Myths about Sex and Sexuality Need for Sex Education

For some time now, there has been a lot of debate on imparting sex education to adolescents in India. According to a powerful section of society, sex education will corrupt the minds of young people and will promote sexual act before marriage. Contrary to this belief, the present study on rural adolescent girls showed that girls become a prey to incest, rape, unwedded pregnancies and low self-esteem due to lack of sex education and relevant information about sexuality and reproduction. The study strongly advocates the need for sex education to understand the femininity and masculinity of sexuality, myths, misconceptions, questions and anxieties related to it. The sample consisted of 86 adolescent girls, 23 close relatives of these girls, and 31 community-based workers. Interviews, semi-Projective tests, focus group discussions, and cognitive;mapping, among others, were used to understand the psychosocial world of adolescent girls.