Warnings against ‘deviant’ premarital sex in place to ‘protect’ Hong Kong youth, education secretary says
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s education secretary has denied that the government’s sex education curriculum is conservative, saying the advice – including to avoid premarital sex – was aimed at “protecting” the youth.
Secretary for Education Christine Choi defended the newly released curriculum on a news programme on Sunday amid backlash that the teaching materials were regressive and out of touch.
Last week, the Education Bureau shared teaching resources for a module about intimate relationships under new subject Citizenship, Economics and Society, which is compulsory for students from Form One to Form Three.
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The document advises students to avoid premarital sex, describing it as “one form of improper handling of intimate relationships,” and says that society “still considers pre-marital sex as a deviant act and that young people should not have sexual behaviours with others at will.”
The resource describes a scenario in which a young couple are studying alone at home, and suggests they do not act on “sexual impulses” that could lead to “more intimate behaviours such as kissing and then they may have sexual behaviours.” According to the document, youngsters may divert themselves from indulging their desires by playing badminton.
Speaking on a TVB programme on Sunday, Choi said the curriculum was aimed at lower secondary students aged between 12 and 14, and aimed to “protect” them.
“How do we teach them to take responsibility for themselves correctly, to understand how to take care of themselves and respect others?” Choi said. “When they grow up, they will face a more complex society and environment.”
The curriculum intended to teach young people “positive and correct values,” the education secretary added.
‘Outdated thinking’
Alongside netizens’ criticism of the sex education curriculum, lawmakers have also weighed in on the issue.
Legislator Doreen Kong said sex education was no doubt important, and that there were many ways of teaching students how not to allow relationships to affect their studies.
She referred to a part in the teaching resource that recommended youth in relationships to fill in a “commitment form,” promising to control their “sexual fantasies/impulses” and develop “resistance” to pornography. They could ask “neighbouring students and trusted people” to act as “witnesses” to them filling in the form,” the resource suggests.
In a Facebook post published on Friday, Kong said the signing of such a form was “not the best way” and that the suggestion of witnesses showed that authorities did not understand the youth.
Advising young people to play badminton when they have sexual impulses was unrealistic, she added. “How can [people] book a court on such short notice to play badminton?” Kong wrote in Chinese.
Lawmaker Gary Zhang questioned the authorities’ apparent vilification of premarital sex, saying it could cause students to feel anxiety and pressure. He also criticised the advice as backwards.
“The progress and enlightenment achieved in societal values today has not been easy. Do we want to regress and allow such outdated thinking to resurface and gain ground once more?” he wrote on Facebook.
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