There has been a good deal of conversation around child sexual abuse and child porn lately. As a result of it, a lot of people have taken to different social media platforms to share their horrific experiences from the past.
After carefully going through the stories shared by the adults, I have come to realise that sex education is not just important for innocent kids who are unaware about their body. It is also important for the ‘learned rapists’ who tend to overlook moral ethics when they commit such heinous crimes in their own localities and even in their homes.
With continued cases of child sexual abuse at so-called ‘safe places’, it is time that we teach adults what it means to inflict a ‘bad touch’ and its legal consequences. If sex education is important for innocent kids who may fall prey to the ever-growing sexual desires of some brainless adults, it is also important for the adults to know what a ‘consensual sexual intercourse’ stands for, or why it is not right to protect the assaulter when one knows the truth.
It is time we come up with sex education camps for adults to tell them about ‘sex’ and what all is right and wrong in it.
Going by the anecdotes shared through a couple of blogs and posts, I have noticed a common trend in the incidents described bravely by the people. Many of the cases had their closest relatives involved – and the issue was suppressed by the family members (parents especially). This shows that as much as we need to make children aware about inappropriate touch, we also need adults to know about themselves, their moral conducts and responsibilities.
The larger problem lies with those who inflict such crimes. Sex education, therefore, should not only be focused on the child or the survivors but also on those who are the majorly responsible for this problem.
Limited knowledge about anything is harmful at multiple levels – and conversations around sex are unfortunately only limited to safe or unsafe sex. Issues of child sexual abuse, rape cases, pornography, etc. are rarely touched upon in such discussions. Different issues should properly come to the surface to make both adults and kids aware about their bodies and surroundings.
Sex education is extremely essential for kids to prevent cases of sexual abuse. But it is also equally essential for adults to stop them from wrongfully thrusting their sexual desires on kids, to teach them to confidently speak against such crimes and to pay attention to their children. In short, teaching adults what ‘not to do’ and what all to ‘unlearn’ is more important than teaching them ‘what to do’ or ‘how to do’.
