Hong Kong parents who treat sex as taboo topic don't help their children
Parents shy away from discussing sex with their children, but don't want them searching for answers on the internet.
The lack of open discussion may be the reason one study in recent years found that as many as 80 per cent of youngsters in Hong Kong rely on the web and media to learn about sex.
According to the Family Planning Association, teachers are widely expected to do the job, but this leaves them in a quandary. They fear that focusing on contraception and safe sex may be interpreted by parents as encouraging sexual activity. Some schools err on the side of caution and focus exclusively on abstinence until marriage, which some view as unrealistic when most people now typically marry in their late 20s or early 30s. Either way, it's a disservice to youngsters, who could grow up to be misfits, according to experts.
US sex education expert Dr Marty Klein, in Hong Kong to host a seminar for the association recently, says he always tries to be sensitive to local culture when he talks about the subject outside the US. He was reminded of Hong Kong's cultural context, with its mix of traditional and modern Westernised Chinese families.
More than 50 participants, including government officials, social workers, teachers, nurses, sex therapists and tertiary students, were at the seminar.
"What I heard was that there are some people in some schools, and some parents, who are concerned that they don't necessarily want their children exposed to factual information and proper names for body parts," Klein says.
