Is this how we have socialized our young people ?

Oct 10, 2014 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Someone once said that children are great imitators therefore we should give them something great to imitate. When it becomes a trend for teenagers to engage in sexual acts for the camera, we should ask ourselves is this how we have socialized our young people?
The Protection of Children Act (2009) states that the most important consideration in relation to children is their best interests; it reads that “This means that parents, guardians, teachers, other adults, the government, the court and any other body or entity have to make sure that your best interests are considered when they make any decisions” The Guyana National Youth Council would like to express disappointment in the irresponsible way the media has dealt with the recent surfacing of a video of pornographic nature. Images of the act should have never been published and has added to the social media frenzy that the video has generated. In many ways, as a society we are all culpable. We are aware based on statistics from the Ministry of Health and its agencies that many young people are engaged in sexual activity.
We are also aware that the age for sexual debut is becoming lower. But how do we address and reverse this trend? The GNYC would like to call on the Ministries of Education and Health and other stakeholders to increase their efforts to embrace the teaching of comprehensive sexual and health and family life education in schools.
This has been proven to help children and young people make informed and healthy sexual decisions, yet is a subject often overlooked and left untaught on the timetable in many local schools. This particular incident has exposed many issues: the unprofessional and inappropriate reporting and sharing of this incident, the use of cell phones in schools which were banned in 2007 by the Ministry of Education, and the reckless calls for punishment that should be meted out to these youth by a youth worker who should understand youth issues and know how to deal with these.
While it may already be too late for the teens exposed in the videos to ‘take it all back’, the GNYC is satisfied with the approach the Ministry of Education has taken in dealing with the issue and providing support to the students. But we should explore ways to ensure it doesn’t happen again. It is obligatory that we ensure young people have access to accurate information on Sexual and Reproductive Health Information and Services. It is evident that these young people lacked a sense of foresight with regard to the far reaching consequences of their actions.
This is clear indication that they lack critical thinking skills to look towards the repercussion of their actions; for this, they cannot be blamed. While many have been vocal in condemning the actions of these young people we see a lack of context and a lack of honesty where it comes to the realities of our society.
We live in a hyper-sexual society that does not only objectify women but also unintentionally grooms girls to see themselves as sexual objects for the gratification of men where young girls are pursued even more commonly by their own teachers, verbally harassed by random men on the street and even those entrusted with their safety and security on an institutional level. To further add to the “sexual” environment created, the typical journey for most young people to and from school consists of listening to vulgar lyrics. It is disappointing that a great majority of the time adults are present on the bus and they do not reject the lawlessness.
We live in a society where sexually explicit lyrics are blasted down the street from music push carts, from mini-bus and taxi speakers, and in a society where only a few speak out against it. Profanity is pushed at us on the radio and television stations most popular with the youth and there must be a conscious and concerted effort by media operatives to the material they push to an impressionable audience.
All of this against a backdrop of profound silence, at moments when a joint solidarity effort is needed. If no one is concerned about the causes for such behaviour, how then can we obsess over these incidences? It seems short-sighted. Until we are prepared to tackle the elements of our society which seek to promote and make such behaviour acceptable then unfortunately we shall remain fixated on the outputs of a process we do nothing to halt, yet seek to condemn.
The Guyana National Youth Council would like to see concerted efforts to provide appropriate and accurate sex education intervention programmes which engages both student and parents, and a consideration be given for general insertion of in-school counsellors to help students deal with all the issues they face at such an impressionable age. We stand ready to support the revision, design and implementation of these towards the protection of our fellow Guyanese youth and can be reached at nycguyana@outlook.com.
The Guyana National Youth Council Team:
Tiffany Daniels
Tricia Teekah
Francis Bailey
Andrea Bryan
Michael Xavier
Jamal Goodluck
Adrian Alfred
Mark Ross

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