Sex education in Japan bans mention of intercourse

It sounds like an April’s Fool but it’s not: a group in a city in Gifu, central Japan, was preparing to give a sex education talk at an elementary school, when it was instructed by the school not to mention intercourse.

How can you do sex education without mentioning, well, sex?

The group, Kokoiku, is apparently used to such requests, and it employs a range of teaching tools, including dummies, to tell young people about how human bodies work, from menstruation to ejaculation and childbirth, but often has to leave out the answer to the most important question: Where do babies come from?

With images and video of sex instantly available on our devices, and parental controls only effective to a limited extent, young people are exposed to graphic depictions of sex earlier than before, making it surely more important to provide clear, accurate education about sex so they understand better what it is they are looking at.

Kokoiku was founded in 2010 by a group of mothers concerned about misinformation online and general ignorance among children about sex. It gives talks at schools in Gifu, Aichi, and Shiga prefectures.

International institutions like UNESCO recommend that children aged between 9 and 12 are taught that pregnancy usually occurs through sexual intercourse.

But in Japan, guidelines for elementary and junior high school lessons prevent students from learning about the process of fertilization and pregnancy.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has stated that education not specified in the guidelines is possible, opening opportunities for groups like Kokoiku to give talks, but the situation remains ambiguous. Education boards often take a conservative stance to avoid complaints from parents, according to an article in the Mainichi Shimbun.

A majority of school and college students get information about sex from peers. This is very natural, of course, but there should arguably be a good foundation in place early on, overseen by specialists. Male high school and university students are especially liable to learn about sex through porn, social media, or other sources online, but this may be problematic because it is often content made by men, for men. And as we know, the reality is more complicated when you are in bed with an actual partner.

The issue of restricted sex education in Japan is often linked to unwanted pregnancies in the country, where 350 abortions are carried out a day, but such outcomes of sex are pinned on women, writes Philip Brasor, and conservative lawmakers have targeted schools that try more proactive approaches to sex education.

Unwanted pregnancies and abortions among high school girls seems to be linked not just with poor understanding of sex but also poverty levels. Adachi ward in east Tokyo is the poorest area of the capital and also has a disproportionately high rate of abortions performed on high schoolers.