EIRP Proceedings, Vol 13 (2018)

Sex Education is considered a Taboo Subject in Schools from Romania

Lăcrămioara Mocanu¹

Abstract: Sex education is considered a taboo subject nowadays. Parents are mostly embarrassed to talk with their children about this topic, couples are embarrassed to talk to each other, parents even more, feel embarrassed when it comes to sex education of children. If this is the situation, I would believe that it is the communist legacy de, because in that period we can say that sexual relationships beyond marriage were violently challenged, sex education was reduced to encouraging abstinence, and there was no sexual connotation in mass media.

Keywords: Sex education; taboo subject; sexual connotation

Sex education is considered a taboo subject nowadays. Parents are mostly embarrassed to talk with their children about this topic, couples are embarrassed to talk to each other, parents even more, feel embarrassed when it comes to sex education of children.

If this is the situation, I would believe that it is the communist legacy de, because in that period we can say that sexual relationships beyond marriage were violently challenged, sex education was reduced to encouraging abstinence, and there was no sexual connotation in mass media.

People discussed a lot in the communist period, and much more after, about this aggressive population policy encouraged by the communist regime, and about the devastating long-term effects of the prohibition of abortion and implicitly of the contraceptive methods.

When we talk about the sex education in the communist period most of us think of the decree 770/1966 which was accompanied by “party and state directions”, intended to influence the reproductivebehaviour of Romanians. (as Mihaela Miroiu, Robert Şerban, Alexandru Ofrim say)

Thus, the field of sexuality encouraged the speeches of the politicians, the codes of behaviour, the imposed rules and constraints. The main, and therefore the only materials intended for sex education were written not only by doctors, but also by psychologists, educators, sociologists, methodologists, militants, journalists etc. (as Mihaela Miroiu, Robert Şerban, Alexandru Ofrim mention)

Sexualityand contraception became anational problem, and the decision regarding conception did not belong to the couple, but to the state.

Contraceptive methods are no longer a problem nowadays, but, statistics show that there are still a lot of people that use traditional contraceptive methods in Romania. According to a study regarding reproductive health, accomplished by the Ministry of Health in 2004, 24% of Romanian women usetraditional contraceptive methods. 6% of the women that are in a relationship use the calendar method, and 25.5% rely on the method of coitus interruptus. (As Georgiana Dorobantu mentions)

It would be ideal for the nation to learn something from the past experience of the communist period. To learn that sex education has its role. At every age, sex education can be done by respecting its particularity. Most parents avoid talking with their children, but unfortunately the access to the Internet makes them search for information where they are not criticized for their curiosity. Unfortunately, most of the information on the Internet is highly pornographic, and this does not represent sex education or sexual behaviour at all.

For the children today, parents need to take responsibility for their education, from all points of view, especially since most parents feel the sequelae of the communist sex education.

Bibliography

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