Parents have never had an easy time broaching the topic of sex with their children. It is one of “those talks” that parents most dread, and often, they depend on the education system to raise their children for them (after all, what are taxes for, right?). In China, similar “rules of engagement” apply. Parents will avoid talking about sex with their children like the plague, instead scolding them for their curiosity and then redirecting the conversation. Unfortunately, the rest of society has similar ways of dealing with this situation, including those in the Chinese education system. Ask anyone who has gone to school in China and they will tell you that their teachers glossed over the entirety of “sex ed.” in less than 20 minutes, or as seems to be more commonly the case, students were simply told to take the textbook home and read it themselves. Recently, a sexual education pilot programme in Beijing received nationwide coverage for the “overly-graphic” textbook that it employed to teach students about the birds and the bees. Parents were furious that these schools were perverting their children’s minds, while others were arguing that this kind of “realistic” sexual education is absolutely necessary in China.

Sex woes

Not surprisingly, having 300 million-plus youth in China who are uneducated in the ways of sex has caused many problems. Initially, the most “adorable” problem was simply that people didn’t know how to have sex. It used to be that even after a young couple were married, neither would know how to have sex, how to use a condom, etc. which then inevitably led to a comical turn of events where they eventually figured it out. The less adorable consequence of this kind of “education process” is that these couples also didn’t know how to prevent pregnancies. China is a country with a strict one-child policy, yet millions of Chinese still don't know how to have sex without getting pregnant? The irony of this situation has not been lost on many commentators. During the 80s to the 90s though, Chinese people were still quite old compared to other countries when they had their first sexual encounter, which is to say that unplanned pregnancies and abortions were still relatively common, but it wasn’t like the country was dealing with a ton of teenage pregnancies.

But, in the last decade, as China has continued to rapidly develop, the views of the youth have “liberalized” at a faster pace than those of the adults who are supposed to be teaching them about sex. Due to a combination of greater access to sex-related stuff (and curiosity) spurred by the Internet, as well as improving diets and higher quality of life that have been leading to children reaching puberty earlier, these kids are now much more open about wanting to know about sex, and are consequently having sex at younger ages. China’s youth has figured out the first problem of how to have sex by themselves, but they have yet to learn how to practice safe sex. According to reports, there are 13 million (registered) abortions performed at clinics each year in China, but pregnancy is not the only issue. HIV/AIDS is also on the rise in China (particularly among migrant workers who are also uneducated in practicing safe sex measures).

“Reforms” to the rescue

The authorities are increasingly recognizing the dangers caused by a population that is more and more open to the idea of having premarital sex, but uneducated in proper preventative measures. Officially, the Ministry of Education first introduced sex education in schools in 1988, and added a curriculum of HIV/AIDS prevention in 2003. But, these courses have been “loosely” taught at best.

In the off chance that a school’s sexual education course is not completely glossed over by the teacher, it is almost certain that the course will teach an “edited” version of sexual education. In 2010, high schools and universities in 21 of China’s provinces started using a curriculum that taught the “Three Vitals” (Life, Love and Sex) as their version of sexual education. The course mostly taught about the reproductive anatomy. Students were also taught that they shouldn’t have premarital sex, and should take precautions if they do. And that is basically the extent of the content. While preaching abstinence and premarital chastity as the only100% method of preventing unwanted pregnancies and STDs is scientifically accurate, it is also completely out of touch with the growing trend of young Chinese having premarital sex. Worse, in solely promoting chastity, this curriculum is not giving students a proper and objective education in the procedures of practicing safe sex and using contraception, so it is not really helping resolve any problems. 

Sexual education classes in China may not always be as limited as these above instances may imply, yet they are still attracting criticism. On the forefront of this sexual education crusade, the recent pilot program in Beijing may have been a little too “open” for its own good, as it has received a lot of criticism nationwide for being completely inappropriate for the age group it was designed for.

Even though this textbook breaks many of the taboos on talking about more pertinent sexual education topics, such as sexual abuse, AIDS, and, well you know, doin’ it，the critics (parents) are more concerned that their primary school-aged children (as young as six!) are being “subjected” to weird anime-ish pornography. Granted, a main concern that these books will promote sex among children cannot be discredited, but still, at least they’ll be having safe sex, right? This controversy is a clear illustration of the strong generational divide that is growing between young “liberally minded” Chinese and their older “traditionally minded” parents.

Changes on the horizon?

Even though the Chinese society, which is currently undergoing a major generational and cultural transitions (being hardly fought against by the elder Chinese population), does not seemed poised to adopt a more comprehensive sexual education curriculum any time soon, small steps are in fact being made. The China Family Planning Association has set up peer education groups to address these problems with the school-based sexual education programs. Their new project, called the “Adolescent Reproductive Health Peer Education Society” uses younger volunteers that come from similar backgrounds and have similar interests as the students, and they are generally much more open about teaching reproductive health (sex) than the traditional programs. Currently these programs are being extended from the big cities to smaller towns and rural areas, and are also reaching beyond the educational system to youths who have already left school.
 

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Keywords: sexual education in China problems with sexual education in China problems with education in China abortions unplanned pregnancies HIV/AIDS in China