Sexuality Education Doesn't Need to Be Taught, That's Tabu

What is a tabu? 

Tabu is a prohibition or restriction established by a particular society. Something considered taboo usually violates social, ethical, or religious norms. Taboo can also be in the form of behavior, words, or objects that are deemed forbidden or inappropriate.

However, it is often considered a tabu. Sexuality education is an important part that should be known from an early age. When they get not enough knowledge about it, such as never discussing the issue with parents and also getting material from schools that is not comprehensive. The way they satisfy their need to know and educate themselves is through pornographic content. And in the end, it has fatal consequences for children. The fatal result is the higher interest of children in watching pornography and the increase in sexual violence.

According to the findings of a report entitled Disrupting Harm in Indonesia from UNICEF, Interpol, and ECPAT with a focus on children aged 12-17 years. "Children of this age are very active internet users with 95 percent of them accessing the internet at least twice a day. Two percent, or around 500,000 children in Indonesia, reported being victims of sexual exploitation and online abuse in the past year. According to the report, this figure is very likely not the actual number as the topic is very sensitive and traumatic for children. In fact, this report only covers incidents in the past year. Therefore, the true number of children who have experienced similar incidents throughout their lives is much higher."

And it turns out that this research has increased for early childhood where according to the Indonesian Kemenkopolhukam, there are 5.5 million Indonesian children who have watched pornography since the pre-school level in 2024 (detik, 2024).

From the data presented above, some Indonesians still think that this is something which is not in accordance with our culture and has a negative impact on children. They think that sexuality education teaches sexual relations in a westernized manner. Which makes parents not brave or still doubtful to tell their children, and teachers at school are also worried about getting a backlash (a strong negative reaction by a large number of people) from parents. As Rita pranawati - deputy chairperson of KPAI - interviewed on INews, "It's not taboo, but maybe they feel more unimportant. This then becomes a problem, we really hope that parents teach children from an early age, since children can speak, have been taught to protect themselves. What parts should be covered, what parts should not be held. The school must also be involved because it is a formal state institution where teachers explain it through science lessons and so on".

But sexuality education in Indonesia can be adapted to the culture of the society. In other words, sexuality education in Indonesia has been made culturally appropriate or culturally aware. Which is where information about sexuality can be acquired according to its level. For example, children in PAUD or kindergarten begin to learn about the structure of the human body. The material learned gets broader along with the level of education (junior high school, high school, etc.).

Will Indonesian society be ready to accept a sexuality education approach in learning activities?

"I don't think it's a matter of being ready or not, but it's more about how the learning is packaged. And Indonesia can implement this sex education but needs transparent communication and deeper explanations. And I think this is part of advocacy," said zhafira in YT content entitled Pendidikan seksualitas di kurikulum merdeka .

This includes educating Indonesians so that they do not misunderstand sexuality education, which includes important knowledge to equip children's lives in the future.