Newsletter #67
Feature
"The Lack of Sex Education?" - Sex Education Policies in Hong Kong and Other Places
The Hong Kong SAR government mentioned "young people thrive, so does Hong Kong," in the 2022 Policy Address, emphasising the importance of youth as they are the future of Hong Kong. As a result, a series of education and youth development policies and measures have been listed. Whether the government can achieve "youth thriving" remains to be seen, but among the many measures, sex education policies are once again absent from the government's planning. Children and adolescents' sexual health, gender awareness, and their understanding of sexual violence have a profound impact on their growth and development, unfortunately, it seems that these topics have not received attention from the government.
In recent years, many organisations and groups have conducted research on the sexual health of children and adolescents as well as the current situation of sex education in schools. The findings all point to the failure of current sex education policies in responding to the growth and development needs of children and adolescents. In order to have a more comprehensive understanding of the development of sex education in Hong Kong, this article compares the sex education policies in Singapore and Taiwan with those in Hong Kong, exploring the current situation of policy development while seeking concrete directions of improvement .
Hong Kong: A positive non-interventionist approach in sex education policy
According to documents released by the Education Bureau, the government has implemented sex education through the following three main parts since the return to China: 1) developing teaching guidelines of sex education to encourage sex education on campus; 2) cooperating with different government departments and non-governmental organisations to conduct lectures and workshops, such as the Adolescent Health Programme of the Department of Health; 3) providing several training courses for teachers who teach or are interested in teaching sex education, to enhance their knowledge and teaching skills, and to provide teaching resources for schools and teachers to use. In addition to the above, support is also provided for parents.
Despite the government's policy and a series of measures to promote sex education, it has not been effective. As a crucial part of the policy, the "School Sex Education Guidelines" launched by the government in 1997 cover teaching concepts, teaching content, time allocation, teaching methods, and performance evaluation tools, providing a systematic set of guidelines and suggestions for schools and teachers. Unfortunately, since the guidelines were launched, the government has not made any updates or revisions, and even removed the guidelines from the Education Bureau's website in 2018. In the absence of any new guidelines, the government launched the "Values Education Curriculum Framework" (trial version) in 2021, and stated that "sex education" is one of the elements of values education. However, due to the design and planning of the curriculum, the content on sex education in the guidelines is minimal and there are no suggestions on the learning hours, making the effectiveness of sex education questionable.
In addition, it is worth noting that the government has always advocated incorporating sex education into the main learning subjects of primary and secondary schools. At the same time, adhering to the "school-based" approach, the government encourages schools to plan and implement suitable courses on their own. Therefore, in both the previous "School Sex Education Guidelines" and the recent "Value Education Curriculum Framework", all documents are for reference only. It is the schools who decide whether to teach, what to teach, and how to teach. At the same time, there are no regulations on the qualifications of teachers responsible for teaching sex education. The schools are to decide if pre-service or in-service training are needed, and the training hours, and the depth of the training. So far, Hong Kong's sex education policy has not yet established a complete and standardised system. It seems like no one is coordinating, monitoring, or following up, and specific measures are non-existent.
Singapore: Mandatory Abstinence Education
Compared with Hong Kong, Singapore has explicit regulations that require all schools to provide sex education courses that meet the requirements of the Ministry of Education for eligible students. The relevant policy measures have been implemented since 2000, and the Ministry of Education also reviews and updates the content and teaching materials of the courses regularly. With the core concepts of premarital abstinence education and traditional family values, the Singapore government promotes sex education in the following ways: 1) incorporating sex education into general regular syllabus, such as biology; 2) teaching sex education through "Character and Citizenship Education" (at least one hour per week); 3) teachers are required to provide tutoring classes about social communication and emotion education for junior primary school students; 4) external programmes that schools invite organisations to give sex education.
Until 2022, Singapore's primary and secondary schools generally provided sex education to students with two sets of curriculum plans designed by the Ministry of Education under the framework of "Character and Citizenship Education". The two curriculum plans are "Growing Years" and "eTeens". Each curriculum plan sets learning goals for students of different grades, and has its own learning hours, curriculum framework, etc. "Growing Years" is for students from Primary 5 to Junior High SchoolDifferent levels and aspects of sex education content (including puberty changes, family relationships and values, dating and relationships, sex related social culture and laws) are arranged according to the needs of students of different developmental stages. The minimum required learning hours are set for each academic year, ranging from 1 to 4 hours. "eTeens" is designed for students in the third year of junior high school/ first year of Senior High School. The teaching content mainly focuses on sexually transmitted diseases, the transmission of HIV/AIDS, and the importance of chastity. The most common teaching mode is lectures, and the prescribed learning hours range from 1 to 2 hours.
In addition to clear regulations on curriculum content and arrangement, the Singapore Ministry of Education also has strict requirements for teachers. Both the "Growing Years" and "eTeens" programs require designated personnel to be responsible for teaching. These designated personnel are either education professionals who are well-trained and consistent with the Ministry of Education's philosophy, or other professionals appointed by the Ministry of Education or other relevant departments. Although some schools may choose to invite some non-governmental organisations to provide sex education, such personnel must also meet the requirements of the Ministry of Education and the teaching content needs to be consistent with the guidelines and values of the Ministry of Education. On the other hand, considering the multicultural and religious background of the local society, the government allows parents the right to refuse their children to participate in all school courses related to sex education. At the same time, private schools run by religious groups also enjoy a certain degree of flexibility to design their own set of sex education curriculum that is suitable for them. However, it is a must to comply with certain regulations of the Ministry of Education.
Numerically speaking, Singapore's mandatory education policy seems to be helpful in addressing adolescent sexual health issues. Official data shows that the teenage sexually transmitted infection (STI) rate has dropped, and the number of unmarried teenage pregnancies also decreased. However, the policy has been controversial, especially regarding the Ministry of Education's promotion of abstinence. Some critics argue that teachers often exaggerate the negative impact of premarital sex, which scares teenagers into abstinence and further stigmatizes people with sexual health issues, making it harder for teenagers to seek help. Others criticise that abstinence education reinforces traditional heterosexual family and marriage values, causing children and teenagers from non-traditional families to feel marginalised and deprived of the opportunities to grow up healthily on campus, resulting in more discrimination against people with different sexual orientations and gender expressions.
Taiwan: Moving towards gender equality education
Similar to the development in Singapore and Hong Kong, contemporary Taiwan's sex education policy gradually took shape in the late 1990s. With the local government launching education reforms in 1998 and incorporating "genders education" into the newly promulgated curriculum guidelines, schools were required to integrate related issues into major subjects, symbolising the formal inclusion of sex education and gender education into the regular curriculum. Subsequently, the government launched the “Gender Equity Education Act” (GEEA) in 2004, and the Ministry of Education changed the wording of "genders education" in the curriculum to "gender equality education" the following year to highlight the concept of diverse gender identities.
According to the "Gender Equity Education Act" and its "Implementation Rules", in order to achieve gender equality, eliminate discrimination, and establish a gender-equal education environment, schools at all levels need to follow a series of measures and guidelines, such as setting up a "Gender Equality Education Committee'' within the school to coordinate and organise resources of various units in the school, as well as formulate an implementation plan of gender equality education . Regarding curriculum, teaching materials, and teaching methods, schools at all levels should integrate gender equality education into the regular curriculum, and these contents should cover emotion education, sex education, understanding and respecting different genders, gender characteristics, gender identity, sexual orientation, sexual assault, and sexual bullying prevention, etc. In addition to the regular curriculum, the "Gender Equity Education Act '' also stipulates that primary and secondary schools should hold at least 4 hours of gender equality education programmes or activities per semester to ensure that students are exposed to relevant information from the first grade of primary school. In terms of teacher qualifications, compared to Singapore, Taiwan's authorities do not have strict requirements for teaching personnel, only that teachers should have awareness towards gender equality . However, the "Gender Equity Education Act" also stipulates that the content of gender equality education should be included in the pre-service, in-job training and in-service training of teaching personnel, to ensure that they have a certain understanding of gender equality education.
The keystone of Taiwan's sex education policy is to integrate into the regular curriculum, the Ministry of Education released the "Integration Manual" in 2020, which clearly and specifically explains the recommended methods for integrating relevant issues into the curriculum. The manual lists out nine learning topics for gender equality education, and according to the needs of students at different stages of learning (elementary, junior high, and high school), it sets learning goals for different stages and provides concrete teaching examples to guide teachers to incorporate relevant elements into the regular curriculum. In addition, the Ministry of Education has added "Personal Hygiene and Sex Education" as one of the topics in the regular curriculum "Health and Physical Education" and has provided a list of compulsory content for sex education (such as gender roles in daily life, basic concepts of different sexual orientations and the impact and coping strategies of gender stereotypes, and the legal consequences and wise choices for adolescent sexual behaviour), which further normalise parts of sex education or gender equality education.
Unlike Singapore, which promotes chastity, contemporary Taiwan's sex education policy takes a more open attitude and adopts a "holistic sex education" development approach. It puts emphasis on the social and cultural influences on the shaping of "sex". In addition, the "Gender Equity Education Act" advocates respect for gender diversity, and the education policy takes a positive attitude towards diversity of gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. However, the Ministry of Education's progressive stance has also aroused controversy. In the past, some conservative groups opposed the authorities' inclusion of "homosexual education" in the gender equality education, believing that the programme content encourages deviant behaviour. These controversies have inevitably hindered the promotion and implementation of sex education and gender equality education in Taiwan.
Conclusion: Our sex education has been fallen behind, It's time to catch up
Looking back on the development of sex education policies over the past two decades, both Singapore and Taiwan governments have taken a more proactive approach to implementing school sex education. The former has given schools a clear and specific curriculum framework and requires schools to provide relevant sex education content for age-appropriate children; the latter has helped schools incorporate relevant elements into the regular curriculum through legislation and guidelines, and schools are also required to hold a certain number of lectures or activities for students. The difference is that Singapore's sex education is developed with the keystone of conservative attitudes that advocate premarital chastity and traditional heterosexual family values, while Taiwan takes a more progressive and open attitude that emphasises respect for gender diversity and the elimination of discrimination and stigma in sex education and gender equality education. The former's education policy strengthens discrimination and stigma against sex, different sexual orientations, and diverse gender expressions, while the latter has faced opposition from conservatives and encountered many obstacles in implementation.
Regardless of the advantages and disadvantages of the two places, the development of sex education in Hong Kong is obviously lagging behind. After the "School Sex Education Guidelines" was removed online many years ago, the Education Bureau has not issued any new guidelines. Although the value education curriculum launched in recent years includes elements of sex education, it has not explained the specific teaching content of sex education, and even the relevant learning expectations and learning indicators are lacking. Moreover, there are no requirements for teaching hours, and even the recommended hours are not mentioned. It shows that Hong Kong's sex education lacks a comprehensive and indicative guideline, and the school-based principle makes it difficult to ensure that schools have implemented sex education on campus, let alone the teaching quality.
With reference to Singapore and Taiwan, the Hong Kong government should adopt a more proactive attitude to promote comprehensive sex education, such as reorganising sex education guidelines for schools' reference, establishing several teaching indicators for schools to fulfil (such as the minimum hours of programmes), establishing a sound training mechanism to support teachers who teach sex education, and setting up an assessment system to ensure teaching quality. With the changing society, Hong Kong's current sex education has failed to respond to the actual needs of children and adolescents, especially the risks of sexual health. If the government takes youth work as seriously as stated in the policy address, it is time to catch up with the development of sex education policy.
Hear Me Out
What sex education didn't teach me
When C was 19 years old, she went to RainLily for counselling. During the first meeting, she revealed that since the age of 15, she had been struggling with feelings of depression, shame, and loneliness, feeling like she was trapped in a tangle of wires that she couldn't sort out.
She initially thought that these feelings were a result of being raped by an intimate partner, but after digging deeper, it is surprised to find that these feelings were also related to the sex education she received earlier.
Pictures and terms like "Sexually transmitted infections" and "unplanned pregnancy" were the only things that C remembered from her sex education classes in primary and secondary school. She and her female classmates sat in embarrassment in the school hall listening to the negative consequences of sexual intercourse. At that time, she understood that "sex" was seen as negative, taboo, and dirty. C "learned" that "good girls should not talk about 'sex' casually."
"Girls must know how to say no." C remembered her teacher warning the girls on stage, as if preventing sexual assault was the responsibility of the girls. Why didn't anyone tell us that we needed to obtain the other person's consent/YES in sexual interaction? - C didn't have this kind of question at that time. "I never thought that the other party had a responsibility to ask for my consent even after the incident happened. I only thought that it was my fault that I couldn't stop it from happening." When C realised that her sex education from an early age lacked discussions about "sexual consent," she looked shocked and regretful. Perhaps it was a pity for herself? With incomplete sex education, she took the blame of sexual assault on herself, like many others victims.
The absence of sex education
Apart from sex education classes, there were actually many discussions related to sex in C's secondary school life. When her classmates found out that C had started dating, bad words such as "She must be a slut" were spread in classrooms, during breaks, and in hallways, trying to shame and devalue C. Besides C herself, no one cared whether these rumours were true. Rumours and slut-shaming are enough to damage a female student's reputation.
In my opinion, this is an important moment for teachers to intervene through sex education. Unfortunately, when C turned to a trusted fellowship teacher for help, he chose not to break down sexual myths with her, comfort her for being bullied, or guide her on how to face sexual challenges in intimate relationships. He chose to blame C for dating too early, and warned her about how girls with too much sexual experience are “dirtier”. He told her that in God's eyes, C might become an unclean or dirty person if she looks for a future partner.
At the time, C cried and begged the teacher to believe that she was still chaste. Apart from this, C deeply understood that women must preserve their chastity and not be "casual," let alone engage in premarital sex.
"After being sexually assaulted, all I could think of was 'I'm sorry'"
Later, the worst fear of the teachers and seniors had come true. C's boyfriend raped her with physical violence and intimidation. "When it was over, I slept on the bed, thinking of my parents, teachers, and God. I felt sorry for them." C did not resent her boyfriend for violating her consent; she only hated herself for not able to stop him. “I can no longer prove myself as a virgin. I actually become the kind of person that people look down on and tease.” C thought that she had lost the “most important part of a woman”- chaste.
She chose to keep the secret, thinking that by not revealing her experience of sexual assault, she wouldn't have to admit that she was "flawed." C's understanding of faith led her to believe that if she married the man who raped her, she would not be considered "guilty" (of having premarital sex). So she tried her best to maintain this abusive relationship until she couldn't take it anymore.
In fact, C found her own reaction to being raped inexplicable and did not properly sort out why she did not report to the police, seek help, or cut off contact at the time. However, when we try to understand C's social (peers, teachers, and church) situation at the time, it is not difficult to understand what prompted her silence.
From Silence to Awakening
Until the age of 18, C was exposed to sex education with gender awareness at university and finally came to realisation. With education on sexual consent, sexual autonomy, and bodily boundaries, C finally consciously understood her experience of being victimized"It wasn't until then that I realizedthat what he did to me was rape!" More importantly, she began to understand that it was not her own fault.
With less self-blame, she anonymously shared her experience on social media with cautionTo her surprise, many netizens did not ridicule or blame her like her peers did, but comforted and supported her. With these kind responses, she felt more confident to seek help and take legal action. She regarded it as a process of "being her own ally and doing something for herself."
Reorganising Thoughts
C now realizes that the values instilled in her in the past have affected her understanding of her own experience of sexual violence, and even added to her feelings of shame, loneliness, and helplessness in the recovery. However, she completely understands that the teacher and fellowship seniors did not have malicious intentions, and no one was willing to see her suffer. C realised that the teachers only emphasised the self-defence consciousness of women, but did not emphasise the need for both men and women to respect each other's sexual consent. The mentors in the church emphasised the benefits of chastity, but did not emphasise that no matter what sexual experiences we have, they do not degrade our values. In the process of sorting her thoughts, C reselected which values to agree and disagree with.When C sorted her own priorities, it was also the moment when she dismantled, arranged, and reassembled the tangled black iron wire ball on her own.
Written by: RainLily's Counsellor Anna