Reproductive health education

Reproductive health education has never been the "shameful sexual enlightenment" in the popular stereotype, but a general education covering the entire life cycle from childhood to old age, taking into account the three core dimensions of physiological cognition, psychological construction, and rights protection. Its ultimate goal is to enable everyone to scientifically understand their own bodies, establish a sense of shameless body boundaries, and learn to be responsible for their own and other people's health.

I have been doing grassroots reproductive health science popularization for almost 6 years, and the outrageous misunderstandings I have encountered can be compiled into a booklet: girls in the third grade of junior high school suffer from menstrual cramps to the point of fainting, and they dare not say anything, thinking that "it is a shame to have a period." To be honest, many people’s understanding of reproductive health is still based on what it was twenty or thirty years ago. As long as they listened to a serious popular science class when they were in school, they would not step into these pitfalls.

As for the scale of reproductive health education, there have always been two completely different ideas at the academic and practical levels. One tends to be conservative in grading, advocating the gradual release of content according to age groups: only the boundaries of private parts of the body and anti-infringement knowledge will be taught in elementary school, and content on menstrual cycles and secondary sexual characteristics will be introduced in middle school. Topics such as contraception and sexual orientation cognition should be left to college or even adulthood. The reasons for supporters are also very practical: most families have not caught up with their concepts, and content that is too advanced will cause resistance among parents. In the end, even the most basic science popularization will not be promoted. The other is the practical way of thinking. I feel that the channels for children to access information are too complicated. Just because you don’t tell them, it doesn’t mean they can’t see it. You may receive a lot of wrong information after watching a short video for a few minutes. Instead, it is better to take the initiative to explain the correct knowledge. I have met a fifth-grade child before who said "you are gay" to his classmates, but he did not know what the word meant at all. He only learned from the Internet that it is used to curse people.

When I do science popularization myself, I often find a balance between two ideas. I don’t talk about who is right and who is wrong. Implementation is the first priority. Last year, I gave a lecture in a middle school in a county in the west. The content I prepared at the beginning included parts about gender equality and sexual orientation tolerance. When I communicated with the principal in advance, the principal said awkwardly, "Our parents here have more traditional ideas. If you talk about this, parents will definitely make trouble later." Finally, I changed that part of the content to a private Q&A session after class. Three kids came to me secretly that day and asked me if "it's a disease to like people of the same sex." When I explained it clearly to them, one of the girls cried on the spot, saying that she had been doubting herself for almost two years and didn't dare to tell anyone. You see, sometimes you don’t need to make a big show of it. If you can help someone, you will make money.

Many people think that reproductive health education is about “teaching children how to have sex.” This is really a huge misunderstanding. Every time I give a lecture, I will say in the first sentence that everything I talk about today is not to encourage you to do anything, but to tell you what things will hurt you and how to ask for help when you are hurt. Just like when you learn traffic rules, it’s not so that you can run a red light. It’s so that you know to walk on a zebra crossing when crossing the road and to call the police when you encounter a car accident. It’s the same truth. For example, I will tell you how to take care of your private parts on a daily basis without causing inflammation, tell you that HIV can only be transmitted through mother-to-child, blood, and sex, that sharing a swimming pool, eating and hugging is not contagious at all, and telling you to call for help as soon as possible when encountering someone with bad hands, instead of feeling embarrassed and swallowing. These are the contents that account for the largest proportion of the science, and they have nothing to do with the so-called "teaching bad children".

A while ago, a high school sophomore girl who had listened to my preaching before sent me a message saying that her deskmate was being coaxed into having sex by her boyfriend. She dumped the birth control manual I handed out to her deskmate on the spot, and accompanied her deskmate to tell him, "If you really like me, wait until we are adults." , I will talk about it when I can be responsible for myself." I was really pleased when I saw the news. This is the meaning of reproductive health education - it does not turn you into an encyclopedia of physiological knowledge, but gives you the confidence to say no when faced with choices and the ability to protect yourself.

Of course, there are still many problems to be solved: for example, reproductive health classes in most schools are still occupied by the main subject teachers, and even if they attend, a brochure is given out for everyone to read; for example, many parents still think that "this kind of thing will come naturally when they grow up", and talk about sex. For example, there is still overwhelming misinformation on the Internet, and children without the ability to distinguish can easily be led astray. But fortunately, more and more people have realized the importance of this thing. Last time I went to a primary school to give a lecture on anti-violation, several parents took the initiative to stay and asked if we could talk more about it, saying that they didn’t know how to talk to their children about this before. You see, take your time and things will get better one day.