Latest update October 22nd, 2024 12:33 AM
Sep 29, 2017 Editorial
Guyana is a religious society but many believe that we need prayers to help us solve some of the problems that we are currently facing. Praying will motivate us to change the things we need to change in society and to convince our youths to think of the problems they could encounter by practising unprotected sex.
Sex has always been a very touchy issue to discuss publicly. Sex has always been a very private affair, but not anymore, not in today’s bold and brash society in which people are engaging in risky sexual behaviour. This should not be surprising to anyone since social media has made it very easy for people to meet and have sex at random.
But what is interesting is that for all the information available at our disposal about sexual transmitted diseases (STDs) including the deadly HIV-AIDS virus, yet youths who are the future of the country persist with having unprotected sex.
It is unfortunate and perhaps disturbing that our youths continue to indulge in such dangerous and risky behaviour, only to regret later. The truth is that many youths believe that there is medication to cure all STDs. Most parents are at their wits end. They do not know what to do other than to pray for the youths of the country.
As with many other problems, there is plenty of blame to go around for the sexual proclivity of youths. They range from the lack of proper parenting, vulgar music, pornography, social media, films, and the lewd and undignified behaviour of some adults. Studies have shown that most parents are completely flustered by sex and many are shy or too embarrassed to discuss safe sex with their children.
However, mothers are more likely to discuss sex with their daughters than fathers would with their sons.
Sex is inherent in human nature but most adults pretend it is not. We simply cannot ignore that reality because a society that hides the truth from its youths will suffer the consequences later. They must be told in no uncertain terms to practice safe sex.
Sex education is being offered by some schools, but it often turns out to be a simple discussion on morals because most teachers, too, tend to think that sex is a taboo subject. The fact that most of them are women does not help the situation.
Indeed, there are parents who object to any teacher discussing such an issue with their children. In Georgetown, at a few schools, parents made their positions known in no uncertain terms.
Yet the very parents want their children to be protected.
Lessons about sex should be taught at all levels in school and should be underlined by a message that unprotected sex is risky and dangerous and could result in serious consequences, including death.
But there is the parent who objects to such a measure.
Teenagers should be given as much factual information as possible about unsafe sex and be told to use condoms or abstain from sex altogether.
While promoting safe sex through abstinence or the use of condoms remains the best message we should impart to youths, the reality is that sex is physiological and therefore it has a strong mental and physical hold on a person.
According to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), unprotected sex in Guyana has resulted in an increase in gonorrhea, syphilis and other STDs between 2012 and 2015.
The majority of cases (72 percent) have occurred in the 15 to 39 age group.
But for every reported case, there are many that go unreported which means that society has to do more to break the cycle of unsafe sex among youths. It is a matter of life and death.
October 1st turn off your lights to bring about a change!
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