ON March 29, 2017, a letter was printed in the Kaieteur News, headlined “Pseudo theories in the promotion of sex education,” by Matthew Gaul. The letter, which appears to be a mantra for the long- failing ideology of “abstinence-only” sex education, stated that “homosexuality, abortion and masturbation are heavily promoted, while abstinence is given miniscule attention,” in volumes done by UNESCO and the World Health Organisation.
The obviously misguided Gaul went on to say in his letter that “Comprehensive Sex Education is expertly disguised abortion rights, LGBT rights and sexual-pleasure education masquerading as human rights and gender and sexual reproductive health,” and made a call for The Ministry of Education to “reject all proposals to have contraceptive services provided to schoolchildren.”
In reading the letter, I went from amusement to disbelief that despite all the evidence pointing to the failing system of abstinence only, people still have such misinformed views. The letter reminds me of those sent out by climate change deniers, who despite seeing the evidence of a fastly warming earth, refuse to educate themselves further on it or selectively nitpick facts.
I found Mr Gaul’s letter ironic also for several reasons, for one, as defined by Standford.edu as “A belief or practices which attempt to gain legitimacy by wearing the trappings of Science, pseudo-theories have no basis in fact and rely purely on belief systems.
By that definition, the real pseudo-theory of sex education is abstinence. Gaul’s letter in my opinion was a not so expertly disguised anti-choice, erasure of LGBT rights and purity politics dressed gaudily as “informed” musings. He stated that given the high statistics of STDs in Men who have Sex with Men(MSM), “we should not promote and celebrate a scientifically unhealthy lifestyle to impressionable young minds.”
Yes, MSMs are much more prone to STDs and the reasons for this are several. Ranging from biology straight down to misinformation caused by those such as Gaul, who tout heteronormative ideas about sex education, basically erasing different sexualities from the right to access information merely because he has not grown up in a society in which it is considered acceptable. Yes, they have higher risks because they do not know better, due to the fact that sex education currently caters only for heterosexuals. Gaul states that “such piffle and balderdash should not be indoctrinated into innocent minds of children,” but to whom does he refer? Does he refer to the queer/questioning children trying to understand themselves and looking for ways in which they will be protected always, or the child whose sexuality aligns with popular opinions?
Gaul, much like any upholder of purity politics which see many men and women — particularly women being shamed, harassed and raped on a regular basis — stated that we must also teach children of the “horrific physical, spiritual and psychological effects of pre-marital sex,adding, that “we must not continue to ignore God’s clearly defined boundaries for sexual activity.” If one of the strongest arguments in Gaul’s letter is his allusion to a deity, then I am not sure how much stock he expects us to place in his words. What Gaul, parents, teachers and the Ministry of Education themselves forget, is that abstinence-only programmes violates the Constitution, as it relates to the separation of church and state and as it uses government funds to promote religious ideologies.
I am not against teaching children abstinence, they should be taught it, but when we make the mistake of trying to teach them that alone without even attempting to prepare them for the realities of the world, that is when I’d need people to remove the blinders off of their eyes because their children will and are most likely already having sex. The Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association last year conducted a ‘snap survey,’ which focused on sexual trends among the adolescent and youth population in the country. Carried out in eight of Guyana’s 10 administrative regions, it was found that more than 50 percent of youths still in school are sexually active. Chances are that these numbers are remarkably higher.
Abstinence-only education does not adequately prepare youths, as it does not even discuss dangers of AIDS and other diseases. Giving children information about their bodies and the risks associated with sex will not see a breakdown in their decisional capacities, but a strengthening of it. Do we really want misinformed and ill-prepared young adults running around the place? Our nation’s children rely on us to give them a truly comprehensive sex education and abstinence-only programmes do not help them. Children need to be taught about sexualities, consent, safe sex and sending them into the world without the necessary information will see higher STD and pregnancy rates. Our children do not need a long- failed approach, they actually need solid information supported by facts and not beliefs.
