Parents shy and awkward, but wanting to know how to go about informing their children. It is in fact the results of a study on sex education in China published by the agency Xinhua.
Sex education at home is “seriously flawed”, according to a study released Thursday by the federation of women throughout China.
The study, covering 5,000 pupils aged 6 to 17 years and 6,500 parents from 10 different provinces and regions of China, said that many children would ask questions about sex to their parents, but that majority of parents surveyed are too embarrassed to answer.
54% of parents say and never talked to their child ways to respond to sexual harassment, while less than 30% reported to have given only vague advice.
About physical changes during puberty, 42% of parents indicated they had never discussed this subject with their child, and 40% say they have given few details.
“When children are unable to have the information they need from their parents or their teachers, their thirst for knowledge leads them to find answers on the internet or in movies via pornography,” cautions Han Siping, a researcher Institute for Research on Education in Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province.
Yet, according to the study, parents want to know how to talk about sex with their children. 60% of them want to learn how they could help their children about mental health issues, and 49% would like to give them good moral compass.
Tags: sex education, sex education articles, sex education books, sex education controversy, sex education definition, sex education facts, sex education pros and cons