http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/600/42/378472.htm
Vow to Europe to Offer Sex Ed Angers Parents
11 June 2009By Anna Malpas / The Moscow TimesRussia has one of the world's
highest rates of HIV infection among young people. At the same time, schools
are teaching students that sexually transmitted diseases are caused by a
"frivolous lifestyle," and textbooks fail to mention the word "condom."
Vladimir Filonov / MT
Boys giggling at a shop window lined with mannequins on Tverskaya
Ulitsa. Schools must start offering sex education under the European Social
Charter.??
"There is no sex education in the modern sense in Russia," said Alexei
Bobrik, deputy director of the Open Health Institute, an NGO that runs HIV
education programs. "Not a single government-approved textbook uses the word
'condom.'"
The lack of modern sex education in Russian schools may have to change
after Russia signed up to the European Social Charter on May 20.
Among the provisions of the charter, Russia ratified an article on the
"right to protection of health." A fact sheet issued by the European Social
Charter in March explains that health education at schools should be a priority
and include sex education.
The article "can be interpreted in different ways," said Vladimir
Nasonkin, co-chairman of the Federal Center for Education Legislation.
"Different interpretations and commentaries may be taken into consideration
when the charter's provisions are implemented but may not be."
At the moment, lawmakers are working on a new standard of state-school
education in Russia that may include the provisions of the European Social
Charter, Nasonkin said.
But experts are skeptical that schools will embrace a European-style
approach, complete with contraceptive advice and frank discussion of changes
during puberty.
"I think we'll move in the same direction as other European countries,
but our starting point is different, so it will take longer," Bobrik said,
blaming the "outdated system of school education."
"A good idea can turn into a very mediocre result. I think it could turn
into some one-off sessions on sex education," said Alexandra Kareva, a project
coordinator at Project Hope, an NGO that produces sex-education textbooks and
trains teachers in Russia.
Sex education faces widespread opposition from religious and conservative
groups.
A conservative organization called the Parents' Committee has petitioned
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill to stop this provision of the European Social
Charter from being implemented, calling sex education "a looming evil."
Lyubov Kachesova, one of the movement's leaders, told The Moscow Times
that parents and members of various organizations had sent letters to the head
of the State Duma factions and to two ministries, the Health and Social
Development Ministry and the Education and Science Ministry. "Parents didn't
receive a single answer that really answered their questions," she complained.
Kachesova said campaigners are "practically sure" that sex education
lessons will be introduced.
She criticized existing programs, which she said are imported by private
Russian organizations from the West. "In Russian, they sound primitive,
ridiculous and sometimes downright illegal. When parents find out their
content, they experience shock and disgust," she said, adding that she began
protesting against the lessons when her own children were in school.
One of the supporters against the sex-education movement is psychologist
Irina Medvedeva. "If it is made law, there will be acts of civil disobedience,"
she warned. "We consider that sex education of children is harmful in all
senses."
Sex education "destroys the romantic view of love," she said. "The
feeling of mutual attraction goes cold before children reach adulthood."
Any sex education should be left to parents, she said. "It's up to the
parents' judgment in cases where children are really interested. It shouldn't
be a school subject," she said.
In Moscow schools, sex education is taught only as part of a subject
called OBZh, or Basics of a Safe Lifestyle, said Alexander Gavrilov, a
spokesman for the Moscow education department.
"As part of this subject, there is a small section that is about the
relationships between the genders and sexual relations. We are not planning to
widen this subject," Gavrilov said.
The Moscow city government has made limited attempts to educate the
public about sexually transmitted diseases, running a 2005 poster campaign that
said condoms don't prevent HIV and urged people to be faithful to a single
partner.
An OBZh textbook approved by the Education and Science Ministry for
final-year students advises girls not to wear short skirts. It also warns that
people who lead a "frivolous lifestyle" are more likely to catch sexually
transmitted diseases, but it does not recommend condom use.
The OBZh course is put together by the Emergency Situations Ministry and
focuses on military training. The textbooks also include a section on how to
assemble a Kalashnikov rifle.
Protests by parents caused OBZh textbooks to be altered in 2008, removing
what they called "vulgar, cynical and psychologically harmful" content, said
Kachesova of the Parents' Committee.
"It's more important to learn how to put on a gas mask than how to put on
a condom," said Kareva of Project Hope.
While schools brush the subject under the carpet, most Russians begin
their sex lives before they graduate from high school. "By the age of 17 or 18,
most Russians have had sexual experience, but at the same time they have not
had any clear information in their formal education," Bobrik said.
"A program linked with sex education should start at 11 or 12, before
children begin their sex lives," said Kareva of Project Hope. Anonymous surveys
by Project Hope indicate that about half of 15- to 17-year-old teenagers are
already having sex.
Explicit descriptions of sex are ubiquitous in tabloids and on late-night
television shows. But the focus is on titillation, not information.
"There's no serious discussion of the most common problems," said
sexologist Alexander Poleyev. "There are a few television shows, but they are
more entertainment."
As a result, Russians don't know much about sex, Poleyev said. "The
patients who come to us with sexual problems are, of course, extremely
ill-informed" about foreplay and other topics, he said.
Ignorance or inability to talk about sex is also a contributing factor to
the spread of HIV. Russia has one of the world's fastest-growing rates of HIV
infection, and most people who contract HIV are aged 15 to 29.
Experts list various reasons why sex education hasn't taken root in
Russia, despite official attempts to make it part of school courses in the
1990s and early 2000s. "The topic of sex is very, very sensitive both in
Russian official culture and schools," Bobrik said, adding that there is also
"strong resistance from some of the parents."
"It's not just about a couple of stupid lawmakers," Bobrik said. "You
basically can't do this in Russia."
"It's well-known that the main religion in Russia is Orthodox
Christianity, where children are traditionally brought up in chastity," said
Kachesova of the Parents' Committee. "The Western system of sex education of
children being practiced in our country contradicts the idea of bringing up
children in chastity."
But sexologist Poleyev thinks differently. "The number of truly religious
people who want to keep away from this is very small. How many families are
truly religious? Perhaps two in 1,000."
He said the barrier to sex education was probably the expense and
difficulty of adding a new school subject. "When people don't want to do
something, they'll find 117 reasons," he said.
Olga Romanova, Project Hope's program director in Russia, agreed. "There
are parents who write angry letters and raise religious-based objections to our
program," she said. "In fact, when we ask for consent from parents to run the
program, literally only a handful refuse."
Romanova of Project Hope has been working since 1997 on writing textbooks
and training teachers. The campaign's sponsors have included the Elton John
AIDS Foundation. The first program was commissioned, though not funded, by the
education ministry and used at schools in 68 regions. But the program was
closed in 2003, Romanova said.
"The system of education reflects what is happening in the country as a
whole," Romanova said. "In that first period, they tried to supplement OBZh
lessons with life skills and health, but now there is a return to military
education, this kind of patriotic education."
Sex education, with its need for open discussion and frankness, has
become unwelcome in Russian schools, she said. "Our program has become
dangerous as a program that teaches people to think independently, to talk and
make decisions."
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