By Njoki Ndung’u
A major contributor to the explosion of teenage sex reported this week can be deduced from the wide disbelief and anger at the suggestion by the head of the Kenya National Aids Control Council on how to mitigate the situation.
Reacting to statistical evidence that show between 60 per cent to 70 per cent of our teenagers are sexually active, NACC director Prof Alloys Orago suggested provision of free condoms in schools. His argument is really simple: that since our students are evidently active sexually, then we’d better help them be safe while at it; that with the instances of casual and multiple sex partners inclinations reported in the Centre for the Study of Adolescence report among students, the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/Aids is real.
Orago’s comment seems to have rattled a hornet’s nest. Majority of callers to FM stations expressed shock and disbelief at the audacity of his suggestion. Many of those who admitted to being parents accused him of scheming to incite sexual recklessness among an age where sex should ideally be a taboo subject. Others branded him a perversion monger whose idea amounted to a license to sexual promiscuity in a generation that should otherwise be regarding "chilling" as a growing up gospel. A few thought his idea was strong evidence that he was the wrong man for the job.
The provoked hullabaloo not withstanding, the doctor deserves courage for his boldness. The resultant criticism really is not entirely unexpected judging from the collective shock and disbelief that greeted the initial revelations of the report. For me, this reaction to evidence of high sexual activity among our teenagers is indicative of a bigger problem. Those who should know better – and do something about it – are lost in denial of the magnitude of the problem.
And so deep are their heads buried in the sand that even the few voices of courage like Olago are considered a nuisance to their preferred bliss of ignorance. They would rather the status quo remained and if there are consequences, they should be quietly borne by the "unfortunate" like it has always been. Sex is after all, a very private affair!
Multiple partners
I was not shocked by the evidence of active teenage sex. True, the magnitude is scary: that four of10 girls are indulging in it; that 50 per cent of the boys are doing it.
But the chilling bit of the report is the apparent promiscuity. The report talks of many students having multiple sexual partners, some as many as ten in the last six months. For others, it is no longer a mere entertainment but rather a commercial venture for meeting incidental costs. That is a polite word for prostitution.
If you contemplate the potential consequences in all this, then you see the sense in Orago’s suggestion.
Teenage sex is a reality. I don’t want to dwell on why this is a fact today because in any case, I think many credible reasons have been offered for this in subsequent debates since the report was released.
Of greater concern to me is how to tame the situation or at least to lessen the magnitude of the negative consequences that come with it. In doing this, it is important to temper the moralisation of the matter with obtainable evidence. I believe this is essentially what Orago and his like-minded mean by daring to think of making sex safe and less catastrophic for young enthusiasts.
It is important to emphasis that campaigns against HIV/Aids and other STIs are still premised on the ABC slogan: Abstain, Be faithful and Condoms. But from the report and other available data, it is evident the A and B part of it is facing serious compliance challenges. If so then, the question is what next? Insisting on boarding schools or institutions with rigid religious ethos can only do so much. Evidence suggests most of the hanky-panky is taking place at homes and during holidays.
This country needs to devise a more serious and pragmatic sex education curriculum. What passes now is a wishy-washy syllabus that merely scratches the surface and apparently leaves plenty of hunger for the practical. Besides, schools need specialised teachers for the subject. Currently, this subject is usually assigned to those considered "matronly" or "fatherly" but who are likely to suffer the same inhibitions from a frank and bold approach to all the about the bees and the honey of sex.
Teenage pregnancies
I am convinced there can never be a substitute to good parenting. At the end of the day, the real onus of rearing a responsible child lies with fathers and mothers. They must lead from the front and by example in inducting their offspring to the desirable attitude to sex. But as the report reveals, a variety of factors beyond parental control could be contributing to the teenage sexual explosion.
We also need to apply laws criminalising sex with minors more vigilantly. Often, teenagers, both boys and girls, engage in sex with people who are older, yet our laws are clear sex with the under-aged is a punishable crime. But how many prosecutions are in public domain for those guilty of the same even when evidence of pregnancy abounds?
A significant percentage of teenage pregnancies result from coerced sex or sex with relatives. Some of it is from sex predators who exploit the vulnerability of our children to commit their perversions.
This inevitably leads to the taboo and touchy subject of abortion. At the risk of opening a fresh front for controversy, we must soberly assess this topic in a holistic way and ask ourselves whether there is need to review its criminalisation in our statutes. Is it fair to permanently ruin the lives of young girls for falling victims to situations beyond them?
