Sex and sensibility (article)
A tentative start is being made in Myanmar to teach children about sexual and reproductive health but overcoming entrenched conservative attitudes is a challenge. By JARED DOWNING | FRONTIER Photos MARO VERLI
At the end of a day learning about sex, Dr
Ne Win’s students show how they feel by placing stickers on a daily “mood
meter”.
At the Myanmar Medical Association’s
three-day workshop, they play games and sing songs to learn about topics like
teenage pregnancy and HIV, and then break into small clusters of boys or girls
who sit in a circle on the carpet and practice slipping condoms onto a wooden
dowel.
“When we talk about ‘my body’ we don’t
start with presentations. We have card games,” Ne Win said.
The workshop, in other words, is carefully designed to make the learning experience for its students as comfortable as possible in a society that would rather talk about anything else but sex.