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Sex
taboos vanishing De Silva, Professor of Demography at the University of Colombo, told a seminar called to discuss the report, that the gap between puberty and marriage had widened in the last century, prolonging sexual activity and sexual behaviour before marriage. In 1901, the age of puberty was 14 years while the age of marriage was 18. In 2000 this was 12 years (age of puberty) and 26 years (age of marriage). The four-year gap had increased to 12 years. He said while the risk-taking period has expanded, the safety net provided by families/relatives who protect young girls has broken down. Socio-economic changes in a conservative culture has resulted in sex being more acceptable; opposition to sexual activity from all sectors including the family/authorities was diminishing. Consequences of sexual behaviour without proper awareness about reproductive health are unwanted pregnancies, induced abortions, repeat abortions leading to infertility, a rise in school dropouts, an increase in HIV/AIDS cases, social stigmatisation, suicides, depression and psychotic behaviour. Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanne, a veteran child rights worker and former UNICEF specialist, said unlike the problems of early childhood where families are constantly present as guides, adolescent children were more vulnerable as they were dependent on peers or others in society who had little knowledge of sex or reproductive health. "This is a serious situation because society is destroying adolescence. Teen pregnancies are on the rise; so is abortion, HIV/AIDS and the consumption of tobacco, alcohol and dangerous drugs," added Dr. Wijemanne who chaired the session organised by the Institute of Policy Studies. She said youth desperately needed to be taught life skills to handle such situations. IPS was responsible for the Sri Lanka component of a 13-country study on adolescence and youth reproductive health commissioned by USAID. The Sri Lanka part of the study was released last week. The Sri Lanka study showed that adolescents are vulnerable to many health risks in addition to emotional and behavioural problems. Though abortions in Sri Lanka are only permitted if the mother's life is at risk, some 175,000 (often unsafe) abortions are performed annually. The 13-country study said that throughout the region young people began sexual activity with inadequate information to protect their reproductive and sexual health. "While knowledge of family planning is high, social conservatism makes discussion of sex inhibited, affecting family communication and formal reproductive health education," it said. The IPS report said that while contraceptive use was relatively high among married adolescents, contraceptive use among unmarried adolescents was far less widespread because of difficulties in obtaining contraception. Factory workers at the country's Export Promotion Zones don't insist on their partners using condoms because their partners are unwilling to wear a condom. Parents, teachers and community leaders don't openly discuss these issues for cultural reasons. This hampers campaigns to promote the use of contraceptives. The Sri Lanka study called for a bigger political commitment to solve the problems of adolescents, a holistic approach to adolescent health, provision of more information and awareness programmes, to improve pre-marital counselling and to conduct research on sexual behaviour. The study also showed that while a large number of young people have sex sans contraceptives, they don't get pregnant either. "There is no evidence to show that they get abortions," Prof. de Silva said. Dr. Marlene Abeywardene, President of the Sri Lanka College of the Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said there was an explanation as to why fewer young people resorted to abortions. Studies conducted by the Sri Lanka Medical Association show that unmarried mothers have a good support system via families or relatives, have their babies and don't seek abortions. |
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