are other irresponsible sources from where one learn such objectifying and misogynist behaviour. And thats dangerous.

Kids can search it up if you dont tell them right info, and sometimes they can land on problematic sites too, to know about what they wanna know. And according to a famous sex eductor, who is also a post graduate in Psychology, Swati Jagdish, has said that children will come across pornography atleast once, before they even turn 18. 

Also, as per what I saw on one of her Instagram post, it's important to tell kids (maybe 7-8yrs old) age-appropriate definition of what sex is. The reason is, we keep telling them to be safe from people. But if they dont know what to be safe from, they will be confused and not able to keep themselves safe and tell you if someone is misbehaving with them. Also that now, on some gaming apps and sites or even social media, where even young kids as less as 10-12 are using, the chances of sexual grooming and harrassment is quite high.

Also if a minor or anyone ends up as a perpetrator, stalker or anything on that lines, its the parents that are blamed first. That either they taught their son (or even daughter) this or if they didn't (directly or in internalized misogynist way), they didn't notice the changes in their kid either and correct their kids. I have seen many girls, who have been victims of assault and stalking, to say this. And its understandable as well cause parents are most close to their kid and kid spends more time with one's parents.

Even after a lot of posts on social media requesting education boards of India and Ministry of Education, to start age-appropriate and factual sex education, from verified handles that aims to reduce harrassments; there is still no positive response from the ministry or boards. The only hope we can have is from home and some verified sex educators on Instagram and accounts that aim on reducing harrassments.

As a parent, one needs to start teaching their kids about consent, safe and unsafe touch and all other things age-appropriately. Parents should be educating themselves about something before telling their kids so no wrong or incomplete information is passed. If you are confused how to start it, head to Instagram profile of Swati Jagdish (@mayas_amma) where you can learn many things by her posts and she also conducts online sessions about sex education (and many other things) and how to teach your kids all about consent and everything related to sex education. You can go through information and choices of her workshops on her website. Here is a video on how to get started. And for minors who are 16 and even adults, you can head on to many sex educator profiles like 

1. Swati Jagdish (@mayas_amma)
2.  Dr.Tanaya Narendra (@dr_cuterus)
3. Dr.Yuvraj Jadeja (@doctoryuvi)
4.  Uteropedia
5. Dr.Riddhima Shetty  a(@friendly_neighbourhood_obgyn)
6. Leeza Mangaldas
7. Dr.Prateek Makwana (@fertility_scribble etc. And about accounts that aims to reduce rape and also share information related to consent and other things, you can follow Youth Against Rape Foundation. 

And Sex Education knowledge- learning and unlearning combined with entertainment, there is nothing better than Netflix series Sex Education. Covering wide variety of topics like anatomy, consent, type of sex, pleasure, LGBTQIA+ community, boundaries, relationships, individuality etc. A must watch if you are 16 and above. Though why it has been given 18+ rating is still confusing for many out there, when it was made for high schoolers and adults, showing high schoolers navigating their lives through all of the above discussed.

This is the time we start teaching the minors about consent and all the other stuff with their age so they can keep themselves and others safe, get to know about their bodies and make informed decisions about their bodies. Also thinks like consent and body boundaries are used more in non-sexual situations than sexual situation. And no, teaching them about age appropriate sex education won't make them horny or wanting to have it at a young age, but it will make them sensible enough to make a better informed decisions as kids, teenagers and (young) adults. And keep our India safe from all the harrassments.

Also, because no kid has to learn about consent and boundaries after having gone through any kind of sexual assault(s). 

P.S: I know that others have to keep their mindset right. But unfortunately, a lot of people are beyond repair. We can teach newer generations to not become a sexist person, and along the same time, have open communication line, teach them this things age-appropriately and how to protect themselves from any harrassments (wish it doesn't happen to anyone though).

Image source- FirstCry Parenting

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