Half of Vietnamese minors used to have sex: poll A caricature illustrating a lack of knowledge of gender and sexual matters among Vietnamese young people. Photo: Tuoi Tre Almost half of the 762 Vietnamese minors participating in a poll said they once engaged in sexual intercourse while they were in love, according to figures released Tuesday at a Ministry of Education and Training workshop on gender and reproductive health in Hanoi. About eight percent revealed that they had sex even when they were not in love, as shown in the survey conducted from August to October by the Hanoi-based Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP). One-third of the young people said they did not take any safe sex precautions when they were in a relationship, simply because they did not see any risks. Among the other two-thirds, male respondents named money, emergency numbers, familiar venues, and condoms as the top safety measures to protect themselves whereas the females considered the third option the number-one safety practice, followed by a sound understanding of their partners. However, only one-tenth of the female participants brought condoms to a rendezvous while one-third of their partners did so. None of the respondents who are 15 or younger had any previous knowledge of sex while nearly one-third of the 16-17-year-olds disclosed they had sex before. “This indicates an urgent demand for sex education for children aged 15 and under,” Pham Vu Thien, CCIHP director, said. Thien added that the surveyed females did very little to safeguard themselves since they thought there was no risk with their partners. “All the participants admitted that their schools and parents had not educated them on any precautionary methods,” he revealed. Adolescents are easily thrown in the dark about sex education as parents tend to avoid discussing sexual issues with them, the director said. Obedient children at risk Parents usually think that their children are always “obedient and knowledgeable” so they should be immune to risks, Thien said. The most common guidance parents often give their children is “warning” rather than detailed information on advisable responses to insecure situations, he added. Dr. Nguyen Thu Giang, deputy director of a Hanoi-based non-governmental health institute, said that those regarded as “meek and mild” are most likely to be subject to sexual abuse or unprotected sex. Zero understanding A Hanoi junior college student said that his female classmates once felt terrified and embarrassed when one of them was “bleeding.” “The boys were laughing then,” he said. Another college student admitted at a recent seminar on sex education that she did not know anything about sex and sexually transmitted diseases until her second year. “More often than not, overprotective families deprive the children of contact with and the ability to respond to real scenarios,” Giang said. Under-par sex education Workshop delegates said that schools now provide sex education that is too academic while their students need realistic information. Tran Thi Hoa, a doctor, complained that education on sexual and reproductive heath is under par in Vietnamese schools. “More open content would help improve the situation,” she said. “Instructors should engender trust in children so that they are willing to speak and share sensitive issues with them.” Dr. Giang said that adolescents know a lot about sex but they do not have much understanding of sexual health. They are even ignorant about such basics as menstrual hygiene, mate selection, indecent clothes, forms of sexual abuse, and abuse prevention, she elaborated. TUOI TRE News