D-Empress - Contributed

On World AIDS Day last Monday, the world reflected on the impact of HIV/AIDS and celebrated successes and shared ideas on how to deal with the evolving challenges of the pandemic. While Sub-Saharan and Southern Africa in particular, are at the sharper end of the AIDS experience, it is a global issue.

The youth are seen as the key drivers in turning the tide of HIV-infection rates, through attitude and behaviour change. Coined as the hope for the future, the advertising messages emphasise a zest for life combined with the need for all to take personal responsibility for their lives by being in the know. Information and education are the fundamentals.

Touchy subject

Yet, even against the backdrop of the ravages of HIV/AIDS, sex education in the home is still a touchy subject. Who helped you navigate the confusing maze of puberty as you discovered your body? Some claim it's a cultural issue saying we (read: Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora) do not believe it's appropriate to engage our children in the warm and fuzzy details of sex, but agree that it is important that we instil moral values of chastity, abstention from sex before marriage and self-respect.

How so? Is it possible to paint the rose without allowing our children to smell it?

Excuses

Are we using culture as an excuse to sidestep the complex responsibilities we have as parents? Young people are gasping for information. They thrive on curiosity and the acquired peer elevation that comes with being in the 'know'. No matter the geographical location, young people across the world are part of a global youth culture. In a technologically advancing world, access to sex in all its forms is a click away on a cellular phone or a computer.

From 50 Cent's ménage-a-trois video scenes to the pastor's sermon about the virtues of abstinence, youth are impacted by conflicting messages of sex and sexuality through cultural icons that threaten to erode the roots implanted in the home. Let's face it; even our homes are not what they were. For many caught up in the frantic activities of life, the idea of a Sunday dinner with the family has become a luxury.

The statistics speak for themselves. With one in three persons HIV positive in some regions of South Africa, sex education in the home and the community is at the sharp end of the wedge.

Our parenting role needs to stretch from the technical 'birds and the bees' information, to developing a cachet of life-skills that will empower our children to confidently navigate the barrage of sex (mis)information. These navigational skills will enable them to make informed choices that could change the course of their lives.

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