Let's talk about sex

This past November, a survey showed that over 65 percent of 3,614 children and young adults queried said they had seen or read materials with sexual content, including pornographic films, Web sites, comics and computer games.
After these results were made public, Kao Sung-ching, president of the Taiwan Association for Sexuality Education, stressed the need for improved sex education in Taiwan.

"The majority of students questioned said they were simply curious about sex and that's why they viewed the pornographic materials. That's why better sex education is required," said Kao.

Now the Ministry of Education (MOE) has set up a new sex education program for elementary school students. But instead of praising the forward-thinking new policy, members of various parent and cultural associations denounced the "explicit content" of these new schoolbooks.

At the heart of the dispute are two cartoon illustrations that show how parents make love and have children.

"It doesn't fit in our country," said Pan Li-hua, vice president of the Millennium Cultural and Educational Foundation.

But the overwhelming consensus among sex educators is that school curriculums must be open and honest. As one teacher noted, "Sex education is a lot more than just teaching about the reproductive organs."

In today's era of AIDS, molestation, and a culture that sexualizes children at ever-younger ages, the choice appears to be clear: Give kids the tools they need to survive, or deal with possibly tragic results.