Enabling young people to make responsible choices, ensuring their safety and health, and overcoming discrimination, are critical to our common future. Unfortunately, much progress has not been possible in this direction because some people still believe that sexuality education promotes sexual activity; and stemming from this belief they oppose programmes that provide access to sexual and reproductive health services. Fortunately, research evidence and experience both show the opposite: sexuality education courses do not lead to earlier or increased sexual activity among young people. Rather, access to age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education encourages higher levels of abstinence, later start of sexual activity, as well as higher use of contraception and fewer sexual partners for those who have initiated sexual activity.

Sexuality education is a lifelong process of acquiring information and forming attitudes, beliefs, and values about identity, relationships, and intimacy. It encompasses sexual development, reproductive health, interpersonal relationships, affection, intimacy, body image, and gender roles. Sexual education goes beyond biological information, and addresses socio-cultural, psychological and spiritual dimensions of sexuality. By enabling young people to make informed choices, sexuality education minimizes the risks of unwanted pregnancies and STDs, and promotes gender equity. In the absence of reliable information on sexuality, young people are most likely to seek answers to their questions from their peers. The high incidence of unwanted pregnancy, STDs and HIV/AIDS, among young people, clearly illustrates the danger of ignorance and misinformation, and confirms how important it is for young people to receive information about sexuality.

Parents are the primary sexuality educators of their children. They educate both by what they say and by how they behave. However, talking about sexuality may be difficult for many parents. This may be because they did not receive any sexuality education themselves, or do not feel comfortable talking about sexuality with their children/wards. Whatever the reason, it is important to realize that young people are more apt to behave responsibly in homes where there is open and honest communication about sexuality. Some questions children ask may be more embarrassing than others, but it is okay for parents to admit their embarrassment, or acknowledge not knowing the answer to some questions. In this case, parents should not give incorrect information to their children, but tell them as much as they know, and take some time to find out about what they don't, to tell their children later on. With open communication, young people are more likely to turn to their parents in times of trouble. Without it, they will not.

Specific information for:
Parents
Teachers and educational administrators
Policymakers
Religious and community leaders
Media

Role of parents
Parents are the primary sexuality educators of their children. Specifically, parents can:

• Make sure that they are well-informed about human sexuality
• Model sexually healthy attitudes in their own relationships
• Talk with their children about reproductive health and sexual responsibility and answer all their questions fully and accurately
• Listen to their children compassionately, without dismissing their concerns as childish or condemning their questions as improper
• Provide a supportive and safe environment for their children, as well as set and maintain limits for dating and other social activities they are involved in outside the home
• Appeal for and support national, community and in-school efforts to provide young adults with reproductive health information and services
• Encourage the health, safety, and intellectual development of their daughters as well as their sons, and encourage their sense of self-esteem.

Role of teachers and educational administrators
Schools are an important site where young people can acquire knowledge and skills that equip them for responsible lifestyles now and in the future. Specifically, teachers and educators can:

• Actively support the development of school curricula that gives students age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education
• Ensure that school activities provide experiences that reinforce values and group norms against unprotected sexual behaviours
• Facilitate better communication about sexuality and contraception between students and their parents, by sensitizing parents on the need to show interest
• Enhance positive social relationships between teachers and students, as well as support school counsellors to perform their expected roles

Role of policymakers
Public policies on adolescent sexual health should be based on knowledge of adolescent development, accurate data, an established theoretical basis for program effectiveness, ongoing evaluation and adequate funding and support. Specifically, policymakers and political leaders can enact and enforce policies that:

• Improve young people's access to sexual and reproductive health information and services
• Prohibit the abuse of young people, including sexual abuse and harmful traditional practices
• Make public statements that emphasize the importance of young people's reproductive health, and speak in favour of design of health, educational and social policies and programmes that will enhance young people's well-being
• Endorse and commit funding to support programs to address young people's concerns
• Insist that news and entertainment media provide more responsible coverage and treatment of sexual behaviour

Role of religious and community leaders
Religious and community leaders are important opinion leaders. They are highly respected by the people and have a responsibility to assist young people deal with reality, by giving them a consistent set of messages regarding community values about issues such as sexual behaviour, responsibility and future planning. When these leaders understand and accept the importance of addressing young people's needs, it becomes easier for them to promote these issues among members of their community. Specifically, they can:

• Urge understanding, compassion, and concern for young people among their audience and congregation
• Make the community aware that there are social as well as personal causes of young people's reproductive health problems
• Speak publicly to their congregations and others about young people's health needs and encourage them to support these needs
• Offer young people support and guidance to explore and affirm their own values, as well as provide opportunities for them to benefit from mentoring by adult role models
• Initiate efforts to provide young people with reproductive health information and services
• Condemn a double standard that encourages boys' sexual activity while punishing girls'
• Call for responsible depiction of sexuality in the media

Role of the media
The media has become a major source of information about sexuality. Mass media professionals can exercise their influence by providing accurate information and modeling responsible behaviours. The communication of accurate information adds realism and helps adolescents gain insights into their own sexuality. By so doing, young people will be able to make more responsible decisions about their behaviour. Specifically, media practitioners can:

• Give prominence to news and events concerning the health of young people and make the public aware of young people's health needs
• Provide air time and newspaper spaces for reports, spot announcements and jingles related to sexuality education for young people, at a low cost or free-of-charge
• Strike a balance between social responsibility and financial expectations from advertisement
• Stop glamorizing and glorifying irresponsible sex. Portray scenes to emphasize that sexual encounters should be planned events, not spur-of-the-moment responses to the heat of passion
• Emphasize the consequences of early sexual activity and incorporate the prevention of pregnancy and STDs into drama scripts, news coverage and other informational formats
• Address parents with accurate information and guidance on talking with their adolescent children about sexuality and relationships
• Emphasize that though conflict and stress in relationships is a fact of life, typical interactions between men and women or boys and girls, should be respectful and non-exploitative
• Promote responsible adolescent behaviour by using teenage idols to model appropriate actions, highlighting youth success stories, and involving youth spokespersons.
• Whenever possible, provide ways for young people to obtain additional information about their health and development, such as listing contact information of appropriate organizations where they go for help

Related resources
No Easy Answers, But the Time to Talk is Now!
Can We Really Talk About It?
Factsheet on the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Young People in Nigeria
Meeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Young People in Nigeria
Links to other websites

More articles . . .